Fri | Jul 17, 2026

#USelection | Push to relax drug laws gains big victories on state ballots

Published:Wednesday | November 4, 2020 | 11:52 AM
In this Tuesday, October 27, 2020, file photo, Sheldon Smith (centre), holds the photographs of his children Deshawn Smith, 11, (left) and Trinitee Smith, 13, both suffering from sickle cell anemia, during an Initiative 65 rally in Ridgeland, Mississippi. Smith and his wife Keishawna believe their children would benefit from medical marijuana treatment for pain management. Initiative 65 would amend the Mississippi Constitution to allow the prescription by a doctor of up to 5 ounces (142 grams) of marijuana per month for people who suffer from more than 20 medical conditions. The state lawmakers are offering a more restrictive measure as an alternative. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

A nationwide push to relax drug laws took a significant step forward Tuesday as five more states legalised marijuana for adults and voters made Oregon the first state to decriminalise the possession of small amounts of street drugs such as cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.

The drug measures were among 120 proposed state laws and constitutional amendments that were on the ballot in 32 states.

They touched on an array of issues that have roiled politics in recent years — voting rights, racial inequalities, abortion, taxes, and education, to name a few.

But none directly dealt with the dominant theme of 2020 — the coronavirus pandemic.

That’s because the process to put measures on the ballot began, in most cases, before the virus surged to the forefront.

The Oregon drug initiative will allow people arrested with small amounts of hard drugs to avoid going to trial, and possible jail time, by paying a $100 fine and attending an addiction recovery programme.

The treatment centers will be funded by revenues from legalised marijuana, which was approved in Oregon several years ago.

“Today’s victory is a landmark declaration that the time has come to stop criminalising people for drug use,” said Kassandra Frederique, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, which backed the measure.

The proposal was endorsed by the Oregon Democratic Party, as well as some nurses and physician associations. The Oregon Republican Party had denounced the drug decriminalisation measure as radical, and some prosecutors called it reckless.

Oregon voters also approved a measure making the state the first to legalise the therapeutic use of psychedelic mushrooms.

Voters in New Jersey and Arizona approved measures legalising marijuana for adults age 21 and older.

In New Jersey, the Legislature now will have to pass another measure setting up the new marijuana marketplace.

The Arizona measure also allows people convicted of certain marijuana crimes to seek expungement of their records. The passage of the measure signalled a change of attitudes, after Arizona voters narrowly defeated a legal pot proposal in 2016.

South Dakota on Tuesday became the first state where voters authorised both recreational marijuana and medical marijuana via two separate initiatives in the same election.

The legalisation of recreational marijuana was approved by voters in Montana, and medical marijuana won approval in Mississippi.

A decade ago, recreational marijuana was illegal in all 50 states.

Voters allowed it in Colorado and Washington in 2012, sparking a movement that already included 11 states and Washington, D.C., heading into Tuesday’s elections.

Supporters hope additional victories, especially in conservative states, could build pressure for Congress to legalise marijuana nationwide.

Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.