Pubdate: Thu, 06 Nov 2014
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2014 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Evan Halper

VICTORIES SIGNAL POT LEGALIZATION IS BUILDING STEAM

Joints, pot brownies, cannabis--dosed sodas and other marijuana 
products will soon be sold in retail shops to any adult who wants 
them throughout a large chunk of the West, after voters in Oregon and 
Alaska approved legalization measures Tuesday.

And an initiative approved overwhelmingly by Washington, D.C., voters 
legalizes the use and cultivation of marijuana there, but stops short 
of allowing retail sales.

The states join Colorado and Washington, which legalized recreational 
pot sales only two years ago, in a remarkable change of fortune for 
legalization advocates who had been toiling for decades to lift the 
prohibition on the drug. Proponents this week overcame voter concerns 
surrounding the bumpy roll out of the taxing and regulatory plans for 
cannabis in the states where it was legalized in 2012 -- as well as 
many unwelcome headlines -- in a sign that voter unease with the drug 
is rapidly fading.

The outcome also was a clear sign that opinions on marijuana no 
longer fall neatly along partisan lines. The narrow passage of 
legalization in GOP-dominated Alaska, where 52% of voters cast 
ballots in favor, was considered a symbolic victory among cannabis advocates.

The vote in the capital also had political significance, playing out 
in the backyard of federal government as advocates try to persuade 
Congress to soften drug laws. The Washington, D.C., measure was 
driven in large part by racial justice concerns, in a city where 
African Americans accounted for 91% of those arrested for drug 
possession, even though statistics show they are no more likely to 
use the drug than whites.

Organizers are now setting their sights on California for 2016, where 
they are confident the state's liberal-leaning electorate will opt to 
legalize sales for recreational use. Such an outcome would create a 
bulwark for marijuana permissiveness in the West, which proponents 
hope to bolster by targeting large states to the east for 
legalization measures in 2016 and shortly thereafter.

"This election day was an extraordinary one for the marijuana and 
criminal justice reform movements," Ethan Nadelmann, executive 
director of the Drug Policy Alliance, said in a statement. The 
alliance, a nonprofit bankrolled by billionaire George Soros, 
invested heavily in the Oregon measure through its political action 
affiliate, and it provided advice and financial support to the 
sponsors of the Alaska initiative.

"Reform of marijuana and criminal justice policies is no longer just 
a liberal cause but a conservative and bipartisan one as well," 
Nadelmann wrote.

This election season was also notable for the opposition the 
marijuana movement attracted. Billionaire casino magnate Sheldon 
Adelson stepped up with $5 million to help defeat a fairly routine 
measure in Florida to legalize marijuana for medical use only.

Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a national antipot group, said it 
intended to step up efforts to fight legalization.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom