Attitudes are changing across the country regarding marijuana reform. A piece at HuffPo — “Colorado, Washington Pot Legalization Deals Drug War Major Blow” — has a great quote from my LEAP cohort Tom Angell.
“To put this into historical context, there is no historical context,” said Tom Angell, spokesperson for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. “It’s the first time any state has ever voted to legalize marijuana — and two of them did it.”
Tom is also the founder of Marijuana Majority a website where people of note (a real mixed bag of pols, celebs, religious leaders, etc.) have thrown in with the movement. It’s real fun to scroll through.
Mr. Angell helped local reformers immensely with the testimony at the Rhode Island state house that finally resulted in the new marijuana decriminalization legislation (takes effect next April 1st). When facing the committees, we all cited recent polls to the legislators that we felt indicated there would be no political price to pay for backing marijuana reform. Were we right?
Answer after the jump.
Yes. According to the ProJo, the wonderfully enlightened state rep John G. Edwards, who sponsored the house bill, defeated his opponent handily with 72% of the vote. Equally awesome co-sponsor, Edith Ajello, who helped persuade the house when the bill came up for a vote, defeated her opponent with 79% of the vote. And Senate sponsor, Josh Miller, won with 69.1% of the vote (against a Republican with actual name recognition). So it’s official. The people have spoken and they support marijuana reform . . . big time. Congratulations to these legislators. And thank you for being bold and leading the way.