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Oakland City Council Unanimously Supports Cannabis Legalization in California

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Cannabis LegalizationThe Oakland City Council met Tuesday night for their final meeting before next week’s election. One of the items on their agenda, to determine their stance on Proposition 64, the state’s recreational cannabis initiative that would make it legal for adults 21 and over to consume cannabis.

The City Council unanimously passed a resolution to support Proposition 64. The backing of such a large city is surely a win for cannabis supporters, and it shows that public sentiment towards the plant has shifted significantly over the last 20 years.

“Supporting Prop 64 is in Oakland’s best interest, but the fight does not end there,” Councilmember-at-large Rebecca Kaplan, who authored the resolution, said in a statement.

The initiative would also grant individuals serving time in prison for cannabis-related offenses the opportunity to have their sentences augmented or dismissed.

“It only makes sense to tax marijuana instead of locking people up. You save the money you don’t spend on mass incarceration, and don’t mess up people’s lives,” Kaplan said.

Historically, Oakland has been a friend to the cannabis community. The city opened four cannabis dispensaries in 2004 and has always been liberal when it comes to cannabis legislation.

Proposition 64 has been polling well throughout the election and with less than a week remaining until the election, it looks like it should pass. With the large population of California, the passage of Proposition 64 would mean that one-in-eight Americans would live in a state with legal recreational cannabis.

Of course that number could be even higher, as Arizona, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada are also voting on recreational cannabis this election. An additional four states, Arkansas, Florida, Montana and North Dakota have medical cannabis bills on the ballot.

“It’s time we put an end to Richard Nixon’s war on marijuana, which has disproportionately targeted people of color, especially African Americans, for arrest and incarceration,” Kaplan concluded.

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