Voters yesterday decided on a number of state and local ballot initiatives specific to marijuana policies.
Tag: initiatives
New Jersey: Voter Support Solidly in Favor of Marijuana Legalization Ahead of Ballot Initiative Vote
Seventy-two percent of Democrats, 65 percent of Independents, and 56 percent of Republicans expressed support for the ballot question in the latest poll. Overall, only 29 percent of New Jerseyans opposed the measure.
“Sixty-six percent of respondents — including 77 percent of Democrats, 58 percent of Independents, and 56 percent of Republicans — said that they support adult-use legalization.”
Majorities of Democrats (78 percent), Independents (63 percent), and Republicans (57 percent) back the 2020 ballot measure.
Voters in three Ohio municipalities on Election Day approved local ballot measures depenalizing minor marijuana possession offenses.
Voters in Ohio and Wisconsin approved a series of binding and non-binding local marijuana reform initiatives on Election Day.
Legislators in a number of states are pushing forward measures to delay the enactment of several voter-initiated marijuana laws. NORML Executive Director Erik Altieri called the efforts “an affront to the democratic process.” He added: “Voters have lived with the failings of marijuana prohibition for far too long already. Lawmakers have a responsibility to abide by the will of the voters and to do so in a timely manner.”
Massachusetts today became the sixth US state to enact legislation eliminating criminal penalties specific to the adult possession and personal use of cannabis. The law change ends over a century-long policy of criminal cannabis prohibition in the Bay State. Massachusetts was the first state in the nation to criminalize the use of marijuana — a policy it first enacted in 1911.