Election 2008- Marijuana Roundup

Barack Obama is our next President. Like the outgoing President, Mr. Obama is an ex pot smoker. America’s current pot smokers will be glad to find out that our nation’s voters supported common sense marijuana form last night. With help from the Marijuana Policy Project, here is an overview of three marijuana ballot initiatives that passed last night.

Massachusetts Question 2: Remove the threat of arrest or jail for possessing an ounce or less of marijuana, replacing it with a $100 fine, which could be paid through the mail without lawyers or court appearances, just like a speeding ticket.

It’s too bad Texans can’t get a similar law passed. Court time, police time, prosecutor time, defense attorney time are wasted on simple pot possession cases. In my experience 95% of marijuana prosecutions are for less than 2oz (class B).

Michigan Proposal 1: Permit terminally and seriously ill patients to use medical marijuana with their doctors’ approval.

Arresting patients is not the sign of a compassionate society or a limited government. I’ve represented MM patients and there is no justice in their prosecution.

Fayetteville Arkansas- Require adult marijuana possession laws to be the lowest priority for local law enforcement.

If the police can’t prioritize their time and effort then the voters must legislate common sense for them. The voters in Fayetteville sent a clear message- quit wasting time with adult pot smokers and go solve some real crime. This would be a great law for Dallas PD (which has pathetic 6% crime clearance rate for burglary.)