We’re still tracking down all the results from yesterday’s election, but here’s a quick look at how things fared in races affecting marijuana policy.
This year witnessed historic progress in the campaign to end marijuana prohibition – but as some of these results below show, there remains much work ahead. MPP and others are already looking to build on this year’s advances by launching new campaigns in 2012.
First, the good news: Vermont, Connecticut, and Massachusetts
The only two major party gubernatorial candidates in the nation to vocally support medical marijuana and decriminalization were both victorious. Democrat Peter Shumlin won in Vermont, and Democrat Dan Malloy won in Connecticut. Both men bring renewed hope to efforts to pass more sensible marijuana laws in their respective states.
Also, in Massachusetts, voters in 18 out of 18 districts have overwhelmingly approved a series of non-binding policy questions asking whether they support medical marijuana or the regulation of marijuana like alcohol. That not only sends a strong pro-reform message to state lawmakers, but is a good sign for future efforts in Massachusetts as well.
Next, the bad news: California, Oregon, South Dakota, and New Mexico
As most readers probably already know, California’s Proposition 19, which would have made the Golden State the first in the nation to fully end the prohibition on adult marijuana use, was defeated last night. Garnering 46% of the vote, it still made history as the highest statewide vote in favor of marijuana legalization to date.
Sadly, the Obama administration took this defeat as an opportunity to spout more baseless “Reefer Madness”-style propaganda.
In Oregon, Measure 74, which would have authorized state-licensed dispensaries, also failed, as did South Dakota’s Measure 13 for medical marijuana. Pre-election polling showed both measures trailing significantly.
And in New Mexico, voters have elected Republican Susana Martinez as the state’s next governor. Martinez has previously voiced her desire to repeal New Mexico’s medical marijuana law – considered by many to be a national model for regulation.
But wait – the undecided! Arizona and California attorney general
The only marijuana ballot measure that still retains a hope of victory is Arizona’s Proposition 203, the medical marijuana initiative that would establish up to 120 licensed dispensaries in Arizona and received significant support from MPP. Current results show the measure down by fewer than 7,000 votes, but we have reports that up to 200,000 ballots have not yet been counted. It still has a chance!
And finally – in a hugely significant contest for the future of medical marijuana in California – it appears that Republican Steve Cooley is heading toward defeat in the race for California attorney general. Simply put, Cooley is a self-declared enemy of medical marijuana laws, and his election could have wrought all kinds of hardship on thousands of patients and providers throughout California.
That’s all for now. We have more updates and analysis on the way.
One thing is important to note.
Prop 19 was the first legalization initiative in recent times.
So there was much we learned from it.
One thing was certain, the opposition shifted their campaign in
mid September from “legalizing marijuana is bad” to “prop 19 is bad.” Even the campaigns director, Roger Salazar, went on the record saying “Even if you’re for the idea[of legalizing pot], Prop 19 is not the best way to do it.” AND THAT moment we realized what was wrong with Prop 19! And how close this is…
1. Overreaching: Protecting employees rights to smoke after work – twisted by the NO campaign to be the employee’s “right” to smoke BEFORE work. Proving “impairment” another difficulty. While these reforms are common sense to those who understand marijuana, for people who do not this is not sensible at all.
Future ballots should leave employees toking rights alone for the courts and future reform to solve. Legalize first!
2. The Medical Marijuana Cartel. Prop 19 was specific about protecting patients rights, but that doesn’t matter to ppl with actual lobby power. These half legal ppl can have legitimate voices unlike the MS-13 gang. What a paradox.
Because of this a ballot measure should focus on reaching out to conservative republicans, moms, cops, lawyers, judges. Good front.
3. Provide a THC blood level limit to define impairment. This will at least give the opposition a harder front to argue “Why this blood limit?!” vs. “No blood limit, the sky is the limit! EVERYONE WILL BE DRIVING STONED! AHHHH!!!!” That scare tactic really works in the minds of normal ppl who don’t smoke weed. We have to give them a false reassurance, like the .08%BAC limit, which is basically bogus and stupid. Some ppl can act really drunk and still be below the limit. We have to have a defined standard however, to make this front harder to attack for when the campaign starts with this last inevitable fear mongering.
This country is not ready to vote for cannabis. It’s not ready. The populace has been led to believe in outright lies, and they are not ready. No amount of “get out the vote” is going to do it. If we keep relying on ballot initiatives, every single one of us will be dead before we see this stuff legal. Do you want to spend the next 80 years of your life fighting this ridiculous battle?
We have to MAKE them ready. It’s not about voting. It’s about STANDING UP. Here. Now.
It’s about every one of us taking a stand, intimately and personally with those around us in our lives, standing up for who we are and proudly telling the TRUTH.
