By Allison Linn, NBC News
Voters in Colorado and Washington on Tuesday approved measures allowing adults to use marijuana for any purpose, NBC News projected, marking an historic turning point in the slow-growing acceptance of marijuana usage.
In Massachusetts, voters also approved an initiative allowing people to use marijuana for medicinal purposes, NBC News projected. In Arkansas, a similar initiative failed, according to NBC News projections.
In all, voters in six states were being asked to decide on a wide array of laws around legalizing marijuana for medicinal or recreational purposes.
In three of those states – Colorado, Oregon and Washington – voters were deciding whether to allow people over 21 to use marijuana for any purpose.
In addition to Massachusetts, voters in Arkansas also are being asked to approve the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. In Montana, they are being asked whether to revamp an existing law to make it more restrictive.
The laws legalizing marijuana for recreational or other purposes could face federal challenges, because marijuana possession is still a federal crime. But so far, the Justice Department has declined to discuss how it might react if the laws pass.
Proponents say it’s about time pot was made legal and that it would create new avenues of tax revenue. But opponents say legalization would lead to more drug abuse and concerns about things like driving while impaired.
Opponent Kevin Sabet, a former senior advisor to the Obama administration and an assistant professor at the University of Florida’s college of medicine, said he was expecting legal challenges at the state and federal level.
“This is just the beginning of the legalization conversation, so my advice to people who want to toke up legally or think that they can buy marijuana at a store tomorrow is that we’re a very long way from (that),” Sabet said.
Proponents of the legislation also said they expected some legal wrangling. “It sets up a clear and obvious challenge with the federal government,” said Allen St. Pierre, executive director of NORML, which has fought for years to legalize cannabis.
But proponents also were celebrating what they saw as a turning point in a long-running battle to make marijuana more available to the general public. “We are reaching a real tipping point with cannabis law reform,” said Steve DeAngelo, a longtime advocate for legalizing marijuana and the director of the nation’s largest medical cannbabis dispensary, Harborside Health Center in Oakland, Calif.
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper acknowledged legal challenges but said the state would work to resolve the conflict between federal and state laws. "It's probably going to pass, but it's still illegal on a federal basis. If we can't make it legal here because of federal laws, we certainly want to decriminialize it,” he told NBC’s Brian Williams.
Seventeen states and the District of Columbia already have laws allowing for the medical use of marijuana, according to the National Council of Legislatures.
The initiatives in Washington, Oregon and Colorado would take things one step further, explicitly allowing people to smoke pot for more than just medicinal purposes.
The idea of legalizing marijuana has gained acceptance in recent years. A
Gallup poll released in October of 2011 found that 50 percent of Americans now favor legalizing pot. A decade ago, only around 34 percent were in favor. Liberals and adults under 29 are the most likely to approve of legalizing use of the drug.
Here’s a look at the states considering marijuana laws Tuesday.
Arkansas: Voters in Arkansas will consider whether to legalize marijuana for medical purposes.
Colorado: Voters in Colorado are being asked to approve a bill that would allow people 21 and over to possess and use a small amount of marijuana for recreational purposes. A similar measure was defeated in 2006.
Massachusetts: Voters in Massachusetts are being asked to vote on whether it’s OK to legalize marijuana for medical purposes.
Montana:In 2004, voters in Montana approved a law allowing marijuana for medical purposes. Then, in 2011, the legislature approved replacing it with a new, more restrictive one. Voters on Tuesday will decide whether to allow those restrictions to be upheld.
Oregon: Voters in Oregon are being asked to decide whether to legalize marijuana use for people who are 21 years or older, and to tax and regulate it in the same way as alcohol.
Washington: The Washington bill would allow people over age 21 to possess a small amount of pot for personal use.
Comments
Or the "its the worst drug of them all, its gateway drug..." What about all these stupid legal synthetic weed that keep popping up? I dont smoke weed, anymore. But I believe there is nothing dangerous about it.
That is some statement to make but I know you're just joking. You really do suffer from such chronic Post Traumatic Stress Disorder? I suppose it's never out of the question to joke when you've got the upper hand.
