The Green Thread: Marijuana in the states

[Gass3268]

West Virginia becomes the 29th state to legalize medical marijuana, but the legalization is a bit limited

[Gass3268]

My first thought with seeing South Dakota passing a legalization initiative was that it could probably pass anywhere outside the South and Utah. I'm not sure why the 2018 North Dakota initiative went down in massive defeat. Arizona, California, and Oregon all had initiatives defeated before regrouping and passing them within a few years. The 2015 Ohio initiative was fatally flawed for two big reasons: attempting it in an odd year, but more importantly the initiative was very poorly written. I'm surprised they haven't tried again there, as I'm sure it would easily pass.

Florida would be a very hard lift because of the 60% threshold for ballot initiatives and also the age component on this issue, which is very real. So far, the only states that have cleared that threshold are New Jersey (easily) and Arizona (barely).

I'm pretty sure the only legislature so far to legalize through the normal legislative process (as opposed to ballot initiative) is Vermont (and incidentally signed into law by Governor Phil Scott). I'm not really sure what so many Democratic legislators are afraid of. I have a hard time seeing any significant number of Republican legislators come out in support of legalization outside of New England or Wyoming.

It sounds like Rhode Island is going to push ahead and try to pass a legalization bill in the next session.

[Gass3268]

https://twitter.com/JoeyPeters/status/1590767160087171073?s=20&t=QjK710_RiQh...

[Gass3268]

I think this this is going to be much closer than people think.

[Gass3268]

I think this this is going to be much closer than people think.

Lol never mind

[Gass3268]

A-hole move by the WI GOP! 😒

Wisconsin GOP Lawmakers Strip Marijuana Legalization From Governor’s Budget In Joint Hearing

https://www.marijuanamoment.net/wisconsin-gop-lawmakers-strip-marijuana-legalization-from-governors-budget-in-joint-hearing/

They refuse to even allow medical, there's no way they're allowing anything else to happen. So we're surrounded and they're mad about that, they're going to start trying to get the state patrol to start cracking down is my guess.

Wisconsin doesn't have a referendum option, does it? Rather amazing considering it was in so many ways the Wellspring of the Progressive Movement.

It was put forward to a vote in 1914 and it failed with no getting 64% of the vote.

[Gass3268]

I wonder if you could do legalization or at the very least decriminalization via the new liberal Supreme Court majority.

[Gass3268]

https://twitter.com/StarTribune/status/1663596089251856398?s=20

Haha Jesse Ventura!

[Gass3268]

https://twitter.com/andrewjtobias/status/1707071429953380679?s=46

[Gass3268]

https://www.bw.edu/Assets/community-research-institute/october_ohio_issues_poll%20final.pdf

Do you think the recreational use of marijuana should be fully legalized in Ohio? Or should it remain against the law?

Fully Leagalized 58.1
Remain Against The Law 30.0
Not Sure 11.9

[Gass3268]

Still not entirely convinced this would pass. Aside from Maryland, I don't think any other marijuana legalization initiative has ever gotten more than 60%, and that is what it would take in Florida.

As I mentioned several posts above, there have been three states where recreational legalization has broken 60% (including Maryland). After that, everything else is at least a couple points short. This is everything above 55%:

MD (2022): 67.20%
NJ (2020): 67.08%
AZ (2020): 60.03%
CA (2016): 57.13%
OH (2023): 56.97%*
MT (2020): 56.90%
OR (2014): 56.11%
MI (2018) 55.89%
WA (2012): 55.70%
CO (2012): 55.32%

*Results are unofficial and obviously will likely change with the official tally.

Maryland and New Jersey are unique both in their results and that both initiatives were legislatively-referred.

I do share your view that Florida seems like a very difficult state to get recreational legalization over 60%. We've seen time and time again that age is the top factor in terms of level of support. I think the problem is worse in a state like Florida considering a lot of its senior population comes from other states in the South. The Florida amendment seems to have some serious money behind it, though that can be a double-edged sword sometimes. ("Big Marijuana" can be a boogeyman if they're not careful.) It also seems to have some flaws, but I wonder if that's because of the strict standards regarding single subjects. Some states are a lot stricter on that than others and I do recall Florida being one of them.


Looking at the bigger picture, there aren't many more states where this can be done through the initiative process and some states have had bad results (though that certainly doesn't mean future attempts shouldn't be made):

-Florida: Already mentioned above. Requires 60% supermajority.
-Arkansas: Defeated 43.75%-56.25% in 2022.
-Oklahoma: Defeated 38.33%-61.67% in (March) 2023.
-North Dakota: Defeated 40.55%-59.45% in 2018 and 45.06%-54.94% in 2022.
-South Dakota: Passed 54.18%-45.82% in 2020, but struck down. Defeated 47.08%-52.92% in 2022.
-Nebraska: No initiative has reached the ballot as of yet. Attempt is possible in 2024.
-Wyoming: No initiative has reached the ballot as of yet.
-Idaho: No initiative has reached the ballot as of yet.
-Utah: No initiative has reached the ballot as of yet.

The last three states only have initiated statutes at their disposal, which would leave them at the mercy of extremely Republican legislatures. Idaho and Wyoming don't even have medical marijuana. With that said, the list above is all that remains as far as any possible attempt to bypass the legislature. Ohio seems like it was the last of the low-hanging fruit in terms of ballot initiatives. All other states not mentioned above without recreational legalization require action by their state legislatures.

I think that the Dakotas will eventually pass it and that Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin will eventually get a D trifecta. Especially with liberal courts and a potential Hump presidency.

I would love for someone to challenge marijuana prohibition in Wisconsin to the state Supreme Court.