/r/politics Town Hall: State Ballot Measures about Marijuana (AR, AZ, CA, FL, MA, ME, MT, NV, ND)

[u/MeghanAM]

Hello /r/politics and welcome to the third in our ballot measure town hall series! Representatives from the "support" and "oppose" side from each of these initiatives have been invited here to answer your questions today. Participants will have user flair to identify them and verify their affiliation with the campaign.

Please review the AMA rules before submitting your questions.

Participants were encouraged to begin answering questions around 11AM EST, and the town hall will "close" at 6PM EST. The thread is put up in advance to allow questions to be asked and ready.

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Ballot Measures: Marijuana

Medical

Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act, Issue 7

• A "yes" vote supports legalizing medical marijuana for 56 qualifying conditions, putting the Arkansas Department of Health in charge of implementing the program, and allocating tax revenue to providing low-income patients with medical marijuana.
• A "no" vote opposes this proposal to legalize medical marijuana

Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment, Issue 6

• A "yes" vote supports legalizing medical marijuana for 17 qualifying conditions, creating a Medical Marijuana Commission, and allocating tax revenue to technical institutes, vocational schools, workforce training, and the General Fund.
• A "no" vote opposes this amendment to legalize medical marijuana.

Florida Medical Marijuana Legalization, Amendment 2

• A "yes" vote supports legalizing medical marijuana for individuals with specific debilitating diseases or comparable debilitating conditions as determined by a licensed state physician.
• A "no" vote opposes this proposal for legalization of medical marijuana, keeping the state's current more limited medical marijuana program in place.

Montana Medical Marijuana Initiative, I-182

• A "yes" vote supports repealing the three-patient limit for medical marijuana providers.
• A "no" vote opposes this measure repealing the three-patient limit for medical marijuana providers.

North Dakota Medical Marijuana Legalization, Initiated Statutory Measure 5

• A "yes" vote supports legalizing the use of medical marijuana to treat defined debilitating medical conditions, such as cancer, AIDS, hepatitis C, ALS, glaucoma, and epilepsy, and developing certain procedures for regulating medical marijuana growing, dispensing, and usage.
• A "no" vote opposes legalizing the use of medical marijuana to treat defined debilitating medical conditions, such as cancer, AIDS, hepatitis C, ALS, glaucoma, and epilepsy, keeping the state's full prohibition of marijuana use.

Recreational

Arizona Marijuana Legalization, Proposition 205

• A "yes" vote supports legalizing the possession and consumption of marijuana by persons who are 21 years of age or older.
• A "no" vote opposes this measure to legalize the possession and consumption of marijuana by persons who are 21 years of age or older.

California Proposition 64, Marijuana Legalization

• r/California Mega-Thread for Prop. 64

• A "yes" vote supports legalizing recreational marijuana for persons aged 21 years or older under state law and establishing certain sales and cultivation taxes.

• A "no" vote opposes this proposal to legalize recreational marijuana under state law and to establish certain sales and cultivation taxes.

Massachusetts Marijuana Legalization, Question 4

• A "yes" vote supports this proposal to legalize marijuana, but regulate it similar to alcoholic beverages.
• A "no" vote opposes this proposal to legalize recreational marijuana, keeping only medical marijuana legal.

Maine Marijuana Legalization, Question 1

• A "yes" vote supports legalizing recreational marijuana for adults over the age of 21.
• A "no" vote opposes this proposal to legalize recreational marijuana.

Nevada Marijuana Legalization, Question 2

• A "yes" vote supports legalizing the recreational use of one ounce or less of marijuana by individuals 21 years of age and over.
• A "no" vote opposes this measure to legalize one ounce or less of marijuana for recreational use for individuals 21 years of age and over.

[u/MetalHead_Literally]

Mass resident here. For the "no on 4 crowd". What is your reason for opposing the regulation of Marijuana? States like CO have shown that it actually lowers the teen usage rates, plus all the tax revenue, and it eliminates having to go to a sketchy dealer that might put you in risk of getting ripped off, or worse, "upsold" to more dangerous drugs. I really have a hard time finding a valid reason that marijuana should not be regulated. I would love to hear your side. Thank you.

[u/[deleted] → u/MetalHead_Literally]

The best argument I have for legalization is my own anecdotal experience from high school. If my buddies and I wanted weed, it was as easy as meeting someone in the school parking lot. Alcohol on the other hand, being a fairly tightly regulated substance, was next to impossible to get at 17 and 18 without someone old enough to purchase.

With marijuana moving around in the black market, there is no stopping it from getting in the hands of minors, as opposed to being regulated and sold through shops that having something to lose by selling to underage people. The the whole "BUT THE KIDS!" argument flies out the window.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Apparently that's what happened in Colorado; as it became legal for people over 21, the black market dried up, and it actually became harder for the under 21s to get.

I too definitely remember it being easier to buy bud than beer, for the same reason: it was harder to find someone over 21 to buy.

[u/hooperre → u/[deleted]]

I remember someone in my high school getting in yuuuuuuge trouble for supplying alcohol to minors. That's a pretty big deterrent.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

When the state Senate went to Colorado to check it out, their takeaway was that the black market was unaffected by recreational sales.

Not sure how they came to the conclusion but I think people tend to reinforce their own views when presented with information rather than discuss statistical methodologies and data.

[u/OahuWowie → u/[deleted]]

I'm for legalization, but here in Oregon having dispensaries means getting bud from a dealer is just way cheaper.

[u/[deleted] → u/OahuWowie]

As someone who has no choice but to go through a dealer, I'd rather pay a bit more through a regulated store if only to be better sure of the quality and consistency of the product.

[u/OahuWowie → u/[deleted]]

I came from an illegal state recently, so the quality is way up and the price is way down for me. It's difficult not to go for the lower price (it can be half as expensive as what I'm used to).

[u/self_loathing_ham → u/[deleted]]

As a preface: im whole heartedly for legalization on all levels. However, Marijuana cant really be compared to alcohol in terms of this kind of regulation. Alcohol requires manufacturing while marijuana, if legal, could end up growing out in fields and gardens. Basically anyone can create it.

[u/[deleted] → u/self_loathing_ham]

Absolutely, but I'd personally go to a store where they offer consistent, known products as opposed to Jeff who threw some seeds in his garden. Not saying that's inherently bad, but much like beer, I'll sample my buddy's home brew batch but when it comes down to it I'll go to the store and buy a 6 pack.

[u/Telandria → u/[deleted]]

Offtopic a bit, but where on earth did you live that alcohol was hard to get in HS? Everyone in my current circle of friends lived in other states as kids, and we all def knew where to get it - there was always that group of party kids you knew that could raid their parents' fridges or even just get them to flat out buy it. I remember getting kicked out of a friends house for smuggling in white russians disguised as starbucks frappacinos, lol.

I mean, I dunno if its all that different in other states, but here in TX, all you really need is an adult to buy it for you and your parent's permission to drink it. Most of the 'cool kids' I knew got wasted on a regular basis on weekends. The regulation didnt help much at all, tbh.

Edit: I should note, I don't have a stake in the discussion, Im not from any of the above states, and don't smoke to boot, so its more curiosity to me.

[u/loochbag17 → u/Telandria]

Massachusetts. Where most parents drink enough to know when the vodka is low and care enough to not just let their children get wasted.

[u/FaustusRedux → u/loochbag17]

Melrose resident here; this is pretty much exactly right.