Marijuana on the ballot

Multiple states will offer voters a chance to express their opinion about easing marijuana laws including 5 with recreational use initiatives making weed legal. Florida is the closest to Georgia where voters will decide if pot may be offered for medicinal purposes. Here is a story from the AP posted on Cannabist about the ballot initiatives.

“Collectively, the ballot measures amount to the closest the U.S. has come to a national referendum on the drug.”

California’s Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act seems to be getting the most attention of any state. It is a very detailed referendum consisting of 62 pages with big money backers contributing nearly $20 million toward its passage.

“If the initiative passes, the state won’t go up in a big puff of smoke — there will still be laws, regulations and taxes — but it could create a dramatically altered landscape for cannabis. An ounce of marijuana in your purse would be perfectly legal. So would eight grams of “concentrate.” You could grow up to six plants inside your home, keeping what you harvest. And you would no longer have to buy weed from sketchy strangers or fake an illness to get a “medical marijuana” card.”

Four other states have recreational use referendums on the ballot, Arizona, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada. Medical marijuana will be voted on in Florida, Arkansas and North Dakota.

Georgia passed a very limited cannabis oil bill in 2015 lead by Macon representative Allan Peake. He continues to try and expand access by pushing legislation for medical use in our state, but has yet to gain enough support for passage.

California often leads as a trendsetter for other states. If Prop 64 passes as expected, it will provide a model piece of legislation that can be copied across the country. Eventually congress will have to address the issue, but in the meantime states are the testing grounds of legalization that will ultimately lead to national consensus as it should be.