Wave of legalization sweeps the nation

Faced with the biggest tidal wave of cannabis voter initiatives to sweep the nation on a single ballot, the States of California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada all voted to end marijuana prohibition in November 2016. As of the end of the day, eight states have adopted laws that legalize, regulate, and tax marijuana for adult use and 28 states have passed comprehensive medical marijuana laws.

Arkansas, Florida and North Dakota adopted medical marijuana laws and Montana approved an initiative to re-establish patients’ access to medical marijuana providers, which was hindered by state lawmakers, and create a more regulated system of medical marijuana production and distribution. At 4:20 a.m. ET the morning after the vote, an initiative to end marijuana prohibition in Arizo

na was trailing 48-52 and later it was determined to have fallen short of passage.

Trump’s attitude toward cannabis not seen as harsh

The question is as to what will the response be at the federal level. Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump has hedged his public position on marijuana legalization, but is “a hundred percent” in favor of medical marijuana. Nonetheless, Trump’s public position on legalization is evolving andhe has acknowledged that “in some ways” legalization “is good.”

Speaking on Fox News to Bill O’Reilly in February 2016,  when asked about his position on marijuana legalization in Colorado, Trump expressed some concern over the health effects of marijuana. When O’Reilly asked what he would do to stop it, Trump stepped back and said, “I would, I would really want to think about that one Bill because in some ways, I think it’s good and in other ways, it’s bad.” Trump went on to drive home his support for medical marijuana, explaining that “I know people that have serious problems… and… it really, really does help them.”

Oakland celebrates historic vote after 103 years of prohibition

California was the first state to ban cannabis in 1913, some 103 years ago. Prop. 64 supporters celebrated the end of that prohibition in Oaksterdam California at a party hosted by Berkeley Patients Group. The legalization initiative received 65.9% of the Alameda County vote, but even that paled to San Francisco’s 73.7 percent Yes vote. Chris Conrad and Mikki Norris of Friends of Prop. 64 led the count down to midnight, when the retroactive new law went into effect.

“This is the most momentous Election Day in history for the movement to end marijuana prohibition,” noted Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project. “From Los Angeles to Boston, voters are casting their ballots in favor of sensible marijuana policy reforms. Today’s results are right in line with national polls showing record-high support for making marijuana legal.”

The near sweep on election day is consistent with recent polls. Sixty-three percent of Americans age 18 and older favor making the use of marijuana legal, according to national polling results compiled by the Public Religion Research Institute’s American Values Survey. The poll has a margin or error of +/- 2.8 percentage points.

“This percentage is the highest ever reported by the poll, and marks a 30 percent increase in public support for marijuana legalization since 2014,” said NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano. The results come only days after separate surveys released by the Pew Research Center and by Gallup also reported that Americans’ support for legalizing marijuana is at an all-time high.