The Lows and Highs of Drug Law Reform This Election
The Drug Policy Alliance's detailed postmortem on how things went for drug law sanity at the polls this week. Overall, alas, not so good–especially South Dakota becoming the first state to reject medical marijuana at the ballot box when given the chance.
However, there were some less widely reported nice outcomes in some local races:
In California, voters in Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, and Santa Monica approved local measures making marijuana possession the lowest law enforcement priority in their cities. Voters in Missoula, Montana and Eureka Springs, Arkansas approved similar measures. In Massachusetts, voters in two legislative districts approved non-binding resolutions in support of making possession of up to one ounce of marijuana a civil violation subject only to a $100 fine. And in two other Massachusetts legislative districts, voters approved non-binding resolutions in support of legalizing marijuana for medical use. Voters in Albany, California approved an initiative allowing a medical marijuana dispensary to open in the city.