States & Municipalities Tee Up for November Vote

Around the country, both states and
municipalities are gearing up for a November off-year national vote on the
issue of greater cannabis reform.

·        
Alaska’s November Recreational
Reform Support Dips Slightly

·        
(At least) Two Maine Cities
Will Vote on Recreational Use in November

·        
Illinois To Roll Out First
Patient Registrations Next Month

In November, two states – Oregon and Alaska—voters
are going to the polls to make decisions about recreational use. Oregon’s
voters, who were motivated enough by the issue to meet the signature deadline
in three months this spring after the legislature failed to move on the issue,
is widely expected to pass the measure. 

For Alaska, a state that voted to change
its constitution to legalize medical use in 1998 (two years ahead of Colorado
and Nevada) a narrow victory is still up in the air.  Support for full recreational use has hovered
in the mid to high forty percentile range all year.  It has slipped a bit over the summer, but the
margin of difference is still within a plus or minus five point range of
error.  Given the political pull in
either direction, it’s still hard to tell.

On a municipal level, two cities in Maine,
including South Portland—the state’s fourth largest urban area—will be voting
for recreational use in November as well. 
At least one other city in the state is expected to put the measure on
the ballot, but the process has not been finalized yet.

Perhaps, the biggest political battle in
the country currently is still going on in Florida.  While polls have shown a blowout win for
medical use for several months, organizers are worried about soft polling
numbers.  Additionally, Florida will be
doing something quite new in the cannabis reform spectrum; the state will be
the first to challenge a CBD only statute signed into law earlier this summer
by Governor Rick Scott. While a clear consensus on what November’s polls will
produce for cannabis reform is still unclear, the positive changes in this year
alone still point toward high hopes.