cannabisnews.com: Alaska Becomes Fourth State To Legalize Marijuana function share_this(num) { tit=encodeURIComponent('Alaska Becomes Fourth State To Legalize Marijuana'); url=encodeURIComponent('http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/28/thread28350.shtml'); site = new Array(5); site[0]='http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+url+'&title='+tit; site[1]='http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit.php?url='+url+'&title='+tit; site[2]='http://digg.com/submit?topic=political_opinion&media=video&url='+url+'&title='+tit; site[3]='http://reddit.com/submit?url='+url+'&title='+tit; site[4]='http://del.icio.us/post?v=4&noui&jump=close&url='+url+'&title='+tit; window.open(site[num],'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=620,height=500'); return false; } Alaska Becomes Fourth State To Legalize Marijuana Posted by CN Staff on November 05, 2014 at 05:38:26 PT By Matt Ferner Source: Huffington Post USA -- Alaska legalized recreational marijuana for adult use on Tuesday, becoming the fourth state in the nation to do so. The state joined Oregon and Washington, D.C., both of which also voted Tuesday to legalize the drug for recreational use. Colorado and Washington state legalized recreational cannabis use in 2012.Alaska voters approved Measure 2, which legalizes the possession, use and sale of the drug for recreational use. Adults age 21 and older may possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana and grow up to six plants (with no more than three being mature) for personal use. The measure also legalizes the manufacture, sale and possession of marijuana paraphernalia, such as devices used for smoking or storing the plant. In a statement early Wednesday morning, Marijuana Policy Project Executive Director Rob Kampia said, “The folks trying to keep marijuana illegal are relying on the same scare tactics today that they have relied on for decades, but voters just aren’t falling for it anymore. The results are particularly encouraging since voter turnout during a midterm election is typically smaller, older, and more conservative. Clearly, support for ending marijuana prohibition spans the political and ideological spectrums."Though Alaska was not the only place to weigh the issue on Tuesday, the fate of the measure in that state seemed the most uncertain. Two polls released on the same day last month appeared to reach near-opposite conclusions about the sentiments of Alaska voters, with one poll finding 53 percent opposing legalization and the other finding 57 percent supporting it.Earlier this year, Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell (R), an opponent of the measure, said he wasn't "excited about the prospect" of legal marijuana, but also he said he would respect the will of the voters and implement the initiative if it were to pass.Tuesday's vote marked the third attempt to legalize recreational marijuana in Alaska, following unsuccessful measures in 2000 and 2004. The state's voters legalized medical marijuana in 1998.Prior to Tuesday's vote, 23 states and the District of Columbia had legalized marijuana for medical purposes, while Colorado and Washington were the only states to allow recreational marijuana use. Recent government forecasts have suggested that Colorado and Washington could generate more than $800 million in combined revenue before 2020 thanks to marijuana sales.Despite a number of states loosening marijuana laws, the plant remains banned by the federal government, which classifies it as a Schedule I substance along with heroin and LSD.Source: Huffington Post (NY)Author: Matt FernerPublished: November 5, 2014Copyright: 2014 HuffingtonPost.com, LLC Contact: scoop huffingtonpost.comWebsite: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/6q0pP7KwCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #14 posted by afterburner on November 05, 2014 at 10:15:35 PT When Does the New Congress Take Over? Hopefully, the current Congress will be assigned with deciding the fate of D.C.'s initiative. Better them than the new all-Republican Congress. Plus, Obama still has the veto! IMHO, he should drive a hard bargain for racial equality. [ Post Comment ] Comment #13 posted by FoM on November 05, 2014 at 08:28:42 PT Hope The Internet has really become our news source and TV News. MSNBC is showing pictures of marijuana and it is done in a nice way. I expect a lot of discussions on marijuana after they get done talking about the losses. I don't care if Republicans won the House and Senate because they won't get anything done and that will make it easier for Hillary to win in 2016. I hope we have many more legalize marijuana ballots in 2016 because that will bring the Democrats out to vote. [ Post Comment ] Comment #12 posted by schmeff on November 05, 2014 at 08:26:33 PT I Love the Smell of Cannabis in the Morning... It's the smell of Victory.Long live Oregonians! [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by Hope on November 05, 2014 at 08:02:42 PT I guess a news aggregator is like Yahoo and Google news. It's an aggregate of news sources. [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by Hope on November 05, 2014 at 08:01:52 PT It is a done deal. Reuters is reporting it passed. [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by Hope on November 05, 2014 at 07:59:35 PT It's a news aggregator and blog. It collects it's news from various sources and funnels it to the site as I understand it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_aggregatorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Huffington_PostIt's news though. [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by FoM on November 05, 2014 at 07:54:20 PT TV News I always believed we would win when our issue made it on TV. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by FoM on November 05, 2014 at 07:53:11 PT Hope MSNBC has mentioned The Huffington Post many times. It isn't a newspaper but they try to stay on top of the news. Newspapers are really not what they were. When we pick up our local newspaper there isn't anything interesting to read and it is very small. It's amazing how they are becoming insignificant since the Internet covers the news in real time. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by Hope on November 05, 2014 at 07:46:49 PT I don't think of it as a news site. Is it supposed to be?I just always thought it was a site that people put their opinions on. I didn't even know it was supposed to be a news site.But... it wouldn't be the first time I didn't know what was going on.:) [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by FoM on November 05, 2014 at 07:34:59 PT Hope Wht don't you trust the Huffington Post for being accurate news? [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Hope on November 05, 2014 at 07:15:55 PT Huffington Post is a great site for opinions.... but I don't quite trust it as accurate news. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Hope on November 05, 2014 at 07:14:08 PT Is this a done deal? Alaskan returns are all in?Wonderful!Now if D.C. can keep what they voted for or be overruled by the prohibitionists in congress. I hope the citizens of D.C. can keep the rights they struggled to gain. Freedom from unjust persecution is a beautiful thing. God help them keep it. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by runruff on November 05, 2014 at 06:51:20 PT GCW "Where would Earth be without cannabis prohibitionists?"I don't know about the earth exactly but Brooks Brothers and Wing Tips would go out of business! [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by The GCW on November 05, 2014 at 06:23:19 PT Message to BIG PROHIBITION: Message to BIG PROHIBITION:Results speak for themselves.Cannabis is destined to win and always has been.Cannabis prohibition and extermination has always been destined to fail. ALWAYS.-0-Life on Earth depends on cannabis.Think about that: if prohib's could have gone poof and cannabis were to disappear from the planet, where would We be?And if cannabis were never prohibited from the beginning, where would We be?Where would Earth be without cannabis prohibitionists? [ Post Comment ] Post Comment