4 East Coast States are Making Moves to Legalize Recreational Marijuana

November 15, 2012

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By J.G. Vibes

In the next few months cannabis legalization measures will be going into effect in Washington state and Colorado, and already prosecutors all over both states are dropping charges against cannabis users.

Now, just weeks after those measures were voted on out west, there are a few states on the east coast that are now following suit and making moves to get the beneficial plant legalized in their area.

According to Reason:

“State legislators in Rhode Island and Maine will announce bills tomorrow to legalize recreational marijuana, a spokesperson for the Marijuana Policy Project announced today.

Rhode Island Rep. Edith Ajello and Maine Rep. Diane Russell will hold a conference call tomorrow with the Marijuana Policy Project to announce the legislation.

MPP says that “similar proposals will be submitted in at least two other states — Vermont and Massachusetts.” A ballot iniative legalizing medical marijuana passed in Massachusetts last week with more than 60 percent of the vote.

Maine voters voted to expand the state’s 1999 medical marijuana law in 2009 to include dispensaries. The Rhode Island legislature decriminalized marijuana earlier this year, and has had medical marijuana since 2006″

The east coast has been far behind in efforts to legalize cannabis, in comparison to the west where many states have had medical programs for some time.

If these measures are taken seriously in these areas and do well, the effects will undoubtedly spread farther down the east coast, towards areas closer to DC and farther down south where cannabis users face some of the worst persecution.

Areas of New England have a much more laid back approach to cannabis, as we see with the announcement of these new bills.

As of right now New Hampshire is the only state in the New England area that has yet to pass any measures to legalize the drug, even for medicinal purposes.

However, I have a feeling that at this very moment a group of people from the Free State Project are hard at work to see that legalization efforts are made in New Hampshire as well.

The DEA has still promised to enforce the federal laws, but if this catches on like it’s looking to do, than it is going to get to the point where they cant enforce it, and then its all over for prohibition, or atleast prohibition of cannabis.

In reality, a prohibition of any kind is a scam, and the drug war is a racket of many prohibitions.

What the drug war actually accomplishes is the establishment of black markets and gangs, the erosion of personal liberties, the expansion of the prison system and prison population as well as a constant excuse for frivolous government spending.

This hypothesis has been tested time and time again, anytime throughout history where a ruling power has prohibited the consumption or possession of any item whatsoever.

This process was made quite clear during the alcohol prohibition of the 1920s and 1930s.

As we saw with alcohol prohibition, making a substance illegal does nothing to stifle its use, but simply creates outlaws out of nonviolent people and foments a culture of violence that the rest of society is forced to deal with, even if they have no interest at all in the banned substance.

Prohibitions of any kind should be opposed, for the reasons i have laid out in the past.

However, Cannabis is of a specific immediate importance though, because of its ability to heal sick people and create more environmentally friendly industrial products.

It is also one of the safest drugs known to our species.