Remember when that Alaskan news anchor said “F**k it, I quit” on live television and told the public about her crusade for marijuana legalization? Well, her spirits (and probably a lot of her friends) must be high because Alaska, Oregon and Washington D.C. voted to legalize marijuana Tuesday.
This raises the count to four states where marijuana is fully legalized.
In 2012, Colorado passed Amendment 64, which was put into full effect on Jan. 1 of this year.
Alaska’s new law passing allows adults 21 and older to own up to six marijuana plants and have up to one ounce legally. This state will also allow regulation of sales of the drug.
In Oregon, individuals 21 and older can posses up to eight ounces of marijuana, and up to four plants. The law will be into action in July of 2015, with regulations from the state liquor board to take effect in 2016.
D.C.’s legalization is not as lax as that of Oregon’s and nowhere near what Colorado’s laws have enabled. Adults 21 and older may possess up to two ounces of pot and six plants, but there will be no taxation or sales.
In the grand scheme of things, what does this all mean?
A high school stoner could tell you all of the benefits of marijuana and why we should just “legalize it, man” in a persuasive speech, but the reality is that more than half of the country has moved to decriminalize the drug, as well as legalizing its use for medicinal purposes.
If ever there were a success story for Afroman to rejoice in, it would be the current state of marijuana in Colorado. According to the Marijuana Policy Project, violent crime has fallen 5.6 percent in Denver since the legalization. More than $45 million has been collected from taxes and sales of the drug.
Should the rest of the country follow suit? If this trend of lowered crime rates and higher revenue were to continue in every state, one might think that would be ideal. Regardless, the reasons for why or why not pot should be legal is an ongoing debate.
