
Voters in five states will choose
whether or not to legalize marijuana this November.
Introduction
As the nation's opioid crisis continues to
rage, voters are considering whether or not to legalize marijuana.
Arizona, California, and Nevada voted on legalizing
cannabis for recreational use. If approved, Colorado-style pot shops will
spring up in these states, and possession of up to an ounce will be legal in
each.
In Florida and North Dakota, residents vote
on whether to allow medical marijuana to be consumed without smoking it.
California voted down an earlier attempt at
a medical marijuana law because the moment someone got a doctor's note clearing
them to use it, they could immediately start growing plants and selling them
out of their homes or storefronts.
Floridians seek a more tightly regulated
system to give patients access to medical marijuana."
Several states are voting in
November on whether to legalize marijuana.
Legalizing marijuana has been on the ballot
in several states in recent years. Voters in five states, Michigan, Nevada,
North Dakota, Colorado, and Oklahoma, will decide whether to legalize it this
November.
Recreational use is already legal in Alaska,
California, Oregon, and Washington. In addition to these measures being decided
by voters, several ballot initiatives could expand access to medical marijuana
and decriminalize possession of small amounts of the drug by adults.
The issue differs from other contentious
issues like gun control or abortion because it doesn't involve moral questions
about when life begins or what constitutes a human being.
Rather, it involves whether adults should be
able to do something they choose freely with themselves without fear of
prosecution by their government or imprisonment at the hands of law enforcement
officers enforcing draconian laws against victimless crimes such as possession
of small amounts (or even large amounts) of marijuana.
Arizona, California, and
Nevada voted on legalizing cannabis for recreational use.
The vote in Arizona, California, and Nevada
is on legalizing cannabis for recreational use. In Maine and Massachusetts,
voters will decide whether to legalize it for medical use only.
If every state's measure passes, that will
double the number of states that permit recreational marijuana use from four to
eight a major sea change in American history.
In California, where an estimated 1 million
people grow marijuana at home illegally and continue to operate under the guise
of medical marijuana laws passed two decades ago, legalization advocates are
trying something different.
They've proposed a bill that would allow
residents 21 or older to possess up to one ounce of pot without fear of arrest
by police or other criminal charges by prosecutors (however they can still be
fined).
The bill also allows individuals over the
age of 21 living in homes with children under 18 years old (or those who live
with others who don't want them using cannabis) to smoke it at home unless they
have permission from everyone else
.
Residents in Florida and North
Dakota vote on whether to allow medical marijuana.
A major difference between the two
consumption methods is that smoking is a more intense, immediate experience.
It's also a more controversial choice than eating.
But for those concerned about health, there
are some major benefits to eating marijuana rather than smoking it.
A study published in Pharmacology
Biochemistry and Behavior showed that vaporizing cannabis has lower carbon
monoxide levels than cigarettes, meaning less damage to your lungs over time.
Meanwhile, other studies have shown that
inhaling marijuana cannabinoids may have therapeutic effects like pain
reduction from inflammation and improved appetite in cancer patients (though
these are still under investigation). And let's not forget about the potential
for recreational use.
California voted down an
earlier attempt at a medical marijuana law
California's medical marijuana law was voted
down because when someone got a doctor's note clearing them to use it, they
could immediately start growing plants and selling them out of their homes or
storefronts.
This was a problem because there weren't any
requirements for dispensaries to be licensed or regulated; many people were
upset that they could not get access to medical marijuana.
The details matter when it
comes to legalizing weed.
There's a lot of attention on whether or not
marijuana will be legalized in the United States. Still, most voters don't
realize that many different kinds of legalization can take place.
Some states have passed laws that allow
individuals to possess small quantities of cannabis and use it for medical
purposes, for example. Other states have gone further by legalizing
recreational use as well.
This distinction matters because each type
of legalization can significantly differ. Those differences could affect
everything from how easy it is to get a license for selling cannabis products
to how much money you make if you're trying to sell them legally at your local
dispensary.
Conclusion
The details matter when it comes to
legalizing marijuana. The people who voted in favor of legalization may have
been thinking about the freedom to smoke with friends and family, but they also
need to be aware of how their choices impact others.
For example, suppose you're voting on whether
or not someone should be able to grow their pot at home and sell it out of
their front door (like Colorado does). In that instance, you might end up with
a system that allows anyone with an ID card to do this, including minors who
can't legally purchase alcohol.
This is just one example; there are many
other ways these five ballot initiatives could affect society.