[ad_1]
Midterm voters in five states will decide whether to join a growing list of places where recreational drug use is allowed, even though the drug remains legal under federal law. government.
Votes to legalize recreational marijuana are on the Nov. 8 ballot in Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, South Dakota and North Dakota. If approved, those states would join 19 other states and the District of Columbia in agreeing to use them, jurisdictions that affect 44% of the US population.
Although some Republican states like Montana and Alaska have repealed prohibitions in recent years, most of those that have legalized recreational activities still face Democrats in state and national elections. .
That may change this year, as four of the five states that have been confirmed on the ballot—Arkansas, Missouri, and the Dakotas—have Republicans in control of state chambers and the governor’s office. .
“We’ve seen a growing number of states in the middle of the country reexamining their marijuana laws,” said Mason Tvert, a spokesman for drug law and policy firm Vicente Sederberg. “This is just the next step in the evolution of public attitudes about marijuana policy.
“In general, what we find is that the more people hear and learn about marijuana, the more they support legalization and regulation.”
Adding other states that offer recreational activities would allow members of Congress from those states to support a new industry and promote government change, Tvert said.
Criticism of the electoral process
The programs are not without their detractors, even on the political left. St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones, a Democrat, said this week he opposed the Missouri ballot measure because it excluded Black entrepreneurs from the industry, the Missouri Independent reported.
Legal advocates in Arkansas as well the election campaign of that government was criticized for being too strict and not involving exoneration, the Arkansas Advocate said.
But the trend since Colorado and Washington first allowed recreational use 10 years ago has been toward legalization.
As the industry flourished where the government regulated it, there was a desire to expand to other areas.
“Profit companies, they want access to these other markets,” said Beau Kilmer, co-director of the drug policy research institute RAND Corp.
As more states agree to legalize it, the pattern may change, Kilmer said. Colorado and Washington “have set a precedent” for the model for efficiency, but other options are possible, he said.
Where in Canada, for example, purchases are allowed through government-owned stores, the government can set prices and have full control over what products and privileges are available.
“It’s interesting to see, especially when liberal states start to have a big conversation about this, even if we see a middle ground—the government’s winning way, for example,” Kilmer said.
Get the morning headlines delivered to your inbox
Legal in some countries?
As cultural acceptance of marijuana use increases, many states may decide to legalize it through the “legislative process” rather than through referendums, he said. Kilmer.
It may leave room for other approaches besides the effective model.
Each state that agrees to enforce the law has taken different steps, Tvert said. But the model popularized by Colorado and Washington is proving to be a success.
Former U.S. Attorney John Hickenlooper, a Democrat who was the state’s governor when the election passed, said this month that his concerns have not been met.
“I know for sure now that this is, in every way, a better community decision than I grew up with, and it’s going to have a lot of impact,” Hickenlooper said at a press conference in the 10th anniversary of the government’s ratification.
“This example is something that opened the door for all the other states. And I’ve gone to speak to the general assembly or the governors in half a dozen states, and… basically, no attacks, no worries and no perfect answers.
Social concerns
Last month, it was President Joe Biden thousands of people were wiped out was convicted of federal crimes and allowed his administration to consider removing the Schedule I classification of the drug placing it in the most dangerous group of drugs of abuse.
Efforts by Congress to legalize marijuana under federal law have stalled in the US Senate, despite popularity.
Almost half of the country has been living with a huge difference between state and legal marijuana.
As governments move toward acceptance, questions about justice for those convicted of past crimes have grown.
In his speech, Biden called on governors to follow his lead and pardon low-level marijuana offenders, a call that went unanswered.
In Missouri, Jones’ opposition was based on a provision in the measure that would restrict the number of licenses for the production and sale of recreational marijuana and give first choice to parties licensed to supply the medical drug— almost all are white.
The law is to continue
When put to the vote, marijuana legalization measures passed, albeit by narrow margins.
Tvert said there is a “good chance” that each of the five countries will cast their ballots on November 8.
Regardless of the results, the road to legalization remains strong, Kilmer said.
“Whatever happens on November 8th,” Kilmer said. “You’re still seeing a push for this in other countries over time.”
[ad_2]
Source link
