If you haven’t already voted in advance, be sure to vote on Tuesday.
Of course, here at DrugWarRant, we are fully aware that change rarely comes from politicians, but rather, as we’ve been doing, from educating the people so that they make the politicians follow.
And we’ve succeeded extremely well — more and more candidates at least support legalization of marijuana and are often willing to talk about the shortcomings of the drug war.
Still, there is an opportunity on Tuesday to get a few more elected officials in office who are on the right side.
NORML has a very handy guide called Smoke the Vote. Simply enter your 9-digit zip code, and they’ll give you a list of all the candidates and their grade on marijuana legalization. Very handy.
The NORML guide endorses Andrew Gillum for Florida governor, which is of little surprise, as he wants to legalize recreational cannabis. And that’s all well and good. But Gillum can only sign a legalization bill, not wave a magic wand and make it happen.
The Florida legislature is overwhelmingly Republican, and looks to remain so for the foreseeable future. And I wouldn’t expect them to give Gillum anything he wants, let alone pot legalization, should he get elected. So his stance is more pablum than pudding.
Your call to vote well should be headed. And I trust that infers being well-informed. Which is especially true regarding the future of cannabis here in Florida.
Yes, they endorsed in many campaigns where the winner would have little chance of impact (such as the comptroller position in Illinois, etc.). But if there was a clearly stated superior view, they went ahead with the scorecard – probably with the idea that the more elected officials in general with favorable views, the better.
Also, while Gillum may not be able to do much to wave a magic wand to legalize, he could veto a bad regressive bill, if the legislature were to propose one.
I believe the proverbial cat is out of the bag here in Florida. It is highly unlikely a regressive bill would be submitted by the Florida legislature, let alone pass – even if DeSantis wins.
And I’ll double-down on my prediction that Trump will end federal prohibition of cannabis. When that happens it won’t matter who’s governor of Florida, or any other governor of any state.
As we all know, federal prohibition is the main argument used by reluctant states, wanting to “wait and see.” And once federal prohibition is lifted, and most if not all states join the bandwagon, the cannabis landscape will look entirely different than it does today.
Votes have been dispatched from the darkcycle household. With not much besides our local Congressional Rep., an incumbent of many years, to affect the National scene, Washington has had a very surprising early election. Voter turnout has been higher that any off year election in history. But more than that, voter turnout in the 18 to 25 y.o. demographic is up more than 300%. This bodes well. People don’t just vote once….they become voters.
Whatever your take on the current political climate, democracy is well served when the maximum number of people participate. A belief in democracy is faith in “The wisdom of the masses”, and I still believe in democracy…in spite of it’s obvious downsides.
Poll opens in 10 minutes and I’ll be there. In MO we have 3 competing medical mj proposals to vote on. None are ideal, but one is really bad. Hope the lines aren’t too long, but in a way I hope they are…
☮ The Colorado Supreme Court overturned a lower court’s ruling that suppressed evidence from a marijuana bust because the “affidavit was deficient because it failed to mention that the defendant was a registered industrial hemp farmer and that marijuana and industrial hemp appear and smell the same.” marijuanamoment
☮ Canadian news company Postmedia Network Inc. cancels newspaper deliveries to schools in order to comply with laws restricting youth access to cannabis advertisements. theglobeandmail
☮ 10 Marijuana Offenders With Longer Sentences Than What ‘MAGA Bomber’ Cesar Sayoc Is Facing
civilized.life
☮ Exclusive Investigation: The Power and Prejudice of DAs on Drugs filtermag
Public opinion is souring on the criminalization of drug use. But what prevents this from translating into practice?
☮ Cannabis Legalization: Election Day Live Coverage Cannabis is on the ballot in four states, with candidates campaigning for and against it nationwide. Watch Leafly as the polls close Leafly
☮ Follow our coverage on Instagram Live Leafly’s action news team will weigh in on election results as they happen… Leafly Instagram
MI votes yes on recreational:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/06/michigan-voterssay-yes-to-legalizing-recreational-marijuana.html
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Pete Sessions –> OUT!
Thank you Texas!
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It’s a bad day for certain people named Sessions (and a good day for everyone else). Jeff Sessions has resigned.
Oh, man, this should be very interesting. And I imagine that whoever takes his place will be too busy to see the prohibs in special closed door (ahem) ‘sessions’. Yep, no more such ‘sessions’. (Sorry, just couldn’t help myself.)
And good effing riddance. To both of them.
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I’ll keep my fingers crossed but Jefferson doesn’t seem to have had any problem getting elected by the Alabama voters.