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Yesterday, the Marijuana Policy Project won an overwhelming victory in Montana, which is now the 10th state to allow patients to use, possess, and grow their own marijuana for medical purposes. And Alaska saw the all-time biggest vote for ending marijuana prohibition in the history of the country. A record number of proposals to reform marijuana laws were on state and local ballots ... and MPP and our friends in California, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Missouri won 17 (or perhaps 18) out of 20. MONTANA (WIN): MPP's medical marijuana initiative passed by a 62% to 38% margin in Montana, making it the 10th state to protect medical marijuana patients from arrest. This margin of victory eclipses the previous record for any state's first vote on a medical marijuana initiative -- the 61% support received by a medical marijuana measure in Maine in 1999. Visit www.MontanaCares.org for details. ALASKA (LOSS): The initiative to remove all penalties for marijuana use by adults aged 21 and older lost by 43% to 57% -- the largest statewide vote ever to end marijuana prohibition. MPP thanks the Yes On 2 campaign, as well as Alaskans for Rights and Revenues, for their hard work on the Alaska campaign. Visit www.RegulateMarijuanaInAlaska.org for details. OREGON (LOSS): The initiative to strengthen Oregon's existing medical marijuana law by allowing registered patients to obtain their medicine from state-regulated dispensaries lost by a 42% to 58% margin. MPP thanks Voter Power in Portland for its hard work. Visit www.Vote33.org for details. ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN (WIN): An MPP-funded proposal to
amend the city charter to allow the medical use of marijuana
without fear of arrest under local law won by 74% to 26%, making
Ann Arbor the second COLUMBIA, MISSOURI (TWO WINS): An MPP-funded measure to replace jail time with a maximum $250 fine for marijuana possession passed with 61% to 39% of the vote. And a second MPP-funded measure to permit medical marijuana use without fear of arrest passed by 69% to 31%. MPP thanks the Columbia Alliance for Patients and Education (CAPE). OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA (WIN): An MPP-funded measure to make personal marijuana offenses the lowest priority for local law enforcement and direct the city to tax and regulate marijuana as soon as state law permits it passed by 64% to 36%. MPP thanks the Oakland Civil Liberties Alliance. MASSACHUSETTS (12 WINS): Voters in 12 out of 12 state legislative districts passed nonbinding public policy questions -- five advise the state legislature to pass medical marijuana legislation, six advise the legislature to pass a law to fine instead of jail marijuana users, and one advises the legislature to tax and regulate marijuana. MPP, which funded nine of these questions, thanks the Drug Policy Forum of Massachusetts and MassCann/NORML for their good work. Please see www.dpfma.org/ppq/ for details. BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA (UNDECIDED): It could be days before we know whether voters passed an initiative to regulate marijuana dispensaries in Berkeley. As I write this, the results are 50% to 50%, more votes are still being counted, and a recount is likely. MPP thanks the Alliance for Berkeley Patients for their efforts, and we wish them the best in the days to come! In what may be the most significant result of all, we demonstrated that our movement has come of age by influencing the outcome of legislative races -- just like the National Rifle Association and other heavy-hitters routinely do ... After intensive campaigning by MPP staffers and volunteers, Vermont voters handed stunning defeats to three leading opponents of that state's medical marijuana law -- passed by the legislature earlier this year after a contentious, three-year battle. MPP ran an extensive grassroots campaign aimed at defeating legislators who opposed the measure and backing candidates who support it. Three of the six bad incumbents we targeted lost their seats, all three of the good incumbents we were protecting easily won re-election, and we elected one out of three of our candidates to open seats. These six victories in Vermont helped to flip control of the Vermont House of Representatives to the Democrats and Progressives -- which was MPP's goal, due to the Republican House leadership's unrelenting hostility to our medical marijuana bill. See http:///www.mpp.org/VT for details. Yesterday was a great day for marijuana policy reform. The results send a strong message to legislators that support for medical marijuana is overwhelming and bipartisan ... and that supporting medical marijuana is not politically risky, but opposing it is. And we held our own against the White House drug czar, whose office spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to campaign against the initiatives. |
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For the latest drug war news, visit our friends and allies below We are careful not to duplicate the efforts of other organizations, and as a grassroots coalition of prisoners and social reformers, our resources (time and money) are limited. The vast expertise and scope of the various drug reform organizations will enable you to stay informed on the ever-changing, many-faceted aspects of the movement. Our colleagues in reform also give the latest drug war news. Please check their websites often. |
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