An Alaska initiative to legalize recreational marijuana qualified Wednesday for the August primary ballot after gathering more than 36,000 valid signatures.
Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell signed off on the petition after the Alaska Division of Elections found that the campaign had reached 36,030 signatures, nearly 6,000 more than required.
If approved by voters in the Aug. 19 primary, the legalization initiative would make Alaska the third state to allow retail pot sales for adults 21 and over. Colorado and Washington voters passed similar measures in November 2012.
“A bipartisan tidal wave of public support for regulating marijuana like alcohol in Alaska has pushed this initiative onto the ballot, and we will be running an aggressive campaign designed to build on that momentum,” said Taylor Bickford, spokesman for the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in Alaska.
A Public Policy Polling survey released Feb. 5 found that 55 percent of Alaskans surveyed in favor of legalizing marijuana for recreational use, with 39 percent against.
I think this is it.
I think after this vote that we will have marijuana sold out of storefronts downtown just like they do in Colorado.
I don't smoke pot, and have not been high for more than forty years now, but I have to tell you that I am kind of curious about the pot brownies and marijuana lollipops.
Once its legal I might give those a try.
You know, for science.
Back to the future. I remember the 70's in Alaska, when pot was "decriminalized". Rock festivals in Chitna, Matanuska Thunderfuck growing in the valley.
ReplyDeleteAlaskans actually suffered a Palin in power to make their lives miserable. She never achieved national office, so while the rest of us became aghast by her, she never had legislative means over us. So, speaking for the lower 48, we hope you get your legal doobie Alaska, and do not begrudge you that little compensation.
ReplyDeleteHere's An Updated Tally Of All The People Who Have Ever Died From A Marijuana Overdose
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/03/marijuana-overdose_n_4538580.html
Exactly. Anyone who says otherwise has some serious Reefer Madness going on.
Delete...I don't smoke pot, and have not been high for more than forty years now...
ReplyDeleteThough I haven't had any in 10 years, I've always liked pot way more than drinking. Pot is truly mood altering, while booze is mood enhancing.
For instance, if you're discontent or even angry, and add booze, you're going to get quite obnoxious and send those around you fleeing. But pot, especially shared with a friend or more, attenuates whatever negative stew you might have been in, and fosters a calmed philosophical, even humorous viewpoint of whatever impasse you're handling.
It blunts cynicism too. It's long been said that when you're stoned it's the bad shows that are the most entertaining, those programs you thought yourself way sophisticated beyond. Smoke some pot and try to get through an episode of "Green Acres" without peeing yourself laughing. It's not easy.
One more thing. If you can resist the inevitable munchies that come with pot - admittedly not easy - the pot itself contains no calories. That's never true of booze.
I've been amusing myself with imaging the conversations that must be going on in the Gov's office with the AG about how in the hell are they going to keep this initiative off the ballot. Maybe someone sent them the recent news reports about how much money CO and WA expect to gain in revenue.
ReplyDeleteHey Gov, just think, after you give all that oil money back to the Oil Corps, think about how pot could be a renewable resource that keeps on giving tax revenue!
The chocolate bars... you have to try the chocolate bars!
ReplyDeleteS'mores with mary jane brownies are out of this world, I hear. I haven't smoked it in ages and have no problem with legalizing, regulating and taxing it. Cigarettes kill, and for ages everyone turned a blind eye, regulated it, taxed it and sold it, and they know it kills and they're still selling it.
ReplyDeleteMarijuana isn't a gateway drug and is far healthier than cigarettes.
Willow won't have to make a buy in the Target parking lot if pot is legalized.
ReplyDelete