Marijuana Ballot Initiatives in Oregon and Alaska Too Close to Call

Initiatives on the ballot in Oregon and Alaska on Tuesday, that would legalize recreational marijuana, are too close to call, according to NBC News. If the states approve the measures, they will join Colorado and Washington state, where recreational marijuana is already legal.

In addition, residents of Washington, D.C. will vote on a measure allowing adults 21 and over to possess up to two ounces of marijuana, and grow up to six plants in their homes. The measure is expected to pass. In Florida, voters are expected to defeat a medical marijuana measure.

In 2016 at least six more states are expected to vote on legalizing recreational marijuana, the article notes.

The Marijuana Policy Project, a national lobby based in Washington, D.C., has spent more than $700,000 on advocating for Alaska’s recreational marijuana measure. The Drug Policy Alliance, based in New York, has spent at least $780,000 to back Oregon’s measure. Both groups have paid for commercials and get-out-the-vote initiatives.

“If we lose in Oregon, it will shift the national frame a little bit,” said Drug Policy Alliance Executive Director Ethan Nadelmann. “But it doesn’t change the strategy and it doesn’t change the tactics. A generation from now people will still step back and look at the prohibition of marijuana and say, what the heck was that about?”

Proponents of the legalization measures say the initiatives would raise tax revenue and allow law enforcement to focus on more serious crime. They add the measures would undercut Mexico’s violent drug cartels.

Kevin Sabet, co-founder of the anti-legalization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, told NBC News, “We can ask the teacher in Portland if they want the same problems as the teachers in Denver, with kids bringing marijuana candy to school. We can ask the civil rights advocate in Anchorage whether they want to see marijuana stores as thick as liquor stores in minority neighborhoods.”