The Trend Toward Legalizing Recreational Marijuana

Four other states ― Maine, Massachusetts, Arizona and Nevada ― will also decide on legalizing recreational marijuana. Four other states are voting to legalize medical marijuana: Arkansas, Florida, Montana, and North Dakota. The thesis here is that if recreational marijuana becomes legal for adults, then the impetus to go see a doctor for a medical marijuana prescription simply isn’t there. Research shows that adolescents who smoke marijuana once a week over a two-year period are nearly six times more likely than nonsmokers to drop out of school and over three times less likely to enter college. “That’s the question”, said State Sen. Legalization would put low-risk marijuana use on the right side of the law, and focus resources where they are more needed. In 2010, it had the opportunity to make history again by becoming the first state to legalize recreational marijuana, but voters ultimately rejected that ballot measure.

Harvard students intending to vote in MA overwhelmingly support the ballot measure, according to data from by The Crimson’s election survey, a voluntary questionnaire filled out by more than 2,000 undergraduates.

Working as a priest in the inner cities in Washington for 20 years and in the West Indies for 10 years, Cardinal O’Malley said he has witnessed firsthand the negative impact marijuana can have on a community.

The Bay State in 2008 voted to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana, and in 2012 voted to legalize the drug for medical purposes. A majority of Coloradans also say legalization has been good for Colorado and its economy, according to a recent poll.

Meanwhile, however, recreational consumers 21 or older would no longer face fines for possessing up to an ounce, and they would be allowed to grow marijuana at home (up to six plants per household), which is now a felony.

Question 4, which would legalize the recreational use of marijuana across the commonwealth, lays out a timeline for implementation that includes a nine-month planning period for regulatory commissions to organize their efforts.

Of those Colorado high school students who reported using marijuana in the past 30 days, 28 percent consumed it through edibles. In Colorado, the number of emergency department visits likely related to marijuana consumption has increased 77 percent, the number of drug-related school suspensions and expulsions went up 40 percent, and marijuana-related traffic deaths went up 154 percent.

Large corporations “have the money, the power – they could take over everything”, he said, echoing a concern heard around the Emerald Triangle, where few growers will publicly voice support for Proposition 64.

In Nevada, 57 percent of voters are in favor of Question 2, which give adults permission to use and possess up to one ounce of pot recreationally. The poll, conducted by Suffolk University in late September, found only 33 percent of people were against the amendment.

“I think it would be a great thing for California to legalize marijuana“, sophomore political science major Arielle Green said.

Capital Punishment has effectively been nullified in 19 states and the District of Columbia.

The main message it hopes will resonate this election is that marijuana is safer than alcohol, and should be regulated and taxed accordingly.

Marijuana is more unsafe than alcohol: In fact, abundant medical evidence points to alcohol as more risky than marijuana. “The more risky system is the one that exists today, where criminals control the market, consumers are forced into unsafe transactions, and people of color are 3.3 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana offenses than whites”. They could even get it delivered or enjoy it in social settings outside their homes-options that are either banned or legally problematic in other states with legal pot. “But on the other hand, huge losses could interrupt the momentum we’ve been building for the last several years”. Shortly thereafter, the same group credited with bringing home the pro-pot vote in the Centennial State turned its attention to MA, and four other states.

“When you look at the ballot measure, it basically is getting rid of all the economic benefit, destroying 1,300 jobs, but it does nothing with respect to marijuana“, Parco says.