Legalize Marijuana - Andrew Yang for President | | | | | |
| | | | | Legalize Marijuana - Andrew Yang for President Andrew Yang's Policy on Legalizing Marijuana: Marijuana is still considered a controlled substance by federal la... | | | LEGALIZE MARIJUANA Marijuana is still considered a controlled substance by federal law. Thousands are in jail for marijuana-related offenses, particularly people of color. Yet marijuana is now legal for adult use in 11 STATES AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, and 33 STATES have legalized medical marijuana in some form. | | | | | | | | | | | Illinois just became the first state to legalize marijuana sales through... Jeremy Berke, Skye Gould Marijuana is legal for adults over the age of 21 in 11 states; medical marijuana is legal in 33. | | | We need to resolve the ambiguity and legalize marijuana at the federal level. This would improve safety, social equity, and generate tens of billions of dollars in new revenue based on legal cannabis businesses. I don’t love marijuana. I’d rather people not use it heavily. But it’s vastly safer than people becoming addicted to opiates like heroin. And our criminalization of it seems stupid and racist, particularly now that it’s legal in some states. We should proceed with full legalization of marijuana and pardon those in jail for non-violent marijuana-related offenses. It’s a safer, less addictive means to manage pain for many Americans. PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED - Thousands of Americans, many of them minorities, are in jail for non-violent marijuana-related offenses even as it is now legal in 9 states. - Federal treatment of marijuana is unclear as it remains a controlled substance under the law - --- Record number of states considered marijuana legalization in 2019 | | | | | | | | | | | Record number of states considered marijuana legalization in 2019 Reid Wilson More than half of all state legislatures considered legislation in 2019 to legalize the possession or use of mar... | | | BY REID WILSON - 07/22/19 02:25 PM EDT More than half of all state legislatures considered legislation in 2019 to legalize the possession or use of marijuana, a new record that illustrates a normalization of an issue that lawmakers once saw as a third rail. Only a few states actually passed legislation dealing with marijuana this year, and just one — Illinois — legalized its recreational use among adults. But backers of legal marijuana point to the broad debate itself as evidence that a once-niche issue has gone mainstream. "Virtually every legislature in the country is taking a close look at its marijuana policies, and many have adopted significant reforms in 2019,” said Karen O’Keefe, who directs state policy at the pro-legalization Marijuana Policy Project, which released a report Monday on marijuana’s legislative progress. | | | | | | | | | | | Marijuana Policy Progress Report 2019 Legislative Update We Change Laws! | | | In all, 27 states considered legislation that would have legalized commercial sales, recreational use or possession of marijuana, according to the Marijuana Policy Project. Legislators in Iowa, Tennessee and Virginia — all states in which both chambers are controlled by Republicans — considered their first marijuana legalization bills, though none of them passed. At the beginning of the year, several Democratic-controlled states looked poised to advance recreational marijuana laws, but those bills — in states like Connecticut, New York and New Mexico — stalled as well. New Mexico legislators did, however, vote to decriminalize marijuana possession, and legislators say they will try again in the next session to pass a legalization bill. Lawmakers in Hawaii also voted to decriminalize the drug, and Republican-dominated Georgia expanded the use of marijuana for medical reasons. North Dakota, another red state, ended jail time for those convicted of marijuana possession. At the national level, the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time held a hearing on whether to end or reform federal marijuana prohibition. The Democratic-controlled House also passed an appropriations rider that could pave the way for Washington, D.C., to begin legal commercial sales of marijuana. Opponents of loosening marijuana laws said the legislative losses, especially in blue states, showed that momentum for legalization has slowed. “This report is an attempt to mask what was by far the worst year for legalization advocates since 2011,” said Kevin Sabet, who heads the anti-legalization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana. “Parents, teachers and public health practitioners defeated bills in more than half a dozen states, including New York and New Jersey, despite being outspent by an average of 30 to one.” “When we are able to discuss the failures of legalization, such policies get rejected,” Sabet said. Public opinion polls show that legalizing marijuana has become more politically popular over the years, especially after Washington and Colorado became the first states to do so in 2012. A Marist College pollconducted for NPR and PBS NewsHour released Monday shows 62 percent of registered voters, including two-thirds of independents, say legalizing recreational marijuana is a good idea. As recently as 2010, a majority of Americans told Gallup pollsters they opposed making marijuana legal. | | | | | | | | | | | Two in Three Americans Now Support Legalizing Marijuana Gallup, Inc. Americans' support for legalizing marijuana continues to set new records, with 66% of U.S. adults now in favor o... | | | Recreational marijuana use is legal in 11 states and the District of Columbia, after Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) signed the bill in his state this year. Medical marijuana is legal in some form in 33 states, and possession of small amounts of marijuana has been decriminalized in 26 states. | | | | | | | | | | | Illinois governor signs bill legalizing recreational marijuana use Chris Mills Rodrigo Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker (D) on Tuesday signed a bill making recreational marijuana legal in the state begin... | | |
