In midterm election votes, Michigan, Utah, and Missouri Eased Restrictions on Marijuana.
There are now 33 U.S. states that have legalized marijuana to some degree, and recreational pot use is now legal in 10 states, along with Washington, D.C. But possessing, selling or using marijuana remains illegal under federal law.
Coming into the Nov. 6 vote, both Michigan and North Dakota already had medical marijuana laws in place. Utah and Missouri didn’t have far-reaching legislation on the books, though Missouri had lightened the potential penalties for first-time offenses.
Four Proposals, Three Passed
- “Michigan residents over 21 years old will soon be able to buy, possess, use, and grow marijuana,” reports member station Michigan Radio, which adds that Proposal 1’s backers will now focus on trying to expunge criminal records related to nonviolent marijuana cases. The measure passed 55 to 45.
- In Missouri, St. Louis Public Radio reports that Amendment 2 would impose a 4 percent tax on sales of medical marijuana, with the funds used to pay for the program. Any overage would go to the state’s veterans commission. The station adds, “For the most part, there was no opposition arguing against the idea of medical marijuana.” The measure passed 65.5 to 34.5.
- North Dakota’s Measure 3 would have required “the expungement of all marijuana-related convictions,” Prairie Public Broadcasting reports. But critics said it went too far. The North Dakota Association of Counties opposed the measure, saying it lacked limits on how much marijuana one person could grow. It also said the state is still struggling to implement the 2016 measure that legalized medical use. The measure failed 59.5 to 40.5
- In Utah, Gov. Gary Herbert and key legislators were already working to frame a medical marijuana bill that is similar to Proposition 2, with the intention of passing it regardless of how Tuesday’s vote turned out, Utah Public Radio reports. Those backing the plan to approve medical use include the Mormon church. The measure passed 53 to 47.
The Federal government is seriously out of touch.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Two thoughts,,, States are legalizing pot for revenue purposes.
Want to do pot go ahead,,,, but I don’t want you on my job site, in government or anywhere else making decisions that affect me, driving anything anywhere, and I don’t want to pay for your health care ….
Wow, I wonder how successful you are. Let’s see, people I know who partake in “pot” fairly regularly. A surgeon, a private equity whiz, a head administrator at one of the largest school districts in my state, a pro sports front office exec.
I could keep going on. Sorry you can’t have that much fun, yet others around you and way more successful than you can.
The problem is being stuck in a society where others get to make decisions that affect you. That’s what needs change. Then leave others alone to prosper or perish of their own volition.
Replace “pot” with “alcohol” and the sentence makes even more sense.
What health ramifications are you suggesting? We can cite a plethora of health problems with consumption of alcohol, which is toxic yet I do not see the same hysteria over alcohol use. There are many medical benefits of Cannabinoids yet alcohol has very few. Driving has nothing to do with use of Cannabis if you are not under the influence just as is the case with alcohol. People seem to wish to remove others rights based on misconceptions and bias based on propoganda. Science proves the propoganda to be false. As a Toxicologist I spent decades researching drugs of abuse (including alcohol). Find me a case of death caused by Cannabis at any dosage that is not related to anaphylaxis. Then I will show you thousands of cases of death due to overdose of alcohol. Reefer Madness did a good job.
My profession for 20 years was as a forensic research Toxicologist (last 10 years in Molecular Biology). Medical science has proven Cannabinoids to be medically benificial yet the Federal Government (DHHS, NIDA, SAMHSA, etc) continue to ignore the data. There is also no Constitutional basis for the Feds to keep it as an illegal substance, especially Schedule 1.
I don’t think the issue is health related. It’s a safety issue. Primarily driving under the influence. The biggest issue with alcohol, by far, is drunk driving. Sure, there’s the occasional bar fight and fraternity death from drinking too much, but drunk driving is a far bigger issue.
I’ve read some studies from law enforcement where the general consensus is driving stoned is more dangerous than driving sober. And it’s safer than driving drunk. But drivers who mix alcohol and pot are far more dangerous than those who drive drunk and another issue is there are drivers who are under the legal BAC, but are more dangerous than legally drunk drivers because they smoked pot in addition to drinking.
And driving when old, or young, ain’t all that either, safetywise…
Also, being male and young, “makes you” much more likely to commit murder. Yet somehow someone figured out that what’s proper the government and law to deal with, is the crime of murder itself. Not banning of all manners of nonsense that some paper writing PhD candidate manage to “demonstrate” correlate with it.