This is a battle that will be won on the GROUND, in CONVERSATION, and in ACTION. Only when the country is ready for cannabis will cannabis be legal again – and it’s our job to make them ready. It starts today, and here’s how:
1. Purify your practice.
Shed the false persona of the “stoner”. Ask yourself, “am I talking/moving/acting this way because it’s my expression of who I am, or because the stoner-movie media told me that this is how cannabis users behave?”)
Return to the roots, the spiritual practice of cannabis. Use it consciously. With intention. Use it to heal, to re-establish connection with the divine, your uncorrupted self. Explore the unknown.
2. Reclaim the language.
Repeat after me: It’s not a drug, it’s a medicine. It’s not a war on drugs, it’s a war on medicine. It’s not prohibition, it’s an inquisition. It’s not legalize, it’s STOP THROWING PEOPLE IN FUCKING JAIL.
3. Come out of the closet.
Stop hiding, make sure every single person you know knows you use it. If they don’t know yet, tell them. And tell them why you use it. Tell them you enjoy it.
4. Stand up for the truth.
No more incrementalism. We want it legal, now. No more excuses (like only for medical patients with a subscription), no more wimping out (like “tax it” or “loosen the penalties”), no more additional laws, and no more state-by-state. We want the Controlled Substances Act repealed, end of story. And for god’s sake, STOP CITING POLL NUMBERS.
5. Stop defending, and start putting opponents on the defensive. In a free society, the burden of proof is on those who would ban. Be aggressive. Do NOT let them get away with half-answers. Demand they confront their lunacy. Anytime and anywhere you find inquisitionists, confront them, and don’t let up until they back down.
6. Smoke in public, as long as there are no cops around. The worst anyone can do is throw words at you. Engage them in civil conversation. Educate them.
Every cannabis user can step up and personally fight for the truth. YOU can do this. WE ALL can do this. Stop waiting on NORML. Stop waiting on MPP. Stop waiting for the next election. The “political” process is just a thermometer, it’s not the thermostat. It merely measures the temperature, it doesn’t set it.
WE set it. Each and every one of us. The adventure begins now!
If you want marijuana legalized, it’s really simple if you are open-minded to listening to what these election results are saying. I voted NO on Prop 19, even though I support legalization and hate the drug war. It was not the right prop, and needs a total re-write and new team for 2012.
The top 5 things needed are :
1) a better argument that is truthful versus twisted lies,
2) FDA regulations so people know what they are smoking,
3) restrictions that you can’t smoke in public places and can’t smoke and drive period – no exceptions,
4) better education on the health pros and cons (yes, there are many cons – and just like tobacco lied to the public for years, anyone who says marijuana is 100% safe is stoned),
5) and most importantly, you need people on TV who are older with credibility versus a group of kids paid by adults hiding.
The baby boomers are not going away anytime soon, and you lost their vote due in 2010 due to a lack of credibility and deceptions. Let’s get real and be respectful in your arguments versus sounding like a bunch of stoners and twisted politicians. If you follow this advice, it will pass in 2012.
I was hoping that Proposition 19 would pass and to fine tune it as a real model to end the problems caused by prohibition. The biggest hurdle is the dreaded DEA and the “CSA of 1970″.
Most people agree that the Drug War is a failure and wasteful spending, but the real objective of these matters are rarely being mentioned.
First Obama laughs at THE VERY GRASSROOTS base
that elected him and now this…
YOU’VE LOST MY VOTE OBAMA.
seems to me there are only two reasons why someone would vote against legal mj. 1. your profiting from the privitazed prison system.legal drug/property/ and monatary sezures, most of which(cash especially) never make it to evidence rooms. or 2.FEAR… you have no understanding of mj’s effects or anything whatsoever assoiated with it’s use and you believe firmly that the reffer maddness movie was divinely inspired . or in a nut shell you’ll believe any propaganda uncle sam tells you without any facts to back what there saying. THE BLIND LEADING THE BLIND. wake up. smoking the mj doesn’t make you a bad person,were dr’s lawyers, dentists,engineers and yes even politicians.weve held theses positions for as long as the csa has been around and it will never change. mj has been a part of our society since there were societys. peoples FEAR of the changes that may or may not effect society are unfounded. the only change that would really come is that people would’nt be imprisioned for smoking it and maybe it could be alittle cheaper to buy. the # of smokers isn’t going to change,some research says it may actually drop. kids won’t have anymore access than they already do. if anything there will be less. people drive drunk and high now as it is and it’s legality won’t change that either. some people are just plain stupid,have no morals or no concern of the risks to there lives or the lives of others. there is a time and place for that”not the highway” but some just dont get it it’s not impared judgement that cause that either it’s people that just don’t give a damn about anything, including themselves. no big changes other than we’ll regain our feedom to be who and what we are. GOOD PEOPLE!