Colorado Has Legalized Recreational Use of Marijuana

President Obama's reelection means he's going to have to find a way to deal with the fact that Colorado and Washington have legalized marijuana for recreational use, and Massachussets just legalized it for medical purposes.

At 11:40 p.m., with 39 percent of precincts reporting, Colorado's Amendment 64 is up 53 pecent to 47 percent; with 49 percent of precincts in, Washington's I-502 is winning at 55-45. Massachusetts has approved medical marijuana 63-37.

Oregon's Measure 80, which would legalize recreationial use, is failing 46-54; and Arkansas's medical marijuana initiative is failing 48-52.

More analysis to come tomorrow, including (hopefully) a response from the Obama administration.

Comments

[nicole]

including (hopefully) a response from the Obama administration.

I can't wait!

[Rights-Minimalist Autocrat]

I happen to have a full transcript of his prepared remarks on the issue:

[Generic Stranger]

You forgot the part where he says FUCK YOU and then sends in the DEA.

[np]

The president/DOJ doesn't have to do anything. The commerce clause does it all for him.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

More analysis to come tomorrow, including (hopefully) a response from the Obama administration.

The response of the BO 2.0 is not going to be something to be hoped for. Unless your vision of the future is a boot stomping on a toker's face, forever.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Well this is an election victory that I'm likely to take advantage. Can't wait to smoke some legal pot next time I visit Colorado.

[Bingo]

I'm sure Eric Holder is gonna be on board with this...

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Sounds like interstate commerce to me. The cops will be waiting for you at the airport.

[Apatheist ?_??]

I agree with your cynicism but not the practical effects. The only place I regularly visit is a small hippie town where the DEA is unlikely to make a high target priority.

Smoking in a coffee shop in Amsterdam has been a wonderful experience and it is technically even less legal than it now is in Colorado.

[Flex Nasty B.I.G.]

I'll point out also that the DEA just doesn't have enough resources to stamp it out statewide, especially without the logistical support of local law enforcement. I expect they will conduct a few high profile raids, but that the bulk of the federal government's challenges to legal MJ will be of a legal or administrative nature.

[Caleb Turberville]

I wouldn't be surprised if the administration pushed for mandatory rehabilitation coverage for recreational users as part of Obamacare.

[nicole]

Already in the law, baby.

[Caleb Turberville]

It's scribbled in the margins of page 901.

[nicole]

In fact, it proves Obama is good on drugs.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

He probably is good on drugs. Unfortunately, he's never on them anymore.

[nicole]

I was hoping someone would take that bait. Thanks, Tulpa.

[Alice Bowie]

YES...no more long trips to Amsterdam.

KEEP DOPE ALIVE !!!

[Dunphy (the real one)]

WA legalizes too!

fuck yea!!!

so stoked for WA. what a great day

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Is WA seceding?

[Apatheist ?_??]

Ignore Tulpa Dunphy, for today I call a truce. This is a great result.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

i posted a congratulatory post on my facebook page about legalization

i now have over 60 likes and AT LEAST half are from cops.

overwhelming police support of this measure from my (biased) fishbowl vantage point

[Alex]

This is puzzling to me. I'm not clear on how this new measure will allow you to beat up more people, or extract more loot from them.

Oh wait, more tax revenue leading to fatter union contracts? Yeah, I got it now.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

exactly! there's always an angle with us cops!

[Ken Shultz]

This is good news, but if you guys think Obama is going to let this go without a fight, I can point you to the former owners of more than 600 medical marijuana dispensaries that have been shut down in California.

Actually, I'd expect Obama to be really proactive about this, so it doesn't have to go to all the trouble of raiding them after they open.

[nicole]

Oh, I don't want him to let this go without a fight. I want him to destroy any last bit of credibility the Dems might have on this issue.

[jcalton]

I hate BO but there's a chance that now that he's won re-election, he will call that off. I'm not saying it's great, but it's greater than 0.

I had a friend post how he was the "most awesome president ever" because he smoked a ton of pot in college and I called her out on his hypocrisy. She was a fucking public defender for years and purports to care about minorities. How the hell can she not see that he's now awesome, that he's an asshole, at least in that regard?

[toxic]

I dunno. He's politically smart; legalization will be a winning issue among their base.

I wonder how much his raids were about not letting people paint him as soft on drugs during the election. So who knows what he will do.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL.

The delusion, it burns. No one was going to paint him as soft on drugs for not raiding cancer patients. This is the bureaucracy doing what it does while BO is busy trying to get a stroke off his game.

[Ken Shultz]

To both of you...

Medical Marijuana being important to his base didn't stop Obama from shutting down more than 600 dispensaries--in California alone.

I don't understand why Obama WINNING an election would make him change course.

That would be like a business changing course because its profits were skyrocketing. Changing course is something you do when things are going badly.

Obama screwed over his base in California, and everything's coming up roses. He doesn't even have to worry about running for reelection now!

Why would he change course? He's gonna stomp on Colorado's marijuana law like a biker stomping on a fool.

[Ken Shultz]

That was to both of you other than Tulpa.

Tulpa's got it more or less right.

Although I think Obama is serious about the Drug War in his own right.

He thinks he's doing the right thing. He loves raiding medical marijuana dispensaries. And raiding recreational dispensaries will be even more fun.

[jcalton]

It's nothing at all like your business analogy. It's exactly analogous to a politician who cannot seek reelection, since that's what it is.

I still think he's a hypocrite, and I still think he's going to raid those places, but there's a chance that he won't. A *chance*. That's all I'm saying.

There's zero chance that President Romney would have backed off.
.001 is greater than 0

There's also a chance that, like gay marriage and immigration, he might suddenly change his stance to align with popular opinion when his poll numbers dip and it becomes convenient to his political ends.

If he would at least go on ABC and say "I support marijuana legalization" the way he did for gay marriage, that wouldn't require a pen or congressional approval. It would be the least he could do.
Literally.

But still better than what he's doing now.

There's also a chance he'll turn into an even bigger asshole, but that chance is probably no different than Romney's, except that at least we know Obama liked to smoke weed.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Well, we can go to CO and WA and ease the pain until the lights go out.

[jcalton]

What happens when 2 states refuse to fight in a federally-declared war?

Another civil war, or what?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Jeff Flake elected, marijuana legalized. YES

BO wins, Lizzy Learjet elected. BOO

[Emmerson Biggins]

He has a way to deal with this. Send in roided up thugs.

[Fist of Etiquette]

We can all rub our boners to the notion that Obama's second term will bring a change of drug policy to D.C.

[Lyle]

Good for those two states.

[jerry peel]

Its about time ,GO POTHEADS.