Overall, I might testify that marijuana is habitually forming, either under terms of medicinal or recreational use. Someone might question as to why I clarify that it has a habit forming tendency, under the supposed supervision of a medical doctor or otherwise. It could be that most users of marijuana were conditioned to a certain school of thought long before ever being introduced to marijuana, deciding for themselves at the time that it was either a valid or invalid form of medication and thereby, an acceptable or unacceptable drug for modern society. An idea that is abstractly parallel to that of a tobacco break at a designated smoke area. Furthermore; to question it in a positive, negative, or neutral light, one might ask about routes of administration.
I'll stop right there for now and ask, do you prefer to smoke or vaporize your marijuana? How do you feel about baked goods in general? Preference?
Also I love the format of this thread and the statistics. Good Job :thumbsup:
First thanks for the kind words about the thread. Second, yes, I really do have PTSD related to military service and marijuana has been proven to help with PTSD. There is a book called "The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World" by Michael Pollan that PBS made into a 2 hour special. It spends about 25 minutes on marijuana and can be veiwd here;
http://video.pbs.org/video/1283872815/
The part on marijuana is between 55:16 and 1:22:55. The chemistry of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, it's relation to the human brain, the naturally produced cannabinoid anandamide and PTSD begins at around 1:12:30 and gets very specific to PTSD at around 1:16:00. But to really understand the whole relation between the treatment of PTSD and marijuana you really need to watch from about 1:12:00. If I were to try and abstract it in a few sentences as a layman it would go something like this.
Just like remembering things is an important survival tool so is forgetting things. We touch a stove when it is hot when we are little and we remember not to do that again. But when stressful things happen to us our brains tend to erase or at least obscure those memories. Anandamide (the brains own marijuana) attaches to the same receptors that Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol does. Anandamide is the chemical the brain release in order to erase or obscure these painful and or debilitating memories. Studies in humans show that those with lower levels of anandamide not only have better memories but are more likely to develop stress disorders if exposed to personal trauma such as that experienced by veterans. The above average or better memory that comes with lower levels of anandamide does not allow for he brain to sufficiently erase or blur traumatic memories. When you smoke marijuana the Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol attaches to the same receptors in the brain as does anandamide and helps to keep those memories properly blurred.
To answer you question about my preferred method of ingestion I am jut an old school doobie fool. But I have used a ood vaporizer and was very impressed. I would prefer to eat my weed but that requires easy affordable access to high quality product such as in one of he medical marijuana states. The thing about weed food is you need to make sure convert the THCA to THC via decarboxylation before you cook with it. But provided you do that and have some good stuff you can get some great results with food.
That right there is one of if not the most common argument that I hear. The truth is though that most of the people I have met that are against it could not be convinced otherwise to save their fucking lives, no matter how well structured, supported, and reasoned your arguments may be even though theirs are usually complete shite. I haven't smoked in years since but honestly I still firmly support its legalization for both medical and recreational purposes. Interesting to note TDR that you use it to good effect for PTSD, I was talking to my mother, a clinical psychologist, about the whole issue and that was one of the conditions that she mentioned that she felt it offered relief for.
I myself used it during my teen years both for recreation and to treat stomach issues. Gastrointestinal issues run in my family and at about 13 I started having bouts of severe pain and periods where I had to go on a bland diet or else the pain became constant. These bouts usually lasted around two weeks, at about 15 I started smoking socially and noted during one of my bouts that smoking greatly eased my intestinal pain and typically shortened the duration of my bouts.
GOD...DAMMIT!
Your Country follows the U.S. into war because that is what both nations masters wish.
You said it, Brother.
As for PTSD, I use MJ to help with my Crohn's and insane mood swings. I have a small degree of PTSD thanks to my past in non-Military activities but I can confidently say that it stops the aches, pains and ultimate feelings of despair, anger and almost uncontrollable rage.
Namely because I'm pretty subdued after smoking/vaping it, but it just makes the world have a nicer glow to it and I don't feel so paranoid when out in public.
Yeah that's right people. Less paranoid. The only thing that does make me paranoid are the laws, and ultimately those who enforce them.
Real stupid circle there. Also a good video from Sky News (whom I usually disagree with) where they interviewed a representative from the USA about the futility and business of the Drug War - talking of the private Prison system, the need to cut back spending in areas that frankly aren't that important (like the herb) and that the new Generation can see past the lies and disinformation.