Voters in Three States to Decide on Marijuana Proposals October 13, 2004
News Summary
Voters in Alaska, Montana and Oregon will decide this November whether to ease drug laws pertaining to marijuana use, the Associated Press reported Oct. 10.All three measures are offered as alternatives to federal drug policies that activists call harsh and ineffective.
Voters in Alaska will decide on decriminalizing marijuana completely. The measure would prohibit prosecution of anyone age 21 or older who consumes, grows, or distributes marijuana for private personal use. The measure would also treat marijuana like alcohol and tobacco, allowing authorities to tax it and ban it from use in public.
In Montana, voters will decide whether to legalize marijuana for medical reasons.
In Oregon, voters will determine whether the state's current medical-marijuana program should be expanded. Under the ballot initiative, state-regulated dispensaries would be created to supply marijuana, authorized growers would be able to sell marijuana to patients for a profit, and patients would be allowed to possess a pound of marijuana at a time, up from the current three-ounce limit.
U.S. drug czar John Walters has been making personal appearances in all three states to campaign against the measures. In Oregon in particular, Walters has waged an aggressive campaign.
"They use medical marijuana as a Trojan horse," Walters said. "People's suffering is being used for legalizing drug use beginning with marijuana and moving forward."
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