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Marijuana News Roundup: Status of Ballot Initiatives 2 Weeks Before Voting
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Both Pew Research and Gallup have released survey results showing that most Americans favor legalization of marijuana. Pew had numbers out earlier this month that showed 57% of Americans favored legalization while a Gallup poll released last Wednesday puts the total at 60%.
Here’s a list of the latest polling numbers in the five states where voters will decide whether or not to legalize marijuana for recreational use, based on report from Ballotpedia.
- Arizona (Proposition 205): 50.4% in favor; 41.6% opposed; 8% undecided
- California (Proposition 64): 51% in favor; 40% opposed; 9% undecided
- Maine (Question 1): 53% in favor; 38% opposed; 10% undecided
- Massachusetts (Question 4): 55% in favor; 40% opposed; 5% undecided
- Nevada (Question 2): 47% in favor; 46% opposed; 7% undecided
Arkansas has two medical marijuana measures for voter consideration: Issue 6 is a constitutional amendment that would not allow the state legislature to make medical marijuana illegal again without voter approval. Issue 7 is an initiated state statute that would allow the legislature to make medical marijuana illegal again with a two-thirds majority vote. In Montana, medical marijuana was legalized in 2011, but the state legislature passed strict dispensary laws that were upheld by the state supreme court earlier this year and have effectively put dispensaries out of business.
Among the four states voting on legalizing medical marijuana, here are the most recent polling results.
- Arkansas (Issue 6): 49% in favor; 43% opposed; 8% undecided
- Arkansas (Issue 7): no polling
- Florida (Amendment 2): 77% in favor; 18% opposed; 4% undecided
- Montana (I-182): 44% in favor; 51% oppose; 5% undecided
- North Dakota (Measure 5): no polling
Inside Big Pharma’s Fight to Block Recreational Marijuana
Marijuana legalization will unleash misery on Arizona, according to a wave of television ads that started rolling out across the state last month. Replete with ominous music, the advertisements feature lawmakers and teachers who paint a bleak future for Arizona’s children if voters approve Proposition 205, a measure that would allow people aged 21 and over to possess an ounce of pot and grow up to six plants for recreational use.
“Colorado schools were promised millions in new revenues” when the state approved recreational pot use, says the voiceover in one ad. Instead, schoolchildren were plagued by “marijuana edibles that look like candy”.
As Election Day approaches, the ads will continue, but the surprise lies in who is backing them. In August, the pharmaceutical company Insys Therapeutics also cited concerns for child safety when, with a $500,000 contribution, it became the largest donor to Arizona’s anti-legalization drive. But their stated concerns have raised a few eyebrows across the state. Insys manufactures Subsys, a prescription painkiller derived from fentanyl, the synthetic opioid that is up to 100 times more powerful than morphine.
Read more at The Guardian.
High-Potency Pot Doubles Risk of Marijuana Dependence
The more potent the pot is, the more likely a person who uses it is to become dependent on it, a new study from the United Kingdom finds.
People in the study who used “high-potency” marijuana were twice as likely to become dependent as those who used lower-potency forms of the drug, according to new findings presented today (Oct. 21) at the International Early Psychosis Association meeting in Milan. The findings have not been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
People are considered to be dependent on marijuana if they experience withdrawal symptoms — such as irritability, mood and sleep problems, and decreased appetite — when they are not using the drug, according to the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
Read more at LiveScience.
Laughable Arguments Against Legalizing Marijuana
That new ad trying to scare voters into opposing Question 4 is so over the top, so replete with retro alarmism, it’s kind of adorable.
In it, opponents of the initiative to legalize pot in Massachusetts conjure a gray, dystopian world with a pot shop on every corner (“Weed world!” “Cannabis Hut!”). In a display window, scrumptious-looking, pink pot candies entice a little girl on her way to the toy store next door, mortifying her mother.
Voting yes on Question 4 will allow “thousands” of marijuana stores, the ad warns, “in neighborhoods like yours.” A siren screams by and the voice-over warns of more traffic deaths. A man walks by in a cloud of pot smoke. Reefer and its zombie devotees are everywhere.
But the worst is yet to come: A kid who looks like a teenager exits the cannabis store chewing an edible and toting a big bag with a bong sticking out.
Read more at the Boston Globe.
This Is How Much Money California Could Make on Recreational Marijuana
Legalizing recreational marijuana could be a smart financial move for California.
A new study from the University of the Pacific in Stockton suggests legalizing recreational marijuana in California would create jobs and generate billions of dollars worth of business. The study was commissioned by Truth Enterprises, which is an investment fund focused on the legal cannabis industry.
According to the study, if Sacramento became a hub for recreational marijuana, it could create as many as 20,000 jobs and bring in $4.2 billion. The researchers also considered the possibility that there could be legislation limiting the number and type of marijuana businesses that are allowed in the state. In that case, they say it would still create 1,600 jobs and bring in $322 million.
“The entire Sacramento business community is looking at this with different eyes today,” Joshua Woods, CEO of the Sacramento Region Business Association, told Reuters. “With this many jobs, you can’t ignore it.” Daniel Conway, Truth Enterprises’ managing partner, compared Sacramento to Detroit, telling Reuters that the California capital “should be to cannabis what Detroit is to automobiles in terms of both a center of innovation as well as production.”
Read more at Fortune.
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