Legal ganja ‘grows’ in US down ballot vote
(CNS): All eyes were on the results for the top of the ballot in Tuesday’s elections in the US, but in several states there were some significant developments in the campaign to legalise marijuana use much further down the ticket. Eight out of the nine states that had the issue on the ballot sheet voted for some form of legalised use. One of the most significant was in California, where voters have approved recreational marijuana use.
That votes is seen as a huge victory in the fight for legalisation, paving the way for the largest commercial ganja market in America. California’s Proposition 64 is described by stakeholders as the most important cannabis measure the US has seen and a potential international game-changer for policy in the country. California, which recently overtook the UK to have the fifth largest economy in the world, is expected to have a recreational marijuana market greater than Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska combined.
But the liberal Democratic state was not the only one to support change on the ganja front. Massachusetts voted for recreational pot, extending legalise use from coast to coast, while Maine also backed its full recreational use, sale, and consumption. In Arizona, however, voters rejected a move to legalize its recreational use, though it had already passed legislation in 2010 for medical use.
Florida voted to approve the use of medical Marijuana. North Dakota also approved medical use for a number of diseases, including cancer, Aids, epilepsy and hepatitis C.
Arkansas was the third state to pass a medical cannabis measure, which will allow patients with specific conditions to buy medicine from dispensaries licensed by the government. Montana supported an expansion of the number of patients medical marijuana suppliers can treat.
The increase in states with laws facilitating either recreational or medical use means that almost a quarter of Americans live in places where the drug is legalto soem degree. A recent Gallup poll in the US showed public support for legal ganja is now at 60 percent.
But marijuana remains a schedule one drug in federal law and its possession a criminal offence. And while President Barack Obama told Bill Mayer in an interview with the comedian last week that there is a need for “a more serious conversation about how we’re treating marijuana and our drug laws in general”, the result at the top of Wednesday ticket could still set things back.
Campaigners for legalised ganja believe that the federal government’s war on drugs won’t hold up in the face of increasing state laws facilitating recreational and medical use. But with Republicans taking control of the House and Senate as well as the White House, political support will be lacking.
President Elect Donald Trump has flip-flopped on marijuana but he has said he supports medical use, while suggesting individual states should decide on recreational use.
Category: USA, World News
Do the potheads really think they will get a job keeping this up. Most jobs require drug tests. Legal or not I don’t want employees that are high on the job. Alcohol is legal. But I would fire any employee that was drinking on the job.
Legalization is fine for medicinal purposes. Everything else won’t help society.
Thanks for giving the solution to this problem: Legalize it and if you are drunk or stoned on the job, you get fired.
FYI: Marijuana was made illegal in the 30’s in Utah. The purpose was to be able to blame the black people for the downfall of the economy.
It worked, and ever since religious freaks (Utah !) are against it.
Before that the farmers had to use 50% of their land to grow hemp.
Do drunks really think that they can run a organization by over exaggerating their performance. Can fattys really be relied upon to concentrate around lunch or dinner. Can you really trust a skinny bird brain with shifty and lethargic eyes. Can we trust the religious to not stress out others from projecting an unrealistic utopia…we need testing for alcohol, forced diets to make the skinny and fat more healthy, and psychiatric evaluations.
Its a good thing none of these can be manipulated by managers to target others at the work-place…not.
Oh please take a look at the reality. People do not get hired for jobs because of the way they look. People get hired for jobs because of the way they look. So your fat/skinny argument is nonsense. Ever seen a fat gym instructor? Who would hire them? Ever seen an ugly model? An atheist as a pastor/priest? Get real.
Drug/alcohol use impairs judgement. No employer wants a drunk/stoner on the job. Do you want a drunk/high doctor operating on you? What about a pilot/nurse/teacher for your children? Hey even your accountant or lawyer in court? I think not. It is all good and dandy to say legalize for recreational use. But no one actually wants someone to be in that state when interacting with them in a work environment.
I would never hire someone who cannot pass a drug test. Legal or not.
People should be able to do what they want in their off hours. If they are high / drunk on the job then it is ground for termination. If they got high the night before they probably just got some good sleep and are ready to go in the morning. I don’t see the hatred towards this relatively benign drug. Doesn’t even come close to being as bad as alcohol, let alone any other drugs like Crack, meth, or cocaine.
By that logic, you also would never hire someone who drinks alcohol.
Medicinal marijuana legalised in Florida and in Cayman so guess we can use CINICO to go to Florida for treatment
Legalizing shall bring world peace.
Legalize it! Or don’t… I’ll continue smoking it anyway.
Damn straight
Eat drink and smoke.
Blaze on!
Some of the titles for the stories on CNS are not clear or make sense.
Your comment is not much better…
We are still busting people for a joint. Backward much. Let folks grow their own.
Let folks grow their own and the runs to Jamaica will stop….. maybe this might cut down on the guns that come into the island…..
How many of the denizens of Northward are there ONLY because of getting “caught” with a spliff?? We are criminalizing our future generations for a habit that is no worse than the “legal” alcohol or tobacco!
I don’t partake of any of the above, but that shouldn’t limit anyone who wants to damage their health with any or all of them. Just don’t make me pay RIDICULOUS rates for health insurance for those who do! Up-charging a person for their CHOICE to damage their own health is NOT discrimination.
You can still arrest and prosecute them for driving while impaired, as the medical facts are that they WILL be impaired after their illicit pleasures! Employers in states that have legalized the casual usage can still censure (or FIRE) those who come to work impaired, by either alcohol or reefer! It is a CHOICE that can have negative effects on employment, regardless of the VICE you CHOOSE….
Your health insurance rate is not based on cost. It is based on maximizing profits.
In Europe it is different. Healthcare is a right, not a product that can be used to make a profit.
It’s already legal here in my blood shot eyes!