Good points. Testing needs to be blood based and not urine for being under the influence of cannabis as it is with alcohol (I know it is here in WA). BAC by breathalyzer correlates BAC performed by GC so it is a legal replacement for the GC method (quick and easy).
Heavy users of cannabis, who would prefer to be just casual users but have difficulty leaving their stash untouched, should consider one of these:
Promises Promises
Obama broke many: Cuba and Afghanistan the worst of the lot
Trump did not break this issue – but he is hugely on the wrong side of it.
I mixed on this too. I agree with KidHorn alcohol is far more destructive than pot IMO. But pot can be a pretty powerful psychedelic drug. I do not do pot, but just to try it out I went into a recreational pot store and tried some edibles and it really whacked me out mentally. If you go heavier on the CBD and less on the THC it has less psychedelic effects and more of body high then mental high. But the fact that its so easy for young people to get powerful psychedelic drugs like that worries me . And I did smoke some pot occasionally with friends in my college years but never really liked it that much. People I knew who smoked pot heavily were not exactly big achievers. Many wasted their lives and it impeded their success and motivation, and became a daily crutch.
I generally lean towards legalization, and like the decriminalization aspects of it. But generally I think outside of medical, I don’t think its this great thing for young people.
Marijuana takes away initiative and achievement if used regularly so it is bad for society.
People who smoke daily get nothing done.
Also those strands of Marijuana that are most favored are usually those with highest levels of THC.
If politicians were smart about recreational Marijuana they would limit it’s sales to only Friday and Saturday (Sunday time to get ready for work Monday-Friday), limit purchases per individual and put a limit on the amount of THC allowed in the strands.
There should be a max THC content in Marijuana sold and those high THC concentration strands should not be sold at all.
The guys who achieved building America from virtual wilderness, into the greatest country ever, in little more than a century, did so despite a single drug law at all. Or more accurately, because of not a single drug law at all.
Then the progressive movement entered the scene, with central banks, activist judiciaries and anything else, prohibitions, taxes and all manners of other pointless, useless, in all ways destructive government overreach. And lo and behold, we’re well on our way to even less than wilderness. Would be funny, if it wasn’t so tragic, wouldn’t it?
Trump just fired Attorney General Sessions who hated Marijuana and wanted to keep it illegal…
Good point!
Framing it that way, would be a nice jiu jitsu move, making it harder for Democrats to demonize it as a Mueller investigation related move…
“Now that we have a democratic congress, I reckon I should remove obstacles against reaching across the aisle on an issue we can all agree on…..”
“The Federal government is seriously out of touch.” Indeed it is, and has been for a long time. The DEA still considers pot as bad as heroin or meth. Obama promised to fix that problem, then ignored it and did nothing. He lied! Shocking!
That how “bad” one yahoo or another considers drano or anything else, should somehow be an excuse for harassing others who have done them no harm, is exactly why we live in a totalitarian %^&hole to begin with.
America had no “drug” laws back when it still retained some remnants of civilized trappings. Then, the progressives started their crusades for the prohibition of all and any freedom. And the rest is the history of an ever growing terror state.
In California, you’d figure that make pot legal would eliminate certain enforcement action. You’d be wrong.
Law enforcement is now fighting those scoundrels who have decided that it is cheaper for them not to become legal (100,000s in initial expense plus about 45% tax overall) for illegal pot.
California needs that tax revenue…
More like, if you can get away with robbing and stealing to your heart’s content, then why not?
“..100,000s in initial expense plus about 45% tax overall..”
Can’t get more progressive than making sure only those who are either already wealthy (as potheads go, $100K is quite styling…), have wealthy parents with ambitions for Young Deadbeat, or access to banks or “investors,” are allowed to do something. While leaving the rest still available for the prison lobby to pick over.
Here’s hoping Trump and the new congress can get together to end wars at home against our own citizens and abroad in the middle east. Not holding breath.
I’m mixed on the issue. One the one hand, pot is safer than alcohol and if alcohol is legal, pot should be too. On the other, combining pot and alcohol is far more dangerous than alcohol alone. At least from what I’ve read from driving accident records.
I think you are missing an important point with this one. Probably the most dangerous thing to mix on your list is the driving.
Driving under the influence is, by far, the biggest issue.