#NORML #News Source: @norml @WeedConnection Posted By: norml@weedconnection.com media :: news - Tue, 11 Oct 2016 04:20:21 PST
Adult Marijuana Use Ballot Initiatives Leading In Polls
Washington, DC: Voters are supportive of five pending ballot measures that seek to regulate the adult use and sale of marijuana, according to recent polling data compiled in Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada.
Half of Arizona voters intend to vote 'yes' in favor of Proposition 205: The Arizona Legalization and Regulation of Marijuana Act, according to an Arizona Republic/Morrison/Cronkite News poll. Forty percent of voters oppose the initiative. The Act allows adults age 21 and older to possess and to privately consume and grow limited amounts of marijuana (up to one ounce of marijuana flower, up to five grams of marijuana concentrate, and/or the harvest from up to six plants) and provides regulations for a retail cannabis marketplace.
In California, several polls show strong public support for Proposition 64: The Adult Use of Marijuana Act. In recent weeks, polling data compiled by the Public Policy Institute of California and the California Field Poll indicates that the measure leading among voters by 30 percentage points. Proposition 64 permits adults to legally grow (up to six plants) and possess personal use quantities of cannabis (up to one ounce of flower and/or up to eight grams of concentrate) while also licensing commercial cannabis production and retail sales. The measure prohibits localities from taking actions to infringe upon adults' ability to possess and cultivate cannabis for non-commercial purposes. The initiative language specifies that it is not intended to "repeal, affect, restrict, or preempt ... laws pertaining to the Compassionate Use Act of 1996."
Fifty-three percent of Maine voters support Question 1: The Marijuana Legalization Act, according to a September UNH Survey Center poll. Only 38 percent of respondents oppose it. The Act authorizes adults to obtain up to two and one-half ounces of cannabis from licensed facilities. Adults can also cultivate up to six plants and possess the harvest from those plants.
In Massachusetts, voters back Question 4: The Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act by a margin of 53 percent to 40 percent, according to polling data released last week by WBZ-TV. The ballot measure permits adults to possess up to 10 ounces of cannabis and to grow up to six plants for non-commercial purposes. The measure also establishes regulations overseeing the commercial production and sale of the plant.
Question 2: The Nevada Marijuana Legalization Initiative leads among Nevada voters by a margin of 57 percent to 33 percent, according to Suffolk University polling data released last week. (A separate poll recently commissioned by the Las Vegas Review-Journal finds support among voters to be almost evenly split.) The initiative permits adults to obtain up to one ounce of cannabis from a retail facility or to cultivate up to six plants if no retail outlet is available.
Medical Marijuana Workforce Participation Older Americans
Baltimore, MD: The enactment of statewide medicinal cannabis programs is associated with greater participation in the workforce by those age 50 and older, according to the findings of a working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Researchers at the John Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore and Temple University in Philadelphia analyzed two-decades of data from the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative survey of Americans over 50 and their spouses, to determine the impact of medical marijuana access laws on subjects' health and workforce participation.
Authors reported, "[H]ealth improvements experienced by both groups (older men and women) permit increased participation in the labor market." Specifically, investigators determined that the enactment of medical marijuana laws was associated with a "9.4 percent increase in the probability of employment and a 4.6 percent to 4.9 percent increase in hours worked per week" among those over the age of 50.
They concluded: "Medical marijuana law implementation leads to increases in labor supply among older adult men and women. ... These effects should be considered as policymakers determine how best to regulate access to medical marijuana."
Previous analyses of the impact of medical cannabis laws on various health and welfare outcomes report that legalization is associated with a reduction in obesity-related medical costs, decreased rates of opioid addiction and mortality, fewer workplace absences, and reduced Medicare costs.
Full text of the study, "The impact of medical marijuana laws on the labor supply and health of older adults: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study," appears online.
Congress Medical Marijuana Protection Provisions
Washington, DC: Members of Congress have approved a short-term spending bill keeping in place existing budgetary provisions protecting those who engage in the state-sanctioned use and dispensing of medical cannabis from federal prosecution by the Department of Justice.
The amendment, known as the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment, maintains that federal funds cannot be used to prevent states from "implementing their own state laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession or cultivation of medical marijuana." Congress initially enacted the provision in 2014, but it must be renewed every year.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a broad interpretation of the amendment in a ruling in August.
Federal lawmakers will revisit the FY 2017 spending appropriation after the November Election.
