Election day was generally tough for those who support the end of marijuana prohibition. The effort to completely legalize pot in California failed, as did an effort to expand medical marijuana in Oregon and allow for dispensaries. A medical marijuana initiative in South Dakota was soundly defeated.
Finally, it looked as though even libertarian-leaning Arizona had rejected medical marijuana, as the vote count on election night showed the measure losing by about 7,000 votes. Since then, additional votes have been counted, and the measure has slowly crept back from the dead. Today, the final votes were tallied.
PHOENIX – Arizona voters have approved a measure that will legalize medical marijuana use in the state for people with chronic or debilitating diseases.
Final vote tallies showed Saturday that Proposition 203 won by a tiny margin of just 4,341 votes out of more than 1.67 million votes counted. The measure had started out losing on Election Day by about 7,200 votes, but the gap gradually narrowed in the following 10 days.
"Now begins the very hard work of implementing this program in the way it was envisioned, with very high standards," said Andrew Myers, campaign manager for the Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project. "We really believe that we have an opportunity to set an example to the rest of the country on what a good medical marijuana program looks like."
This is a satisfying result, and something for the marijuana reform movement to hang its hat on this year. Medical marijuana is now legal in 15 states plus the District of Columbia. The measure in Arizona goes into effect 120 days after vote certification on November 29th.
The leader of the campaign against the measure issued a statement with all the usual, reefer madness BS. After the measure took the lead in the vote count yesterday, she complained that Arizonans just hadn't heard enough of the propaganda to vote the right way. She also said that this will undoubtedly lead toward the eventual day of pot being legal for everyone. One can only hope.