Marijuana’s Big Night

America gets lifted

By now you’ve probably heard that the big winner on Election Night was the Green Party. Settle down, Stein Bros. I’m referring to the real Green Party.

On Tuesday, marijuana won big, going 8 for 9 in all contests which had it on the ballot.

Set aside the fact that marijuana narrowly missed out on a nine-state avalanche, what’s truly remarkable is that the victories weren’t made up of a soft series of medicinal proposals; rather, 4 of the 8 measures were for full-blown, recreational legalization.

While Election Night’s most significant story remains America’s willingness to jump on board the Trump Train, we can’t overlook their eagerness to also ride the Pineapple Express.

Let’s break it down.

On Tuesday, voters in California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada approved measures to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in their respective states.

California

This was the big one. Hailed as the new “Gold Standard” in marijuana legislation, the passing of Proposition 64 allows for those 21 and older to possess up to an ounce and to grow up to six plants at home. It also requires a regulatory framework that, in addition to providing a wide variety of licensing options, also disallows Big Marijuana from squeezing out smaller farmers from getting into the game; for the first five years, large-scale cultivation is prohibited. This regulatory structure will be paid for via a 15% excise tax on the sale of legal weed, as well as a cultivation tax imposed on growers. The passing of Prop 64 also creates a system that allows for a retroactive softening of some marijuana-related sentences and for an expunging of past convictions. The world’s sixth-largest economy, which has over 12% of America’s population, has now fully embraced marijuana legalization.

Maine

On Tuesday, Maine voted yes by the narrowest of margins (the difference was slightly more than 2,500 votes). The state went big, allowing those who are 21 and older to possess up to 2 1/2 ounces. The sales tax in the initiated bill is set at 10%.

Massachusetts

Maine and Massachusetts have become the first two states on the North Atlantic coast to fully legalize cannabis. Massachusetts, which voted 53% to 46% on Question 4, intends to regulate it in a manner similar to alcohol. In Cambridge in particular, the margin of victory was greater (over 21,000 votes) than the total amount of those voting no (14,230).

Nevada

Sixteen years after passing medical marijuana, Nevada approves it for recreational use. The entire Pacific coast, from California to Alaska, has now legalized cannabis, meaning Nevada represents its eastward expansion. Like its neighbor to the West, Nevada will implement a 15% excise tax.

In addition to the above, a further four states also approved medical marijuana referenda: Arkansas, Florida, Montana, and North Dakota.

Arkansas becomes the first state in the South to approve the medical use of marijuana. Florida, which is geographically but not spiritually a southern state, has augmented its previous medical marijuana legislation by expanding the number of conditions eligible for medical marijuana. Previously, Florida allowed non-euphoric strand of marijuana to treat a narrowly circumscribed set of conditions. Montana and North Dakota, two low population states in the upper midwest also approved medical marijuana.

The one that got away, the state which kept cannabis from going a perfect 9 for 9, is Arizona. Unlike its neighbors California and Nevada, Arizona voted against legalization, opting 52% to 48% to keep the state medical-only (medical passed in Arizona in 1996).

All told, marijuana is now legal for one-fifth of the population. Washington DC and 8 states — Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington — have fully legalized (medical and recreational) marijuana. The total including medical-only states is 29.

Of course, marijuana remains an illegal Schedule I narcotic according to federal law, which technically supersedes state law. This is why Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper cautioned residents to “not break out the cheetos too quickly” in the aftermath passing Amendment 64; he was seeking greater clarity on what the federal government would do in light of Colorado’s approval for recreational pot.

In a memo to all U.S. Attorneys sent in 2013, then-Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole stressed that while marijuana technically remains illegal under federal law, the government would not be directing its limited resources to coming after those who are operating within the new state frameworks.

This memo effectively functioned as a green light for newly green states to do their thing.

Where does it currently stand? To be sure, marijuana’s continued inclusion among the set of Schedule I substances is in jeopardy. According to the DEA, Schedule I substances are defined as “drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse,” which means marijuana currently shares a classification with LSD and Ecstasy. Yet as President Obama mentioned in a recent interview, this discrepancy between state and federal conceptualization of the plant is not going to be “tenable” much longer.

The big question moving forward is what course the incoming Trump administration will take on the enforcement of existing federal marijuana law. As ThinkProgress’ Alan Pyke notes:

Two of the people most often touted as potential Attorney General nominees in a Trump administration — Chris Christie and Rudy Giuliani — are ardent opponents of loosening pot law and reversing the drug war.

Trump will want to consider how decisively America has changed on this issue.

The big question is whether Trump will pursue a policy consistent with his words on the campaign trail, which suggested that this is an issue for the states to decide, or whether Trump will give free reign to prohibitionists to continue setting the federal agenda.