Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
As Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern trudged toward a 49-state drubbing at the hands of Richard Nixon in the 1972 general election, one of the many millstones weighing down McGovern's hapless campaign was the perception that the South Dakotan was too liberal when it came to the nation's drug laws.
McGovern himself took pains to emphasize that he supported decriminalization of marijuana, not its legalization, but the damage was done. Middle America saw McGovern as a bleeding heart in cahoots with hippies, and he was summarily buried at the bottom of a landslide.
At the same time McGovern was on the ballot, California voters were asked if they wanted marijuana legalized. The initiative was defeated by a 2-to-1 margin.
It's certainly a sign that the times they have a-changed that marijuana is, in fact, becoming legal in parts of the country that once decisively kicked McGovern to the curb. Despite being an otherwise dire night for progressives, marijuana did well on election night in November, with voters in Nevada, Massachusetts, Maine and California signing off on recreational marijuana measures, bringing the number of states that have approved such proposals to eight. In addition, voters in Arkansas, North Dakota and Florida said yes to medical marijuana. A little more than half the states in America have legalized medical marijuana use, with the holdouts largely in the Deep South and Great Plains.
Pennsylvania's medical marijuana law was approved last April, and there will probably be a gold-rush bolt of requests to Harrisburg to grow pot and set up dispensaries once the application period opens Feb. 20 and closes one month later. On Friday, we reported on how two local communities were preparing for the possibility of medical marijuana growers and dispensers setting up shop within their borders.
Hopewell Township in Washington County recently began considering adopting zoning rules that would regulate businesses that produce and distribute medical marijuana. At a public hearing on the ordinance Monday, the township's board of supervisors approved the measure. And officials in Rostraver Township in Westmoreland County have received an application for a Pittsburgh company that wants to produce cannabis oil that would be used in marijuana dispensaries.
Michael Cruny, solicitor for Hopewell Township, told the Observer-Reporter the township "wanted to get something in place. We know that there's at least one group that's interested out there, so we wanted to get something on the books."
With its new ordinance approved, Hopewell is the first community in the region to establish local zoning rules for medical marijuana. The township should be commended for its farsightedness.
The use of marijuana to help treat seizure disorders, muscle spasms resulting from multiple sclerosis, nerve pain, Crohn's disease and other conditions has won widespread support, even from those who are leery of it being made readily available for recreational use.
But it is probably inevitable that marijuana will be allowed for recreational use in most parts of the country.
At least half of all adults have tried it, and, as of last October, 57 percent of adults polled by the Pew Research Center favored its legalization for recreational use.
Who could have imagined that in 1972?
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: The Times They Have A-Changed On Marijuana
Author: Staff
Contact: 724.222.2200
Photo Credit: Jim McNutt
Website: Observer-Reporter
McGovern himself took pains to emphasize that he supported decriminalization of marijuana, not its legalization, but the damage was done. Middle America saw McGovern as a bleeding heart in cahoots with hippies, and he was summarily buried at the bottom of a landslide.
At the same time McGovern was on the ballot, California voters were asked if they wanted marijuana legalized. The initiative was defeated by a 2-to-1 margin.
It's certainly a sign that the times they have a-changed that marijuana is, in fact, becoming legal in parts of the country that once decisively kicked McGovern to the curb. Despite being an otherwise dire night for progressives, marijuana did well on election night in November, with voters in Nevada, Massachusetts, Maine and California signing off on recreational marijuana measures, bringing the number of states that have approved such proposals to eight. In addition, voters in Arkansas, North Dakota and Florida said yes to medical marijuana. A little more than half the states in America have legalized medical marijuana use, with the holdouts largely in the Deep South and Great Plains.
Pennsylvania's medical marijuana law was approved last April, and there will probably be a gold-rush bolt of requests to Harrisburg to grow pot and set up dispensaries once the application period opens Feb. 20 and closes one month later. On Friday, we reported on how two local communities were preparing for the possibility of medical marijuana growers and dispensers setting up shop within their borders.
Hopewell Township in Washington County recently began considering adopting zoning rules that would regulate businesses that produce and distribute medical marijuana. At a public hearing on the ordinance Monday, the township's board of supervisors approved the measure. And officials in Rostraver Township in Westmoreland County have received an application for a Pittsburgh company that wants to produce cannabis oil that would be used in marijuana dispensaries.
Michael Cruny, solicitor for Hopewell Township, told the Observer-Reporter the township "wanted to get something in place. We know that there's at least one group that's interested out there, so we wanted to get something on the books."
With its new ordinance approved, Hopewell is the first community in the region to establish local zoning rules for medical marijuana. The township should be commended for its farsightedness.
The use of marijuana to help treat seizure disorders, muscle spasms resulting from multiple sclerosis, nerve pain, Crohn's disease and other conditions has won widespread support, even from those who are leery of it being made readily available for recreational use.
But it is probably inevitable that marijuana will be allowed for recreational use in most parts of the country.
At least half of all adults have tried it, and, as of last October, 57 percent of adults polled by the Pew Research Center favored its legalization for recreational use.
Who could have imagined that in 1972?
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: The Times They Have A-Changed On Marijuana
Author: Staff
Contact: 724.222.2200
Photo Credit: Jim McNutt
Website: Observer-Reporter
