The results of the 2008 election are in and marijuana law reformers are big winners in state and local ballot initiatives.
Michigan became the 13th medical marijuana state with 63% of voters approving Proposal 1.
Massachusetts became the 13th state to decriminalize the personal possession of marijuana with 65% of voters approving Question 2.
Fayetteville, Arkansas voters decided marijuana offenses should be the lowest law-enforcement priority by 65%.
Voters on the Big Island (Hawaii County), Hawaii voted to make possession of 24 ounces and 24 plants the lowest law enforcement priority, and to forbid county officials from cooperating in or accepting funds for marijuana eradication efforts on the island.
In bad news, however, Oregon’s Measure 57 passed with 61% of the vote, establishing new mandatory minimum sentences for repeat drug offenders, among other things. Measure 61 was still at 50%, but even if it passes, it fails because 57 got more votes (61′s mandatory minimums would have included first-time drug offenders)
More bad news comes from California’s Proposition 5 (the Non-Violent Offender Rehabilitation Act) which failed with only 40% of the vote. In addition to diverting non-violent drug offenders to treatment, it would have decriminalized personal possession of marijuana.
But there were some successes in California. Proposition 6 was defeated by 70% of the vote, a measure that would have required the eviction of people from public housing for a recent drug offense. Berkeley, California’s Measure JJ passed with 62% of the vote, which will ease restrictions on zoning for medical marijuana dispensaries.
[...] in November under Proposition 5: the Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act. Going against the tide of the rest of the country, they rejected it by 60% to 40%. One can’t help but feel that, if they were presciently [...]