NEWS JULY 24TH California ACLU Endorses Pot Legalization Measure
The California affiliates of the American Civil Liberties Union announced Friday their endorsement of Proposition 19, the initiative on the November 2010 ballot to allow state regulation and taxation of marijuana.
Enforcement of marijuana prohibition consumes a great deal of California’s law enforcement and court system resources, and has a disproportionate impact on communities of color, according to the ACLU.
Read the full article from the News Junkie Post here.
NEWS JULY 12TH Feinstein opposes pot legalization measure (from SFGATE.COM)
California’s senior U.S. senator has agreed to participate in the campaign opposing a ballot initiative that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana and tax commercial pot sales. Public Safety First, the committee working to defeat Proposition 19 on the November ballot, said Monday that Senator Dianne Feinstein would be listed among the measure’s official opponents in the election information guide the state mails to registered voters. Feinstein is not the only prominent Democrat speaking out against the initiative. Senator Barbara Boxer and Attorney General Jerry Brown, the party’s nominee for governor, also have said they are against it. The California Democratic Party’s executive committee is scheduled to vote on its endorsements this weekend. View the original article here.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/07/12/state/n170342D09.DTL&feed=rss.news#ixzz0tfDwpMsl
NEWS JULY 9TH
California voters split on marijuana legalization, poll shows
California voters, by a narrow margin, are opposed to a measure on the November ballot to legalize marijuana, according to a new Field Poll released Friday.
The survey found that 44% of voters said they supported the measure, compared with 48% who said they were against it. The poll of 1,005 likely voters was conducted June 22 to July 5 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points. The numbers don’t bode well for proponents of the measure. Typically, ballot measures need to show support at least in the mid-to high-50s at this stage of the campaign to have hopes of passing in November.
The measure did best among white non-Hispanic voters and younger voters. All other ethnic groups broken out in the survey — Latinos, African Americans and Asian Americans — are strongly opposed to the measure.
You can look at the full poll results here.
NEWS JULY 6TH
Medical marijuana law in Michigan runs into workplace rule employers not required to allow marijuana use. Click here for full article.
UPDATE JULY 5TH, 2010
In our Poll on Californian initiatives 77% support legalization of marijuana. While the vast majority of the circa 2000 votes come from the US the issue clealry ignites global interest with votes being logged from 43 countries which put this poll up there with our Gaza flotilla raid poll (about 60 countries voted in that so far) in terms of generating a global voting base. Click here to vote in our poll.
According to Toke of the Town Proposition 19, the newly numbered Control & Tax Cannabis 2010 initiative to legalize and regulate marijuana in California, would lose if the election was held today — but by a very, very close margin, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll. The poll found that 48 percent of voters would support legalizing marijuana, with 50 percent opposed. Click here for the full article.
We also have a poll on initiatives to legalize marijuana in Colorado in 2012 in which we currently show 53% in favor. That one doesn’t however have very many votes yet. Click here to vote in the Colorado poll.
Continuing the theme we have yet another marijuana poll “Marijuana: Safer than Alcohol?” in which so far 58% say yes. You can click here to vote or see the results.
Previously a topical subject was whether or not the Los Angeles City Council should shut down or regulate Medical Marijuana Dispensaries. You can see the poll we ran on that by clicking here. This poll is now closed.
ORIGINAL POST (OCTOBER 26TH, 2009)
Proponents supporting the legal use of medical marijuana argue that marijuana has “accepted medical use in treatment in the United States. They claim that marijuana is a safe, effective treatment for many conditions including cancer, AIDS, MS and general pain medication among others.
Opponents of medical marijuana argue that marijuana has not been FDA-approved because it is too dangerous to use, and that various FDA-approved drugs make the use of marijuana unnecessary. They claim that marijuana, is addictive, is a ‘gateway’ drug often leading to harder drug use, can injures lungs, damage the brain, impairs driving and other abilities and also sends the wrong message to kids. They say that medical marijuana is a front for drug legalization, and that people who claim medical use are actually using it for recreational pleasure.
There are a number of local initiatives to legalize medical marijuana, as well as initiatives to legalize it in general. Here’s a quote from the State of Oregon’s Medical Marijuana Program:
“The Oregon Medical Marijuana Program is a State registry program within the Public Health Division, Oregon Department of Human Services. Our role is to administer the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act as approved by the voters of the State in November 1998. The program actively pursues administrative streamlining processes in an effort to better serve our patients while maintaining the highest level of confidentiality. Multiple states have requested information on Oregon’s program to use as a model for their own medical marijuana initiatives and registration systems.”
The Obama Administration released new guidelines on October 19th directing federal drug agents not to arrest or harass medical marijuana patients and their sanctioned suppliers in states that have approved medicinal use, as long as they are following their state’s medical marijuana law. The new guidelines will impact thirteen states that currently allow marijuana for medical purposes. These are: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
There’s a number of opinions out there pro and con. Our polls currently show 87% in favor of legalizing Marijuana – Over 90% of those votes cast in the U.S. What do you think? Have your say in our polls.
Related VoteGlobal QuickPolls:
Legalize Marijuana?
LA Medical Marijuana Dispensaries: Regulate or Shut them Down?
Related Articles:
Newsweek: Welcome to Potopia
Medical Marijuana Pros & Cons (ProCon.org)
New York Times…
Los Angeles Times…
CNN…
