From Alternet: http://www.alternet.org/drugs/why-election-day-marks-beginning-end-marijuana-prohibition
With just days to go before Election Day, voters are poised to make history.
By Paul Armentano
November 2, 2012
With just days to go before Election Day, voters in two states – Colorado and Washington – are poised to make history.
In Colorado, voters will decide on Amendment 64 , a Constitutional amendment that allows for those age 21 or older to legally possess up to one ounce of cannabis and cultivate up to six cannabis plants in the privacy of their home. Longer-term, the measure seeks to establish regulations governing the commercial production and distribution of marijuana by licensed retailers. Voters in the state are backing the measure by a margin of 53 percent to 43 percent, according to the latest Public Policy Polling survey.
In Washington, voters will decide on I-502 , a statewide ballot measure that enacts regulations regarding the state-licensed production and sale of marijuana for adults. The measure also removes criminal penalties for adults who possess up to one ounce of cannabis for personal use. According to a K ING 5/Survey USA poll published late this week, likely voters back the ballot initiative by a margin of 56 percent to 37 percent.
(A similar Oregon initiative, Measure 80 , trails in the polls with only 42 percent support from likely voters.)
The passage of one or both of these statewide measures this Tuesday will be both historic and game-changing. Here’s why.
For the first time in well over seven decades, state law will declare that cannabis is no longer contraband
While a minority of marijuana law reform activists has griped that these measures do not go far enough, the reality is that their passage will provide cannabis consumers with unprecedented legal protections. Presently, no state legally defines cannabis as a legal commodity. Some state laws do provide for a legal exception that allows for certain qualified patients to possess specific amounts of cannabis as needed. But none of these states define cannabis itself as a legal product that may be lawfully possessed and consumed by adults.
Continue reading at: http://www.alternet.org/drugs/why-election-day-marks-beginning-end-marijuana-prohibition
