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Wanted: Marijuana Freedom

In my May article “A Pantry Full of Marijuana,” I pined for the day when “governments across America will consider it none of their business how much marijuana people have in their homes, cars, purses, or wherever.” Such has long been the situation with legal alcohol. However, while the momentum for marijuana legalization across the Untied States remains strong, the marijuana legalization that materializes continues to have many burdensome strings attached, including limitations on how much marijuana a person can legally possess.

Over at the Future of Freedom Foundation, Laurence M. Vance presents a detailed case in support of removing the limits on the amount of marijuana people can possess. In his Tuesday article “Marijuana Legalization vs. Marijuana Freedom,” Vance argues that, while marijuana has been legalized for medical, recreational, or both medical and recreational use in much of America, the marijuana legalization falls far short of recognizing marijuana freedom because of government restrictions bound up with the legalization. In particular, Vance focuses in his article on pervasive restrictions on how much marijuana people can possess in contrast with the laissez faire approach taken toward the amount of alcohol people can possess.

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A Pantry Full of Marijuana

Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed into law on Thursday legislation that doubles to two ounces the amount of marijuana individuals age 21 and older may legally possess in the state. This is a welcome expansion of respect for the freedom of people in Colorado.

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National Marijuana Legalization May Become a Special Interests Buffet

Special interests already elbowed their way into including government subsidies for businesses and racial preference requirements in national marijuana legalization legislation in the form of the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act (the MORE Act) approved in the United States House of Representatives in December, toward the end of the last congress. Now, with legalization momentum so strong that a national law change appears to be around the corner, expect more and more special interests to rush in to advance their goals in the crafting of the bill that will end decades of national prohibition.

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Tax and Regulate Marijuana? Nah, Just Legalize It.

Years back, people working for marijuana legalization tended to say their goal was simple — “legalize marijuana.” Then, after the momentum for legalization had built across America and it appeared that achieving legalization countrywide was just a matter of time, some people pulling the strings behind marijuana legalization efforts decided to tweak the message. Increasingly, the stated goal shifted from “legalize marijuana” to “tax and regulate marijuana.”

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Voters Across America Approve Drug War Rollback Ballot Measures

The Tuesday general election brought approval of several statewide ballot measures rolling back the war on drugs.

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Drug War Rollbacks on Voters’ Ballots in November

In March, I wrote about how coronavirus fear and government crackdowns undertaken in the name of countering coronavirus could be expected to prevent some drug war rollback measures from being included on November general election ballots. Qualifying such measures for inclusion on voters’ ballots typically requires the collection of many signatures, something that is harder to accomplish when there is widespread fear of coronavirus and expansive government mandates restricting people’s activities.

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MORE Act Sole Republican Cosponsor Says the Bill Is Not the Way to Legalize Marijuana Now

The United States House of Representatives appears set to have a floor vote this month on the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act (HR 3884). The bill would legalize marijuana at the national level, but, as I pointed out in a July article, the MORE Act’s “inclusion of race-based provisions and marijuana business subsidies make the bill seem incapable of gaining much Republican support.”

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Removing Marijuana Restrictions for Baseball Players

Some American professional sports organizations, such as the National Football League (NFL) and Major League Baseball (MLB), have served as auxiliary enforcers of the United States government’s marijuana prohibition, testing players for marijuana use and imposing penalties on them if it is determined they have used marijuana. On Thursday, MLB, along with the Major League Baseball Players Association, announced a reversal of that policy for baseball players, starting with the 2020 spring training.

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Ed Thompson’s 2002 Fight Against Marijuana Prohibition

Reading a Wednesday article by Kyle Jaeger at Marijuana Moment, a quote from a Wisconsin state Assembly member who is a sponsor of a marijuana decriminalization bill struck me. Rep. David Crowley states at Twitter that the legislation “should have been passed years ago – but thanks to the inaction of our legislature, [Wisconsin] is now an island of antiquated drug policy in a sea of decriminalization.”

The quote brought to mind the years 2001 and 2002 when I was in Wisconsin to help Ed Thompson with his governor campaign. Thompson, who ran as a Libertarian, made the legalization of medical marijuana a key campaign issue and supported recreational marijuana legalization as well.

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Marijuana Industry Associations: We Want the US Government to Regulate Marijuana

Last month the executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), who many people would expect to support the United States government butting out of marijuana matters, was urging the US government to tightly regulate the marijuana market. On Wednesday, two major marijuana industry associations joined in, urging the US government to impose regulations on marijuana businesses.