Thursday, November 5, 2020

America's "war on drugs" appears to be winding down after this election

 Vox has the story:

Election Day was a major rejection of the war on drugs--In every state where marijuana legalization or another drug policy reform was on the ballot, it won.  By German Lopez

"In every state where a ballot measure asked Americans to reconsider the drug war, voters sided with reformers. In Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota, voters legalized marijuana for recreational purposes. In Mississippi and South Dakota (separate from the full legalization measure), voters legalized medical marijuana.

"In Oregon, voters decriminalized — but not legalized — all drugs, including cocaine and heroin. Also in Oregon, voters legalized the use of psilocybin, a psychedelic drug found in magic mushrooms, for supervised therapeutic uses.

"In Washington, DC, voters in effect decriminalized psychedelic plants, following the lead of several other cities.

"With its vote, Oregon became the first state in the US to decriminalize all drugs in modern times. And marijuana is now legalized in 15 states and DC, although DC still doesn’t allow sales."



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Update: and here's Kristof in the NYT:

Republicans and Democrats Agree: End the War on Drugs--Voters in red and blue states may be in accord on nothing else, but they passed measures to liberalize drug laws.  By Nicholas Kristof

"In Arizona, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota, voters decisively passed measures liberalizing marijuana laws. Marijuana will now be legal for medical use in about 35 states and for recreational use in 15 states.

...

"Under the new Oregon measure, manufacturing or selling drugs will still be crimes, but possession of small amounts of heroin, cocaine or methamphetamine would be equivalent to a traffic ticket. The aim is to steer people into treatment so that they can get help with their addictions."

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