Due to the abject failure of this Democrat-led New Jersey legislature with the usual 19th century bullshit from useless Republicans, our government, thankfully, has punted the responsibility of legalizing marijuana to us, the citizens. Not sure deciding whether a plant is legal or not should necessarily fall to a vote, but that’s where we are now. You might recall, I called for this during this past spring’s implosion of the year-long marijuana bill (S2703). And so the matter will indeed move to the ballot in November of 2020.
The vast majority of people who support marijuana legalization aren’t looking to just get high, a new poll finds.
In fact, 86% of supporters cite the drug’s benefits to those who use it medicinally as a “very important” reason they favor legalization, according to a Gallup poll of more than 1,000 U.S. adults conducted between May 15 and May 30.
Travel guru Rick Steves told Hill.TV on Wednesday that the federal government should legalize marijuana.
"It's clear it's time for the federal government to recognize that we need to stop the prohibition against marijuana," said Steves, who is a board member at the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
At the start of the year, New Yorkers were promised that cannabis legalization was on the agenda for lawmakers in the state and that the issue would be addressed in the early part 2019. Now, six months later we are finding that legislators are continuing to put off efforts to reform cannabis policy for numerous reasons. However, while lawmakers debate on the logistics, it appears that more than half of voters in the state are ready for legal marijuana.
Peter Barsoom lives in Denver, but he really wants to come home to New Jersey.
The son of Egyptian immigrants, Barsoom grew up in Jersey City and East Brunswick and earned his master’s degree in political science at Princeton University. For two decades, he was a successful Wall Street executive. But five years ago, he decided to roll the dice: He quit his day job at Intercontinental Exchange and dove headfirst into the nascent cannabis industry in Colorado.
One of the most detailed surveys of its kind found 84% percent of Americans favor legalization for medical or recreational purposes, but less than half support bills currently in Congress to change federal cannabis law concerning recreational use, including bills supported by Democratic presidential candidates. But Americans widely embrace measures to tax and regulate it (60%), which is only possible at the state level.
The group of white-haired folks — some pushing walkers, others using canes — arrive right on time at the gates of Laguna Woods Village, an upscale retirement community in the picturesque hills that frame this Southern California suburb a few miles from Disneyland.
To anyone who figured the path of legalizing recreational marijuana use ran along blue state-red state lines, a sudden setback for cannabis advocates in New Jersey may show the issue isn't so black-and-white.
For the past few months, Gov. Phil Murphy, who campaigned for office on a platform of legalization, and Democratic state lawmakers had been hard at work trying to garner support from state legislators. Yet the bill reportedly did not get the 21 votes necessary to pass in the state senate, with some lawmakers concerned that legalization could pose a threat to public safety. Another vote likely won’t take place until at least November, according to Sweeney.
A growing majority of Americans say marijuana should be legal, underscoring a national shift as more states embrace cannabis for medical or recreational use.
Support for legal marijuana hit 61 percent in 2018, up from 57 percent two years ago, according to the General Social Survey, a widely respected trend survey that has been measuring support for legal marijuana since the 1970s.