Progress at the Polls
The votes are in. The winner is clear. Drug Law Reform has won the 2020 election. Five states, Arizona, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota passed cannabis initiatives. Additionally, Oregon and Washington, D.C. passed measures allowing the use of psilocybin therapy. Oregon also decriminalized all drugs. Americans chose where to start healing from the long lost War on Drugs: the polls. And it wasn’t even close. The measures were landslide victories.
Arizona passed recreational marijuana Proposition 207 with 60% of the vote. Up to one ounce or 5 grams of concentrate is legal to possess for adults 21 and older. A home cultivation limit is set at six plants per person and twelve plants at a residence where two or more folks 21 or older reside. The proposition also sets up licensing for retail sales starting with the medical-marijuana dispensaries already in operation. A 16% excise tax on marijuana purchases will be imposed allotted for implementation of the new law and fund various community programs. Additionally, justice will be served with provisions that allow individuals with prior marijuana convictions petition for expungement beginning July 12, 2021.
A decade ago no one would have dreamed Mississippi would pass an initiative legalizing marijuana, even if it is only for people with chronic medical conditions. To do it with a strong 68% of the vote shows how serious southerners have become about voicing their compassion. Initiative 65 allows possession of medical marijuana for patients with at least one of 22 medical conditions, which must be approved by a Mississippi licensed physician. Patients are allowed to possess up to 2.5 ounces per 14-day period.
Montana approved with 57% of votes initiative 190, which legalizes recreational marijuana. On January 1, 2021 residents will be allowed to have one ounce of flower and eight grams of concentrate. Montanans are allowed to grow four plants at their private residence and any amount over an ounce must be kept in a locked space not visible from public. The initiative establishes a 20% tax on non medical marijuana, with 10.5% of revenue going to the state general fund. The remainder will be dedicated to accounts for conservation programs, substance-abuse treatment, veterans’ services, health-care costs and localities where marijuana is sold. Additionally, the correct moral move is in place allowing a person currently serving a sentence for an act permitted by the new initiative to apply for resentencing or expungement of the conviction.
In another blowout, New Jersey voted to go full recreational with 67% of votes. Unfortunately, the new legislation does not yet specify details like possession amount, personal cultivation, or retail regulations. Some states in the past have bogged down politically and delayed setting statutes not clearly defined in a ballot initiative. The good news is that a fairly low tax is set at the standard sales rate of 6.625%, also allowing local governments to enact an additional 2%.
South Dakota isn’t playing around. A constitutional amendment was passed for full recreational legalization. Changes to a state constitution are difficult to reverse, and the law allows one ounce and three plants per citizen. A ballot initiative was also overwhelmingly passed to allow medical patients to possess and purchase up to 3 ounces. All legislation is deadlined to be hashed out by October 29, 2021.
The train has left the station. Only six states are totally non compliant with cannabis legalization in some form. Fifteen states along with our nation’s capital are fully recreational. 36 states along with District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands have medical laws. The wall of Draconian marijuana legislation built a century ago that puts innocent people behind bars is getting torn down brick by brick.