With 16 medical marijuana authorized states, a Federal Government that treats marijuana use like terrorism, and the potential to have that 16 jump to a majority within a few years (MPP), it might be putting it lightly to call this a showdown. When you add in the efforts for outright legalization and changing federal policy, you’ve got yourself quite the jumbled situation.
As the White House and Department of Justice plan to continue treating medical dispensaries as m
achine-gun toting criminal cartels (going backwards), we’ve got to wonder when the tipping point will take place. Going into 2012, medical marijuana is still an issue with an incredible amount of support (Harris poll) that continues to rise rapidly. With Idaho, Arkansas and Ohio (a state that’s attempting a Constitutional amendment) looking to put medical marijuana reform on their 2012 ballots – and with states like New York and Illinois only a few votes short in the legislature, things are continuing to roll forward within the medical marijuana movement – regardless of the ridiculous threats that are persistently coming from the Federal Government.
How the Feds can expect the public to see their disregard for patients, and yet remain quiet, is beyond us. We know the passion within this movement, and the fight won’t stop.
Despite the sometimes doom and gloom of the government’s heavy-handed tactics towards marijuana, bright spots do abound! On a federal level the new, yet oft-admired HR: 2306, the “Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition 
Act of 2011″ (Huffington Post), opens up a conversation that drastically needs to be had. This bill would remove cannabis from the Federal list of Controlled Substances, allowing each state to decide their own cannabis policies and removing the authority of the federal government to intrude on these states. This would be, simply put – brilliant. This will be (and rightfully so) the ultimate goal of most cannabis reformers, despite what level of reform they’re currently working on or supporting.
At the present time, this bill clearly doesn’t have the support, nor do our politicians have the political backbone to pass this through. However, what this does do is give the public and reformers a way to pressure and put their politicians on the spot, and truly separate future candidates who support reform, from those who don’t. This also gives politicians who support reform something to grasp onto, hopefully starting an upward swing of support for the bill, and for the politicians who stand-up to this more sensible approach to our marijuana laws.
While a federal change towards an end to prohibition may be a little further off, drastic changes could be coming on a state-to-state level in 2012. A large number of ballot initiatives will be, or are attempting to put some form of cannabis legalization to a vote of the people. In California the Coalition for Cannabis Policy Reform, formed by many of the organizers of Prop 19, have been working on research to assure a more successful initiative. This is likely to be formed taking much more into account thoughts from the cannabis community (California push for 2012), and will almost surely get the money needed to make the ballot.
Voters in Oregon will also likely get the privilege of voting for cannabis reform in 2012 through the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act, which would legalize and regulate marijuana in state-licensed stores, allow individuals to grow their own, and legalize the industrial use of hemp. The group has until July 2012, an impressive amount of time, to collect 87,232 valid signatures to put this to a vote of the people on the November 2012 election. 30, 139 have been collected so far.
In Colorado (where there is a heated rivalry going on between several reform groups), multiple legalization initiatives are up in the air and looking for a shot at the 2012 ballot. Washington State is in a similar position, where two groups are vying to put their initiative to a vote in the 2012 election. The grassroots group Sensible Washington will be attempting for a third time to put full legalization on the ballot. Their initiative would remove the criminal penalties associated with cannabis related offenses (without changing minor and DUI statutes). Another newly formed group sponsored by the ACLU, named New Approach Washington, will also be promoting a marijuana initiative, which would legalize possession of up to an ounce of cannabis and setup a distribution system licensed through the State’s Liquor Control Board, while keeping it illegal to grow your own and setting up a 5 ng/mL DUI infrastructure.
Several other states are likely to step-up and at least attempt reform for 2012 – such as in Missouri, where a newly formed coalition named Show-Me Cannabis has filed two initiatives, one that would amend their state’s constitution, and the other that would reform their state’s statutes. Either way, this initiative would remove cannabis from the state’s controlled substances list, would fully legalize the possession and cultivation (up to 100 square feet), would allow for licenses cultivation and sales, and would legalize the production of industrial hemp. This would be outstanding reform and is backed by several groups including Students for Sensible Drug Policy and Missour NORML.
Whether or not other states decide to step-up and attempt legalization, it’s not hard to see this movement is in full force and is stronger than it’s ever been. Individuals are more than ever being presented with methods of reform to help change our insanely out-dated cannabis policies on a local, state and federal level. We can only hope that the general public continues to pick up on this necessity, helping and/or voting to pass these reform options if given a chance.
I think though at this point, we can safely say that the movement will continue to fight forward until they do.
-TheJointBlog
