Drug-related Ballot Initiatives of the 2000 US Presidential Election

By now, everyone knows that this year's US Presidential election is historic, unprecedented. But the brouhaha over who will be President is covering up some other major weirdness from this year's election.

Sure, there was the dead guy who was elected, and the first First Lady to be a senator. But even stranger was this year's drug laws. The US has quite a bizarre relationship with its illegal drugs. Despite draconian seizure laws, an expensive "war on drugs", and a demonstrated willingness to lock up a significant portion of the population in prison, the US has been about as successful in getting its citizens to stop recreational use of drugs as it has been in getting them to stop disobeying traffic speed laws.

The result of this has been a government that passes stricter and stricter laws on drugs, and a citizenry that attempts to weaken those laws with ballot measures:

In my home state of California, citizens passed a drug law reform initiative that stipulates treatment rather than jail time for first- and second-time offenders.

Just to the north of me, Mendicino county passed an initiative that legalized pot growth for personal use. It probably won't stand, since it directly counteracts state and federal law. But what a statement!

Both Colorado and Nevada passed medical use of marijuana initiatives. (In a move that clearly shows that this isn't just a liberal thing, Nevada simultaneously passed a measure to amend their constitution to specifically prohibit same-sex marriages. Those wacky Nevadans!)

Finally, Alaska had on its ballot the most sweeping drug initiative I've ever seen. Had it passed, it would have re-legalized hemp and marijuana usage, treating it like alcohol under the laws. It would have also granted amnesty to people previously convicted of marijuana crimes, and convened a committee to study the possibility of restitution for them. It failed, but it got 40% of the vote. Wow!

Just a quick addition to what is written above about medical marijuana use in Colorado.

The problem with the language of this initiative is that it really doesn't extend any legal protection to people who sell pot or provide any sort of plan for legal distribution of marijuana. Users must register with the state as such which gives them protection legally but the sale of marijuana is stil very much illegal in Colorado. Given that there is a state level registry of medical marijuana users with no provision given to the accessibility of marijuana the paranoid part of me that sees conspiracy lurking in every corner says that this is an elaborate and convoluted sting.

Of course there is also the practical side of me that argues against the idea of faux legalization of drugs when there is no standard for purity involved in the process. I wonder if this isn't a deft political maneuver to create ineffective legislation that inhibits any practical application of it while pacifying the demands of voters.

End note: Despite my obvious suspicion and paranoia I do not smoke pot or really advocate its use for recreation.