Prospects for Legal Marijuana? Higher and Higher
Prospects for Legal Marijuana? Higher and Higher
Abby Rapoport
March 25, 2013
Across the country, the number of bills to liberalize marijuana use—and the odds of their success—is, well, growing.
Anyone who still saw the marijuana-reform movement as a hopeless collection of hippies and slackers got a reality check last November, when advocates successfully passed three major initiatives. Massachusetts became the 18th state to allow for medical marijuana and, most notably, Washington and Colorado became the first two states in the country to legalize recreational use of the drug. Now, less than five months later, a slew of pro-marijuana measures has been introduced in legislatures across the country. At least six have a good chance of passing. Seventeen states have bills to allow medical marijuana. Nine others would make the punishment for possession a fine rather than jail time. Eight states' bills would create a taxing and regulatory system for the drug. And those are just the measures that have already been introduced; others are yet to come.
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New Hampshire, Illinois, and New York are all considering medical marijuana measures with good chances of passing. The Illinois measure is on the stricter end, allows 22 dispensaries, and St. Pierre expects a successful measure from New York to be similar in specifying the number of dispensaries. New Hampshire is particularly promising. The state's bill has already passed the House and been sent to the Senate, which is likely to pass the measure as well. The New Hampshire Legislature passed similar measures in previous years, only to see them vetoed by then-Governor John Lynch. However, current Governor Maggie Hassan, who, like Lynch, is a Democrat, has expressed support for legalizing medical marijuana.
Decriminalizing recreational use is far tougher—and so far, no state legislature has done more than put it up for a popular vote. But several promising measures are currently moving through state assemblies. The Maryland Senate passed a measure to decriminalize the drug in small amounts (10 grams or fewer) and now awaits a decision in the state house. In Oklahoma, lawmakers may dramatically reduce the penalties for second-time marijuana offenders—and eliminate mandatory-minimum jail sentences.
In Vermont, Governor Peter Shumlin has been an outspoken supporter for decriminalizing—so much so that he campaigned on the issue last year when he ran successfully for re-election. Mason Tvert, who co-directed the initiative campaign in Colorado and now works with the national Marijuana Policy Project, says the Vermont legislation could be law by the summer. Tvert also has high hopes for Rhode Island. He believes it may be the first state to pass a bill through the legislature that actually tax and regulates marijuana. So far, only Washington and Colorado have already passed such measures, and they did so through initiatives. This would be the first time a marijuana bill became a law through the legislative process.
The key to passing marijuana reform, says Tvert, comes from educating the public—and lawmakers—about the drug. It’s “critical that voters understand the very simple fact that marijuana is objectively less harmful than alcohol,” he says. That way, the idea of regulating marijuana like alcohol “becomes a lot clearer.”
Even if the majority of these measures fail, the lobbying and grassroots efforts from the movement will build support for the cause.
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http://prospect.org/article/prospects-legal-marijuana-higher-and-higher
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effort at healing the rift between the parties! 
We can laugh together!
The good ones are expensive, but legalization would expand the market and I suspect more affordable vaporizers would appear pretty quickly. Vaporization avoids most of the problems associated with inhaling the products of combustion. And your weed lasts a lot longer... 
