OR Drug Decrim Ends, Nebraska Initiatives Qualify for Ballot, More... (9/3/24)

The Kamala Harris campaign slams Trump for "brazen flip-flopping" on marijuana after he says he'll vote for Florida initiative, a paired set of Nebraska medical marijuana initiatives has qualified for the ballot, and more.

Oregon State Capitol

Marijuana Policy

Trump Supports Florida Marijuana Legalization Initiative. In a Truth Social post on Saturday, former president and GOP presidential contender Donald Trump supported the Florida marijuana legalization initiative, Amendment 3. Because it is a constitutional amendment, it needs 60 percent of the vote to pass, and recent polling has it hovering on the cusp of victory.

"In Florida, like so many other States that have already given their approval, personal amounts of marijuana will be legalized for adults with Amendment 3. Whether people like it or not, this will happen through the approval of the Voters, so it should be done correctly," Trump wrote. He added that its use needed to be banned in public spaces "so that we don't smell marijuana everywhere we go."

In that desire to be free of pot smoke, Trump echoed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who has complained repeatedly about that prospect. But on the initiative, Trump has broken with DeSantis, who has led the opposition to it.

Trump's position on the Florida initiative also breaks with what is generally a bellicosse line on drug policy, with calls for the death penalty for dealers, military attacks on Mexican drug labs, and other aggressive responses. But he has also recently spoken out against jailing people for marijuana.

Harris Campaign Slams Donald Trump Over Marijuana Shift: Calls It 'Brazen Flip-Flop'. The Kamala Harris campaign has come out swinging in response to Donald Trump's embrace of Florida's Amendment 3 marijuana legalization initiative. After being accused of "flip-flopping" on various issues by the Trump campaign, the Harris campaign is slinging that accusation right back at Trump.

Trump has a record of "brazen flip-flops" and "just making things up," said a memo from Harris communications aide Ian Sams. "As of this morning, Trump now suggests he is for legalizing marijuana -- but as President, his own Justice Department cracked down on marijuana offenses," Sams continued.

"As soon as Trump starts catching heat for his unpopular agenda and record," said Sams, referencing Project 2025 per ABC, "he rushes out to claim he would actually do the opposite. It's a desperate play from a candidate whose back is up against the wall running against Vice President Harris. But it demands scrutiny," Sams argued. "He was president for four years, and how he exercised his power on these issues is the best metric for how he will do so again if he gets the chance. What he says now is just desperate pandering from a scared man who is worried he will lose."

Medical Marijuana

Nebraska Medical Marijuana Initiatives Qualify for November Ballot. It isn't quite official yet, but Secretary of State Bob Evnen's (R) office announced Friday that a paired set of medical marijuana initiatives have enough signatures to appear on the November election ballot. However, the initiatives are not officially certified until county officials statewide complete the signature verification and certification process.

The group behind the effort, Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, went for the bifurcated approach in a bid to avoid constitutional challenges at the state Supreme Court that derailed earlier initiative efforts.

The first measure, the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Patient Protection initiative, would create a doctor-patient system for medical marijuana to protect patients from arrest. It would allow patients to possess up to five ounces of medicine.

The second measure, the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Regulation initiative, would create a framework for a regulated medical marijuana industry in the state. The plan envisions a commission to create rules and regulations for a commercial marketplace, with licensed businesses before October 1, 2025.

Drug Policy

Oregon Drug Recriminalization Has Now Gone into Effect. The nation's first experiment with state-level decriminalization of drug possession is now over. As of Sunday, drug possession is now again a criminal offense, a misdemeanor, thanks to a measure passed by the Democratic-led legislature this past spring, House Bill 4002.

That bill undid the decriminalization aspect of Measure 110, which voters passed in 2020. Measure 110 also funneled hundreds of millions of dollars in legal marijuana tax revenues into drug treatment and harm reduction services. Still, the state was slow to gear up its treatment capacity, the lowest in the nation when the initiative took effect.

The state's inability to deliver treatment services, along with rising homelessness, increasing public drug use, the disruptions of the pandemic, and a sharp rise in overdose deaths as fentanyl belatedly entered the Pacific Northwest market all contributed to rising dissatisfaction with decriminalization. An effort earlier this year by some deep-pocketed Portlanders to put a recriminalization initiative on the ballot this year prompted the legislature to act.

More than 7,000 people were cited for drug possession under the law, which means there are 7,000 people not arrested on drug charges. But only a tiny number -- less than a hundred -- completed drug treatment and the vast majority of those receiving citations never paid their fines.

Supporters of Measure 110, including the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), which had invested more than $4 million to get it passed, were saddened. "It's easier for the legislature to blame and stigmatize and disappear people into jails than to fix the problem they had a hand in creating," said DPA's Emily Kaltenbach.

(This article was prepared by StoptheDrugWar.org's 501(c)(4) lobbying nonprofit, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also pays the cost of maintaining this website. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)