At a time when public pennies need to be pinched, voters in municipalities around the country will be reviewing their law enforcement practices surrounding marijuana arrests. Proven success in cities like Seattle, Washington; Missoula, Montana; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Columbia, Missouri; cities across California and many others have laid the groundwork for upcoming initiatives. Setting adult marijuana arrests as the lowest law enforcement priority saves scarce public resources and frees up time for police and prosecutors to focus on protecting the public against serious and violent crime. Still more communities are considering initiatives to support patients’ access to medical marijuana, and the Drug Policy Alliance Network is supporting the hard work of folks in Maine to collect signatures for a ballot initiative next year which would improve the state’s already existing medical marijuana law.
Hawaii
Project Peaceful Sky is leading the campaign in Hawaii County that will give voters the chance to say yes to Ballot Question 1, the Lowest Law Enforcement Priority of Cannabis Ordinance. Peaceful Sky board director Adam Lehmann spoke of the significant support for the initiative among residents of the big island, noting, “people are really tired of seeing money misappropriated away from education and healthcare to fund a military-style war on a plant.”
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Sensible Fayetteville, a coalition of groups that includes the Alliance for Reform of Drug Policy in Arkansas, is leading a similar initiative in this state’s third-most populous city. Voters in Fayetteville will have the chance to make adult marijuana possession the lowest law enforcement priority at the ballot box in November. Two years ago, a similar initiative was passed in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. DPA's grants program was able help fund this year’s final effort in Fayetteville to gather signatures, ensuring that this initiative would qualify for the ballot.
Massachusetts
Voters in the state of Massachusetts will decide whether to decriminalize the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana on the November ballot’s Question 2. The
Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy, which the
Marijuana Policy Project(MPP) helped organize, is sponsoring this initiative which has polled strongly, with support in mid-August reaching 72 percent. Question 2 would replace criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana with a $100 fine, with proceeds benefiting the city in which the offense took place.
Medical marijuana
Several locales are considering voter initiatives that would increase access to medical marijuana. Proposal 1 in Michigan, sponsored by the
Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care (MCCC), which
MPP also helped form, would protect seriously ill Michigan residents suffering from illnesses like cancer, HIV/AIDS, and multiple sclerosis from the threat of arrest and jail for simply trying to alleviate their pain. The law would allow these patients to use, possess, and grow their own marijuana for medical purposes, with their doctors’ approval, while maintaining prohibitions on public use of marijuana and driving under the influence of marijuana. The National Organization for Positive Medicine in Ferndale, Michigan, is sponsoring a separate local initiative which would allow for their organization to distribute medical marijuana. Berkeley, California is also considering a measure to broaden and regularize medical marijuana access, sponsored by
Berkeley Patients Group and at least two city council members.
