Marijuana legalization on the ballot Q4
For those readers who know of my past experience with the
whole movement, please disregard the following. Since 2000 I have put on the
ballot, 3 public policy questions regarding Decriminalization, medical use and
legalization. All three were approved by the voters here in Framingham by overwhelming
numbers, above 60% each time. No one would have predicated the results early
on, after all, it was less than 15 years ago when we sued the Town of Ashland
for violating my constitutional rights by not allowing me to conduct a
marijuana rally at Stone Park. Since then millions of arrests have happened,
thousands jailed, families torn apart, billions in civil forfeiture, all over
violating this nation’s absurd marijuana prohibition.
Fast forward to 2016 and see what hard work, time and
education have done for our movement. Three states s already have legalization,
24 states have medical use and we still have a half a million arrests in this
country for mostly possession.
Now we come to the ballot question for 2016. Known support seems
to be in our favor, by a slim margin. I do believe most voters have already
made up their minds and in the privacy of the voting booth, will say yes to legalization.
You will hear some outlandish propaganda, lies and
mis-information from so called experts, but at the end of the day, most adults
know someone who has or had smoked pot and turned out OK. For the record, I
don't want my grandchildren taking any drugs, smoking butts, drinking booze or
jumping out of a plane. Nothing and no one can completely stop the mis-use of
pot by children, but concerned parents would likely not condemn their kids if
they smoked pot once, rather than getting into prescription drugs or heroin or
under the sink chemicals.
It has always made sense to treat pot like booze as in when
they lifted prohibition of alcohol. Crime went down, the murder rate was cut in
half and people like the Kennedy's profited big time. The same holds true with
cannabis. Big money players will stand to gain the most, while little guys will
struggle to keep up. Taxes will be paid and those serving time (for non-violent
marijuana offenses) will hopefully get out of jail.
To no one's surprise, I'm voting yes on Q4.
https://ballotpedia.org/Massachusetts_Marijuana_Legalization,_Question_4_(2016)
posted by Jim Pillsbury @ 3:38 PM
3 Comments
3 Comments:
Excellent commentary! Let's hope people read it.
I think this will pass overwhelmingly when everyone gets to state their opinion in the privacy of the voting booth!
I hope our readers will have a close look at the biblical size Ballot Question 4 in the little red book sent to your home. As I've stated before, the opposition will do anything, including lying and purposely re-arranging the facts.
Massachusetts Legalizers Cry Foul Over State-Issued Voter Guide. Campaigners behind the Question 4 legalization initiative say a state-issued guide sent to voters across the state inaccurately describes the fiscal consequences of the measure. The guide says they are "difficult to project due to lack of reliable data" and cites a report from a committee headed by a top opponent of legalization to the effect that taxes and fee revenues from legal marijuana sales "may fall short of even covering the full public and social costs. The Yes on 4 campaign points out that there is "reliable data" from legal marijuana states and that those states have easily covered administrative and other expenses.
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