D.C., Oregon, Alaska Vote to Legalize Marijuana as Florida Abstains
As numerous statewide marijuana reform laws went to a vote across the country at the midterm elections on Tuesday night, Oregon, Alaska and Washington, D.C. all voted in favor of legalization to varying degrees, while those in Florida found the state’s citizens opposing a medical marijuana measure.
Oregon’s new law allows adults age 21 and up to possess, manufacture and sell marijuana. It also allows for commercial regulation of the marijuana system within the state, similar to those of Colorado and the state of Washington, according to CNN.
Alaska also passed a law allowing it to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. It, too, allows the state to create a control board to regulate its marijuana industry. Prior to this election, Alaska had murky laws with relation to weed, after a 1975 Alaska Supreme Court ruling that set a precedent allowing for people to keep marijuana at home; full legalization measures were on Alaska ballots in 2000 and 2004, but failed to pass. The new measure passed with 52 percent of voters favoring it. It will not become law until 90 days after the election is certified, according to Alaska Dispatch News.
In Washington, D.C., voters approved a law allowing for adults 21 and over to possess up to two ounces of weed for personal use and grow up to six cannabis plants at home. A person can also give up to an ounce of marijuana to another but cannot sell it. It also lacks a taxation system, USA Today reports, since voters cannot implement taxes themselves.
Despite the measure passing, CNN reports that some politicians will attempt to overrule the vote since D.C. is a district and not a state. With Republicans winning the majority of the Senate this week, the law’s prospects look grim.
But while weed measures passed in the northern United States, Florida voted down a measure that would allow for the medical use of marijuana. That measure received 58 percent approval, falling just two percent shy of the mark that would have made it a constitutional amendment in the state, according to NPR. While Florida said no to medical marijuana, the United States territory Guam passed a law in favor of it, USA Today reports.
Twenty-three U.S. states and Washington, D.C. allow medicinal marijuana use, while Colorado and Washington also allow recreational marijuana use.