Michigan voted to legalise marijuana

The measure, which passed with 56 percent of votes, makes Michigan the tenth state, plus Washington, D.C., to permit recreational weed, and the second largest behind California in terms of population. “This is yet another historic election for the movement to end marijuana prohibition,” Steve Hawkins, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, which had organized behind the Michigan initiative effort, said in a statement. “Voters have once again sent a message loud and clear that it is time to legalize and regulate marijuana.” Two out of three people in the United States support legalizing cannabis for recreational use, according to the results of Gallup poll released last month. “The victory in Michigan highlights just how widespread support is for marijuana policy reform,” Hawkins added. Under Michigan’s Prop 18-1, consumers would be allowed cultivate up to 12 plants for personal use, but limit possession to 10 ounces of marijuana products stored in their home and to 2.5 ounces in public, provided no more than 15 grams are in concentrate form. Using cannabis in public, though, is prohibited under the measure. Still, even with those caveats, the passage of Prop 18-1 will have huge implications for criminal justice reform in the state. From 2007 through 2016, there were more than 200,000 cannabis-related arrests in Michigan, of which 84 percent were for personal possession, according to the Drug Policy Alliance. But with the legalization of recreational weed, those statistics should take a nosedive. “Adults will no longer be punished for consuming a substance less harmful than alcohol,” Marijuana Policy Project’s Deputy Director Matthew Schweich said in a statement, “and rather than having to resort to the illegal market, they will be able to access it safely and legally from licensed businesses.” There’s also a massive economic benefit: Prop 18-1 will impose a 10 percent cannabis sales tax, which will help support Michigan’s infrastructure, clinical research, education and regulatory costs, as well as localities where marijuana businesses operate. Prop 18-1 does, however, give local municipalities the option to opt out of the program, letting them prohibit or limit the recreational marijuana businesses in their area. The opt-out scheme, though, would only apply to the commercial cannabis industry and would not affect personal cultivation or possession. Michigan wasn’t the only state to have cannabis legalization is on the table. Voters in North Dakota also took to the polls to decide the fate of legal weed in the state. North Dakota’s ballot initiative Measure 3 would have removed “hashish, marijuana, and tetrahydrocannabinols” (THC) from its list of Schedule I substances, ultimately making recreational cannabis use legal for all adults. It would also have created a process that automatically expunged previous marijuana convictions. But Measure 3 failed to pass, with less than 40 percent of voters in favor of the initiative. On the medicinal side, Missouri legalized medical marijuana after more than 64 percent of people voted to approve Amendment 2, one of three competing legalization initiatives on the state’s ballot, all of which relate to medical marijuana only. Amendment 2 was considered the most substantive measure and aligned most closely with other state medical marijuana programs. The initiative will legalize medical cannabis in Missouri and impose a four-percent sales tax, the revenue of which would fund veteran health care services in the state. Source: rollingstone.com