Reactions to Marijuana Votes: ‘Prohibition Is on Its Way Out’

Yesterday the number of states that have approved marijuana
legalization
doubled, and they were joined by the nation’s capital, where
voters overwhelmingly
rejected pot prohibition. Even in Florida, where a medical
marijuana initiative
fell three points short of the supermajority needed to approve
a constitutional amendment, 57 percent of voters agreed that
patients should be allowed to use cannabis for symptom relief.
Meanwhile, voters in Guam
approved medical marijuana, making the Western Pacific island
the first U.S. territory to do so. Drug policy reformers were
thrilled by the results, which exceeded expectations.
Prohibitionists were less delighted. Here is a roundup of
reactions.

ON GUAM

Tom Angell, chairman of
Marijuana
Majority: The marijuana majority
is a truly global phenomenon. People all across the world are ready
to move beyond failed prohibition laws, especially when seriously
ill patients are criminalized just for following their doctors’
recommendations. With these election results, U.S. territories
stretching from Guam—where America’s day begins near the
International Date Line—to Hawaii and Alaska have sensible laws
that let patients use marijuana without fear of arrest.

Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy
Alliance: Guam is quite conservative politically,
and home to a significant U.S. military presence, so this
resounding victory is a confirmation of medical marijuana’s broad
support across the political spectrum.

ON D.C.

Angell: With marijuana legal in the
federal government’s backyard, it’s going to be increasingly
difficult for national politicians to continue ignoring the growing
majority of voters who want to end prohibition. I’ve been saying
for a while that 2016 presidential candidates need to start
courting the cannabis constituency, and now the road to the White
House quite literally travels through legal marijuana
territory.

Bill Piper, DPA’s director of national
affairs: This was the first legalization campaign in
which the racial disproportionality of marijuana enforcement played
a major role. Initiative 71 sets the stage for the D.C. Council to
create a new model for legalizing marijuana—one that places racial
justice front and center.

Neill Franklin, executive director of Law Enforcement Against
Prohibition: Each Congressperson must choose how
he or she wants to be remembered in history: as someone who
respected the people’s wishes and worked to end one of the most
pernicious problems of the 21st Century, or as an anachronism,
like those prohibitionists who refused to see the writing on the
wall in the 1930s.

ON OREGON

Angell: It’s clear that Colorado and Washington
voting to legalize in 2012 was no anomaly. The trend is clear:
Marijuana prohibition is coming to an end. As 2016 approaches, we
can expect to see many more ambitious national politicians finally
trying to win support from the cannabis constituency instead of
ignoring and criminalizing us.

Nadelmann: Oregon proved that Colorado and
Washington were no flukes….It’s always an uphill battle to win a
marijuana legalization initiative in a year like this, when young
people are so much less likely to vote, which makes today’s victory
all the sweeter. The pace of reform is accelerating, other states
are sure to follow, and even Congress is poised to wake from its
slumber.

ON ALASKA

Angell: Now that it’s been shown that
putting marijuana legalization on the ballot can succeed even in
midterms, we can expect to see a huge surge of additional states
voting to end prohibition during the 2016 presidential election.
And because the issue has been proven to be mainstream as far as
voters are concerned, we may even see lawmakers in several states
jumping ahead to legalize marijuana legislatively in the
meantime.”

Chris Rempert, political director of
Alaska’s legalization
campaign: People are seeing through the fear
mongering and misinformation that have been used to keep marijuana
illegal for so many years. One of our campaign’s primary messages
was that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol, and that adults
should not be punished for making the safer choice.

ON FLORIDA

Angell: Tonight’s result does show that
a clear majority of voters in the sunshine state support a new
direction. We didn’t get the 60% needed to pass medical marijuana
as a constitutional amendment, but patients and their supporters
will keep pushing until the law reflects what most voters want. The
campaign this year faced several key challenges, including that it
took place during a midterm election in which turnout dynamics
don’t favor marijuana reform. Next time medical marijuana is on the
ballot, organizers should put patients and medical professionals at
the forefront of the campaign rather than relying on a well-meaning
but much less sympathetic political donor as the chief
spokesperson.

John Morgan, leader of the medical marijuana
campaign: We may not have passed Amendment 2 tonight,
but make no mistake, tonight was a victory in the fight for medical
marijuana in Florida. Our next governor will take the oath of
office having won less than a majority of Floridians’ votes. The
idea that marijuana is medicine and that those suffering and in
pain should not be made criminals, received a larger share of the
vote than the winner of the last 6 gubernatorial elections…and
every presidential campaign in Florida for decades. 

Calvina Fay, executive director of the Drug-Free America
Foundation: The people of Florida strongly and
wisely rejected efforts to make Florida the next front in the push
to legalize marijuana nationwide….By rejecting this misguided
amendment, they chose to safeguard our communities and ensure a
safer and more prosperous future.

ON THE OVERALL RESULTS

Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy
Project: The results are in, and marijuana
prohibition is on its way out….The folks trying to keep marijuana
illegal are relying on the same scare tactics today that they have
relied on for decades, but voters just aren’t falling for it
anymore. The results are particularly encouraging since voter
turnout during a midterm election is typically smaller, older, and
more conservative. Clearly, support for ending marijuana
prohibition spans the political and ideological spectrums.

Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORML: The majority of voters
in these states, like a majority of voters nationwide, agree that a
pragmatic regulatory framework that allows for the legal, licensed
commercial production and retail sale of cannabis to adults best
reduces the risks associated with the plant’s use or potential
abuse.

Patrick Kennedy, co-founder of the anti-pot group
Project
SAM: Even though we did not do as well as we
wanted to, these slim margins of victory show that we are beginning
to slow the legalization freight train down. This has been a David
and Goliath battle.

Kevin Sabet, president of Project
SAM: This was not the complete slam-dunk the
legalization groups expected. Alaska barely voted to legalize, and
several cities [in Colorado] rejected marijuana retail stores
outright. We are confident the more people know the truth about
marijuana and the Big Tobacco-like marijuana industry, the more
opposition to marijuana legalization will continue to grow. We will
redouble our efforts to educate the public about the harms of
legalization.

U.S. Department of Justice (via Free
Beacon reporter
C.J. Ciaramella): When we developed our
department priorities over a year ago, we intended to set out a
consistent enforcement approach that would be applicable across the
country. As our Aug. 29, 2013, guidance memorandum laid out, the
department’s enforcement resources will continue to be aimed at the
most significant threats to our communities. This approach relies
on jurisdictions instituting strict regulatory regimes to
adequately protect public safety.