Posted on 02/08/2014 3:31:13 AM PST by Ken H
Alaska is poised to become the third state to legalize retail marijuana after pro-pot advocates this week cleared the signature hurdle to place an initiative on the August ballot.
The Committee to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in Alaska hit 31,593 valid signatures Tuesday, well above the 30,169 signatures required to place the measure before voters. The initiative is expected to appear on the Aug. 19 primary ballot once a final count is certified by the state.
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A newly released survey shows the idea already has significant public support. A Public Policy Polling survey posted Wednesday found 55 percent of registered voters polled agree with legalizing pot for recreational purposes, with 39 percent opposed.
“It’s a states’ rights issue, period,” Mr. Young [Rep. Don Young, R-AK] told the Alaska Dispatch. The marijuana measure would appear on the primary ballot alongside a number of other high-profile contests. Republicans are waging a contested Senate primary to decide who will face vulnerable Democratic Sen. Mark Begich in November.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
I guess the good thing is, if you don’t smoke dope,your chances of getting a job with the slim pickins, has just improved! The potheads are at home getting high and you are out pounding the pavement!
Alaska unfortunately, is the California of the North. Too bad, it was pretty nice before all the west coasters migrated up there.
Yes and then the whole herd gets the Munchies, so that should drive up Cheetos sales.
It’s a good omen for the snacking industry!
WEll, whats there to do in Alaska except hunt fish and get high?
This cold here we are having in the Midwest, makes you want to stay home and hibernate!
Here in the UP of Michigan the potheads are screaming when they have to go to court even with a medical marijuana card they are getting arrested. 400 - 600 potheads live in the county I live in. Driving under the influence of marijuana. The attorneys are now getting specialized training in order to defend the potheads.
I have one guy nearby whose property smells like a skunk - the high potent cannabis reeks like a skunk was hit on the highway.
Now the potheads are trying to get their own dispensary set up. Will become interesting in the idea is that an additional 2 million in taxes will be generated. Little do the potheads know that all tax revenue in Michigan is disbursed through Lansing not the local level. The 2 million tax revenue will probably be only 50,000.00 at the local level = 1 block of a City Road costs about 49,000.00.
Lets just say it is not so nice with potheads on the roadways. The number of accidents has increased and so have the fatal accidents.
The UP of Michigan Ya der eh. Yoopers may have a whole new meaning soon enough. The Huron Mountains may have the allowance of borrowing Colorado’s “Rocky Mountain High’.
How did legalized marijuana work out for Alaska last time?
Smoking dope in bear country doesn’t seem real smart.
The bears got to eat too.
How is the regulation of drugs a States’ Right issue? Next on the ballot - heroin...
In every community, you have a few greenies, a few potheads, a few churchies, a few gold miners, a few Indians, all kinds of gun owners and I don't have any inner city ethnics or crime within 200 miles of my house.
Pot has been openly grown for many years, nobody is ever prosecuted or busted for it unless they are selling it to kids. We have light years more freedom in Alaska than I ever saw anywhere else in the lower 48.
The pot initiative is going to pass because Alaskans believe what a man does in his own house is his own business. No real changes will be experienced over it becoming legal. I don't care either way, not an old pothead myself.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
--Tenth Amendment
So let Darwin get ‘em.
No loss. The bears will be too well fed to bother with the rest of us.
"Michigan's increase in traffic fatalities mirrors what has taken place across the country," said Col. Kriste Kibbey Etue, MSP director. "Despite an increase in traffic deaths last year, the long-term picture indicates this is the fifth year in a row Michigan had fewer than 1,000 traffic deaths. Ten years ago there were nearly 1,300 people who died as a result of traffic crashes in our state."
The state has experienced significant decreases in traffic crashes over the past decade, from 395,515 in 2002 to 273,891 in 2012. Similarly, alcohol- and/or drug-involved fatalities have dropped from 463 in 2002 to 342 in 2012.
http://www.michigan.gov/msp/0,4643,7-123-1586_1710-297261--,00.html
It's perfectly safe, provided you're not the slowest runner in the group!
“Smoking dope in bear country doesn’t seem real smart.”
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That would be the first valid reason I would sign a petition to get pot on the ballot. Bears could manage the over use of EBT cards. Looks pretty win win to me.
“How did legalized marijuana work out for Alaska last time?”
IIRC, when I lived there in the ‘70s and ‘80s, it was legal to some extent — to use, not sell, maybe. Seems that in the early ‘90s the law changed.
People were normal, not goofy like in “Reefer Madness”. The professionals were extremely professional. No big deal that I could see, and there was no emphasis on having or using it. (I didn’t use it, and left parties when it made an appearance. Thanks to my Baptist preacher dad, dealing with peer pressure was never a problem.)
Knowing Alaskans as I do, this isn’t a case of the state going all liberal. It’s more of a libertarian mindset where people live their lives and others respect others’ freedom and free will.
What we are seeing in Arizona are the difficulties with the change of direction. For example, you have dedicated pot smokers that get their medical card and then become daily users. Smoke a little weed in the morning, go to a construction job and then go smoke again off site at lunch time and come back smelling like a rock concert on Saturday night.
Add in operating a forklift, and/or driving onto a Federal installation, and you have a real complex mix of regulations, safety liability issues, and lack of impairment standards. The Medical Cards are a joke, they are issued as a money making venture, not a medical care issue in most cases.
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