Pubdate: Wed, 05 Nov 2014
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2014 The Baltimore Sun Company
Contact:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Author: Eric M. Johnson, Reuters
Page: 15

D.C., STATES WEIGH WHETHER TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

Votes in favor of a Washington ballot measure that would legalize 
marijuana possession but not retail sales in the nation's capital 
were ahead of opposition to the initiative, according to early 
election results Tuesday.

The measure, which would allow adults 21 and older to possess up to 2 
ounces of cannabis and grow up to six plants, had the support of 
roughly 64 percent of voters, to about 31 percent opposed, according 
to early results posted on the District of Columbia Board of Elections website.

In a test for broader marijuana legalization efforts across the 
United States, voters in the capital and a few states were casting 
ballots to decide whether to legalize recreational pot and medical marijuana.

Ballot measures in Oregon and Alaska would set up a network of 
regulated pot shops, similar to those already operating in Colorado 
and Washington state after twin landmark votes in 2012.

Legalization advocates backed by national organizations have had lots 
of cash to spend in Oregon and Alaska on advertisements and 
get-out-the-vote drives.

"Anything short of easy passage in all states is a major defeat for 
the deep pockets of the legalization advocates," said Kevin Sabet, 
co-founder of anti-legalization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana.

In left-leaning Oregon, where voters rejected a 2012 recreational pot 
measure, two October surveys showed the current initiative favored to 
pass by about 52 percent to 41 percent, while a third survey in late 
October showed it trailing by a razor-thin margin. Polling has been 
inconsistent in Alaska, a Republican-leaning state with a libertarian streak.

"It's a freedom issue. We are Americans, we should be able to do 
whatever we want - within reason," said Ben Wilcox, a bartender 
waving signs backing the measure at an intersection in downtown Juneau, Alaska.

The D.C. measure has been favored by a 2-1 margin, and advocates have 
portrayed it as a civil rights issue, saying studies have shown that 
blacks are more likely than other races to be arrested on marijuana charges.

"I think it's a misallocation of public resources to be arresting 
people for smoking marijuana," Douglas Farrar, a think tank employee 
who voted in favor of legalization, said outside a Washington polling place.

A proposed constitutional amendment to make Florida the 24th state 
and the first in the South to allow medical marijuana looked set to 
fall just 3 to 4 percentage points short of the 60 percent approval 
it needed to pass, according to preliminary results.

Two Maine cities, Lewiston and South Portland, were also voting on 
whether to legalize the possession of small amounts of recreational marijuana.

In Guam, unofficial results Tuesday indicated it became the first 
U.S. territory to approve medical marijuana, an election official there said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom