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Oregon recreational pot initiative qualifies for November ballot
Yahoo News ^ | July 21, 2014 | Sharon Bernstein

Posted on 07/23/2014 9:59:46 AM PDT by ConservingFreedom

An initiative seeking to legalize, tax and regulate recreational marijuana in Oregon has qualified for the November ballot, the state said on its website on Tuesday.

Only two U.S. states, Washington and Colorado, currently allow recreational marijuana, which remains illegal under federal law. Oregon's proposal will come before voters just two years after they rejected a similar measure.

[...] If passed in November, Oregon would be the latest in a string of U.S. states to liberalize marijuana laws, either for recreational or medical use. On Sunday, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed a bill allowing children and adults with epilepsy to use marijuana to treat their seizures. Twenty-two U.S. states have passed laws legalizing medical marijuana.

Voters in Alaska also will decide on a recreational marijuana initiative in November, and a similar measure is being vetted by election officials in Washington, D.C. [...]

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; US: Oregon
KEYWORDS: cannabis; marijuana; pot; wod

1 posted on 07/23/2014 9:59:46 AM PDT by ConservingFreedom
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To: ConservingFreedom

Because leftists like pot, taxes and regulation.

Why can’t the elimination of a government restriction (pot criminalization) be accompanied by no new government restrictions (taxes, regulation)?

Nutters can’t get freedom right.


2 posted on 07/23/2014 10:07:37 AM PDT by Uncle Miltie (The GOP-e scum enlisted Democrats to steal the Republican primary. The GOP-e can go to Hell.)
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To: Uncle Miltie

It beats a jail cell. Unless you’re suggesting that we just suspend the laws and stop arresting people.


3 posted on 07/23/2014 10:08:58 AM PDT by Wolfie
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To: ConservingFreedom

How about state pot reciprocity laws?


4 posted on 07/23/2014 10:11:07 AM PDT by Pearls Before Swine
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To: ConservingFreedom
Survey USA of OR voters =>

51% support making the personal use of marijuana legal, 41% oppose. There is no regional difference on this question. But there is an enormous age difference: young voters back the decriminalization of marijuana by 48 points. Seniors oppose legalization by 24 points.

http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=005a915d-93f5-4dc8-b982-324b58e9eaa7

5 posted on 07/23/2014 10:11:33 AM PDT by Ken H
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To: Wolfie; Uncle Miltie
I think he's suggesting that we just repeal the laws and stop arresting people. For my part, I want sales to minors banned - and I'm OK with localities requiring a license for sale as they do with alcohol.
6 posted on 07/23/2014 10:12:13 AM PDT by ConservingFreedom (A goverrnment strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them.)
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To: ConservingFreedom

Another domino begins to fall.


7 posted on 07/23/2014 10:14:39 AM PDT by TigersEye ("No man left behind" means something different to 0bama.)
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To: TigersEye
Yes, in the end freedom wins out.
8 posted on 07/23/2014 10:18:28 AM PDT by ConservingFreedom (A goverrnment strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them.)
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To: Uncle Miltie

Here is how this will go;

The reason for doing all this is to increase State tax revenue.

The taxes are high, and the strategy will work....At first. Then the indoor hydroponics and backyard crops will start (Give it 2 years), and the untaxed weed will hit the streets and be much cheaper and as good as you can get from the stores.

Tax revenue will plummet, and the entire state-sponsored apparatus will collapse, which will lead to a re-criminalization of pot in the end.

Unintended consequences. You never see them coming until they whack you in head.


9 posted on 07/23/2014 10:27:03 AM PDT by Mr. Quarterpanel (I am not an actor, but I play one on TV)
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To: ConservingFreedom

Government Legalized and Promoted Pot

Helping to keep stupid people stupid and easily manipulated since the New Millennia.


10 posted on 07/23/2014 10:29:38 AM PDT by Iron Munro (The Obamas Black skin has morphed into Teflon thanks to the Obama Media)
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To: Iron Munro
"Promoted" how?

"Helping to keep stupid people stupid" like alcohol?

11 posted on 07/23/2014 10:31:35 AM PDT by ConservingFreedom (A goverrnment strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them.)
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To: ConservingFreedom

Yes it does!


12 posted on 07/23/2014 10:44:12 AM PDT by TigersEye ("No man left behind" means something different to 0bama.)
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To: ConservingFreedom

It’s not like they grow or smoke pot in Oregon now.......


13 posted on 07/23/2014 11:36:49 AM PDT by showme_the_Glory ((ILLEGAL: prohibited by law. ALIEN: Owing political allegiance to another country or government))
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To: Ken H; All

In Washington, DC, in Nov. 1999 a Referendum on approval of Medical Marijuana was voted. For more than a decade Congress would not even allow DC to count the ballots. When finally counted a significant majority approved MM. Now the DC Council has approved a law for decriminalization. It has gone to Congress for the usual 60 day evaluation period. Some “conservatives” are trying to block approval. This measure would reduce possession of small amounts of MJ from a crime to a ticketable offense for $25. More than twice the number of young people have been arrested for MJ as are graduating from high school in DC.

When will Congress stop dictating to DC how DC can spend its own local tax funds and make its own laws? When Congress closed down the government for 2 weeks recently, DC was told it could not even spend its local tax money to collect garbage. DC’s mayor defied Congress and called all DC government jobs essential, not just police and fire.
DC’s 640,000 residents pay full federal taxes, unlike Puerto Rico which pays none. Both have equal representation in Congress, a non-voting Delegate. Is TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION fair, right, or even American?

This Nov. DC will probably have a referendum on the ballot regarding legalization of MJ for people 21 and older and possessing 2 oz. or less of MJ. No smoking in public. Will Congress forbid counting of these ballots? If you believe in freedom for Americans, tell your Congress people to leave DC’s rights alone.


14 posted on 07/23/2014 11:42:32 AM PDT by gleeaikin
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To: showme_the_Glory
But now they enrich criminals when they do it.
15 posted on 07/23/2014 11:42:52 AM PDT by ConservingFreedom (A goverrnment strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them.)
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To: Iron Munro; All

I guess this is right up there with government legal and taxed alcohol and tobacco, both of which are more addictive than pot. Also known to cause alcoholism, cirrosis (sp?) of the liver, drunk driving, domestic abuse, and lung cancer, which the state pays for in many cases. Keeping doctors, courts, etc. in business since the old millenium.


16 posted on 07/23/2014 11:47:21 AM PDT by gleeaikin
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To: Mr. Quarterpanel
The taxes are high, and the strategy will work....At first. Then the indoor hydroponics and backyard crops will start (Give it 2 years), and the untaxed weed will hit the streets and be much cheaper and as good as you can get from the stores.

Tax revenue will plummet, and the entire state-sponsored apparatus will collapse, which will lead to a re-criminalization of pot in the end

Sounds like wishful thinking. CA collects $100M/yr in medical mj taxes on $1B sales, despite patients being allowed to grow their own. The program has been in effect since 1997.

17 posted on 07/23/2014 12:11:01 PM PDT by Ken H
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To: Mr. Quarterpanel
Then the indoor hydroponics and backyard crops will start...,

Oregon has gone through a different cycle. A lot of people growing med marijuana for the State can' t pay for their electricity. Weed is dirt cheap.

18 posted on 07/23/2014 12:19:44 PM PDT by gundog (Help us, Nairobi-Wan Kenobi...you're our only hope.)
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To: Ken H

That is because the laws are in flux at the moment. One state is here, another state is there....and the Federal is completely different. The differences in the laws between OR and CA is a perfect example of this.

Gambling is another example. Aside from Vegas, areas that have legalized gambling are either not growing or are shrinking, driving some Casinos out of business.

The difference here is that anyone with a spot of sun and a pot can grow it.


19 posted on 07/24/2014 5:53:50 AM PDT by Mr. Quarterpanel (I am not an actor, but I play one on TV)
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