Portland Maine becomes first East Coast city to legalize marijuana

[-King-]

Portland, Maine, Legalizes Recreational Marijuana

By Robin Wilkey Posted: 11/05/2013 9:56 pm EST | Updated: 11/06/2013 12:06 pm EST


Portland, Maine, voters on Tuesday approved legalizing recreational marijuana for residents 21 and older. The measure, Question 1, passed with about 70 percent of the vote, making Portland the first East Coast city to legalize recreational pot.

Adult residents of Portland -- Maine's largest city -- may possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana under the referendum. The new measure does not permit the recreational purchase or sale of marijuana, nor does it permit its use in public spaces like parks.

"Most Portlanders, like most Americans, are fed up with our nation's failed marijuana prohibition laws," said David Boyer of the Marijuana Policy Project, a marijuana advocacy group. "We applaud Portland voters for adopting a smarter marijuana policy, and we look forward to working with city officials to ensure it is implemented."

Marijuana advocates anxiously awaited the city vote result:

Medical marijuana is already legal in Maine, and the Portland referendum is seen as largely symbolic, as it does not override state or federal laws. But the passage could spark further efforts to legalize recreational marijuana in the state, as it was in Washington and Colorado in November 2012.

"I think there's national implications, keeping the momentum that Washington and Colorado started last November in ending marijuana prohibition," said Boyert in anticipation of the vote. "This is just the next domino."

While the measure did not face organized opposition, some did raise concern over the Marijuana Policy Project's Metro bus ad campaign. Some said the ads promoted the use of marijuana, not just the passage of Question 1.

"It's highly inappropriate to be promoting pro-marijuana message in a place that has a large audience of people under the age of 21," said drug prevention group 21 Reasons spokeswoman Kate Perkins to local news group WCHS.

Metro officials reviewed the transit agency's policy and said the ads fall in line with political advertisements.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/1...n_4221919.html

[Dayze]

KS and MO just don't want a bunch of dopers high on the pot to go around in a crazy state rapin' err'body.

Nobody should do pot.

[Dayze]

Katipan has been too stoned to post lately

[lcarus]

Originally Posted by Cannibal

KS and MO will be among the very last states to follow suit.

Oklahoma will be THE very last state.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by tooge

Isn't one of the states that legalized it now taxing the sales of it as of a vote Tuesday? If so, it won't be long before the amount of revenue is seen and other states follow.

Yeah. 15%. Yikes...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/1...ushpmg00000037

[hometeam]

Originally Posted by Fish

Yeah. 15%. Yikes...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/1...ushpmg00000037

yea 15% is a lot of bullshit.

Needs to be taxed on par with alcohol.

[Katipan]

Originally Posted by Dayze

Katipan has been too stoned to post lately

That never stopped me before.

[Katipan]

Originally Posted by hometeam

yea 15% is a lot of bullshit.

Needs to be taxed on par with alcohol.

Illegal merchants are already taxing it at easily a 75% tax. It's just not a tax that benefits anyone else.

[Dayze]

Originally Posted by Katipan

That never stopped me before.

likely story, Panama Red.

[Ace Gunner]

Originally Posted by Katipan

Nancy Reagan's just say no campaign. Which I think was just the same slogan they used during the feminist movement.

Plus DARE. I remember lots of DARE.

During 1977 there were bogus studies released by the US gov't stating weed caused cancer, brain damage, damage to reproductive system, was addictive etc. It was the impetus of the Reagan era.

it was also the heyday of christianity and perhaps the largest population of brainwashed jesus freaks ever.

[Ace Gunner]

while we are on the subject of legal substance use;

Alcohol is a mass killer in the United States and is the defining public health
issue for the 21st century. Driving under the influence has statistically little to
do with those conclusions.

Just under 10,000 motor vehicle deaths, 40 percent of the total, stem from
alcohol-related crashes. To put that into context with other preventable
deaths:
157,000 lung cancer deaths annually
50,000 people are killed in gun violence
39,520 breast cancer deaths
37,000 fatal overdoses from prescription drugs
34,000 suicides
30,000 Americans still die of the flu
18,000 people are killed in our hospitals by staph infections

Every alcohol-related car crash death is heartbreaking, but by the numbers,
those deaths make up very little of the death toll from alcohol use. Even if you
ended drinking and driving, alcohol is still our nation’s number one killer:
89,000 other deaths (not in cars) are directly attributed to alcohol; and,
1,000,000 more fatalities from diseases are indirectly attributed to alcohol (e.g.
alcohol causes a condition leading to death).

It’s easy to be offended by drinking and driving. What’s even more offensive
is the underreporting of the health effects of alcohol that prove alcohol
is our defining health issue. Tobacco has at times held that mantle, but by
comparison, only 473,000 die annually of smoking-related illness. Beverage
alcohol kills more than a million. A 2012 study by the German University
Medicine Greifswald found that heavy drinkers are at more risk of death than
those who smoke.


http://www.examiner.com/article/reso...o-is-one-worse

[hometeam]

Originally Posted by Katipan

Illegal merchants are already taxing it at easily a 75% tax. It's just not a tax that benefits anyone else.

that's profit margin that goes into the hand of private individuals, it does go into the governments greedy fat fingers.

[Katipan]

Originally Posted by hometeam

that's profit margin that goes into the hand of private individuals, it does go into the governments greedy fat fingers.

Sure but the point was people are already paying it. Ideally the government will fix infrastructure and schools, but if they put it all into golden bathrooms, we're still paying pennies in comparison.

[FlaChief58]

Originally Posted by DaFace

That's pretty optimistic I think, but I do definitely think we'll see a ton of states legalizing after Colorado and Washington show that society won't fall apart.

Maybe so, but with more and more people smoking and the old fuddy duddies in DC being replaced by people who have likely smoked at some point, the movement is gaining ground fast and as I said before, once the Fed sees all of the money they're losing out on, they will change the laws so they can tax the shit out of it.

They have a pretty good idea of how many people smoke either legally or illegally so, they already know that society won't fall apart if made legal. IMO, the main thing holding them back now is figuring out how to regulate it since it is a plant that can be grown by anyone with a green thumb. As for myself, if the quality is top notch and consistant, I would have no problem buying it rather than growing

[hometeam]

Originally Posted by Katipan

Sure but the point was people are already paying it. Ideally the government will fix infrastructure and schools, but if they put it all into golden bathrooms, we're still paying pennies in comparison.

I would rather more go to individuals and less to the government, which is why 15% is bullshit. Not sure why they deserve to spend any more of a pot smokers money than someone who drinks alcohol money, considering the impact that each has on society, with pot being a speck in comparison to alcohol .

[Katipan]

Baby steps. I'm sure the greedy bastards will raise the alcohol tax too. Especially when they find out how many people would pick smoking pot over drinking alcohol.