Legalize Lit

LegaLized it

BY NICK MURRAY ILLUSTRATION BY MATTHEW BOURGEOIS

Voters across U.S. take meaningful steps to end the war on drugs

While November 3, 2020 was a mixed bag for most voters, Americans looking for an end to the war on drugs found some relief in the election results. Cannabis-related ballot initiatives passed in states across the nation, in every jurisdiction where they appeared. Voters in Arizona, Montana, and New Jersey approved adult-use legalization, and those in Mississippi approved medical use if recommended by a doctor. South Dakotans approved both adult-use legalization and a medical cannabis program, the first state to accomplish both at once.

Voters in four Ohio towns added decriminalization of cannabis to their books, marking a total of 22 localities in the Buckeye State that will not prosecute peaceful cannabis consumers. We had a local win here in Maine, too. An initiative to open the market and remove the cap on cannabis businesses in Portland passed with 53% in favor. Voters in Oregon and Washington, D.C. also did their part to loosen the next layer of bricks in the wall of prohibition.

New Jersey

It was all but a shoe-in for the coastal, progressive, mostly urban and suburban state. Polls consistently showed over 60% would vote for the measure. In the end, the polls were validated. With majority support in all 21 counties, and by a 2-to-1 margin statewide, New Jerseyans elected to graduate with the next class of adult-use states. Some hempwise historians will count it as the 12th state to do so, since its fate was sealed before the polls closed in Montana, South Dakota, or Arizona on election night.

A unique aspect of the NJ plan is that cannabis sales will not be subject to additional state-level taxes. While towns that allow it may tax sales at an additional 2%, the highest possible tax on cannabis would only be 8.625%. Most state cannabis taxes are in the doubledigits so the Garden State could quickly become a regional competitor. It could lure thousands of people from neighboring states—Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New York—which have been slow to adopt legal cannabis,diverting millions of dollars from the illicit market.

It is possible that the New Jersey Assembly could add an additional state-level tax during its upcoming session. Depending on how quickly they can get the regulated market up and running, and how many towns opt in, New Jersey could become a big player in the rapidly-changing northeast cannabis market. As we know in Maine, this is where the real work happens. In response to the vote across the Delaware River, Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman urged residents to call their legislators and demand they move toward legalization. According to Fetterman, “Pennsylvania farmers will surely grow better cannabis than New Jersey.” Nothing wrong with a little crossstate rivalry when it comes to high-end horticulture. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has also expressed support for ending cannabis prohibition, and a poll this year found over 60% of Pennsylvanians agree with him. The tide is already turning.

Arizona

This year, 59% of Arizonans approved a legalization question reflecting shifting demographics to more young and Latinx voters. After 10 years of developing understanding and acceptance of medical cannabis, legalization advocates organized fiercely to deliver a win this year in the Grand Canyon State. Voters rejected a similar initiative in 2016 by a margin of within three percentage points. Arizona is the first state to move from treating cannabis as a felony to legalizing it in one fell swoop. Plans for the legal market rollout are expected to be swift, with licenses available to current medical cannabis providers as early as March 2021.

Montana

In November, conservative voters across the country showed that limited government principles do include the therapeutic cannabis plant. Montanans faced two questions dealing with legalization and passed both by more than 10 percentage points. One question established a legal system for production and sale, and the other amended the state constitution to set the legal purchasing age at 21. A unique aspect of the Big Sky legalization proposal is that half of the tax revenue generated from cannabis sales will be earmarked for land, water, and wildlife conservation programs. Funds will also support veteran services and substance abuse treatment.

Mississippi

In the southeast, a region notoriously stubborn about moving past the mindset of the failed war on drugs, Mississippi voters spoke loudly in favor of treating with compassion those who use cannabis as medicine. Even as they faced a more restrictive, alternative proposal placed on the ballot by the legislature, two out of three voters supported allowing medical cannabis. Soon, patients in the Magnolia State will be allowed 2.5 ounces of flower every 14 days to treat a list of 22 qualifying conditions that includes cancer, multiple sclerosis, and chronic or debilitating pain.

South Dakota

Another vast, conservative, rural state with a notable Libertarian streak, South Dakotans rose to the occasion this past November and voted for cannabis legalization. Voters there faced two questions, one related to medical use and one related to adult-use legalization. Adult-use carried with 54% of the vote, and the medical question soared through with 70% support. South Dakotans showed that they are ready to end the absurd prohibition on the versatile cannabis crop.

Following Utah voters’ approval of medical cannabis in 2018, the continuing cascade in traditionally conservative states like South Dakota, Montana, and Mississippi shows that Americans across the political spectrum are recognizing that governments’ war on cannabis has been a futile and destructive effort.

Watching the next drug war dominoes fall

For those looking for more comprehensive drug policy reform, the November results also provided some hope. Over 58% of Oregonians approved a measure to decriminalize possession of all drugs and provide funds for substance abuse treatment. Voters in Oregon also supported a measure to legalize the therapeutic use of psilocybin fungi, also known as “magic mushrooms,” by more than 10 percentage points.

Voters in the nation’s capital also bucked their federal overlords and approved a measure to treat the noncommercial use and cultivation of “all entheogenic plants and fungi’’ as a lowest law enforcement priority in the city. This revolutionary initiative, allowing the use of a species of plants “that contain ibogaine, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), mescaline, psilocybin, or psilocyn,” could pave the way for millions of Americans to discover these plants as tools for personal, spiritual, and emotional growth, as many ancient cultures in the Americas had before.

The enormous strides taken toward sensible drug policy made 2020 another year for the record books. Next year, 195 million Americans across 31 states and D.C.—nearly 60% of the U.S. population—will not be threatened with prosecution for using cannabis, a safe, versatile, and therapeutic plant.

In early December, the U.S. House of Representatives made history by passing the MORE Act, a proposal to deschedule cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act, expunge low-level convictions, and tax a portion of legal cannabis sales to distribute to communities adversely affected by the drug war. This was the first time Congress approved the legalization of cannabis, but because the bill will likely never reach a vote in the Senate, chances for ultimate passage before the next Congress are slim.

By then, more than one-third of Americans will live in a state that allows for the legal cultivation and sale of cannabis for adults age 21 or older, a potential market of more than 80 million people. This feat was accomplished within just 10 years, by the work and sacrifice of thousands of activists, volunteers, donors, voters, and others. No matter what happens in D.C., the dominoes will continue to fall as more and more start to see legal cannabis as a boon rather than a drag.