A Few Notes on State Measures
By Emily Rutherford - Nov 5th, 2008 at 6:24 pmAside from the obligatory excitement concerning the presidency:
- Congratulations to California, which defeated a proposition requiring parental consent for minors seeking abortions.
- Congratulations to South Dakota, which defeated an abortion ban.
- Congratulations to Michigan, which approved medical marijuana and stem-cell research.
- Congratulations to Massachusetts, which became the first state in the union to decriminalize marijuana–and potentially spell the beginning of the end of the war on drugs.
Anyone else have a state that deserves congratulation? Please comment.
Wait– so Mass. completely decriminalized marijuana? Or is it like California where its legal state-wide under strict conditions and the local law enforcement works with FBI agents to bust weed banks?
November 5th, 2008 at 6:29 pmLike the penalty for less than an ounce is a $100 civil fine–sort of like a traffic ticket I guess. That’s further than CA has gone. Who knows how it will turn out in practice, but it definitely sounds promising.
November 5th, 2008 at 6:37 pmalso: thanks to CA for passing props 1 and 2, which approved high-speed rail infrastructure and better living conditions for farm animals, respectively. Granted, the rail infrastructure will be totally dependent on CA sorting out its current budget mess, and many people think the farm animal prop didn’t go far enough, but I’m all for celebrating incremental victories.
November 6th, 2008 at 10:13 am