Prop 203 Appears to Have Won

[topspin]

Prop 203 Appears to Have Won; Remaining Ballots Unlikely to Reverse Trend - Phoenix News - Valley Fever

Prop 203 Appears to Have Won; Remaining Ballots Unlikely to Reverse TrendBy Ray Stern, Fri., Nov. 12 2010 @ 6:24PM Comments (86) Categories: Election 2010
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Image: Ray Stern
Andrew Myers reacts on Friday evening to vote counts that show Proposition 203 is winning by a comfortable margin
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Andrew Myers of the Marijuana Policy Project has been on edge since Election Day.





Then came the 5:35 p.m. update of vote results.



Observing the results from a small office in downtown Phoenix with his girlfriend and a couple of others, his demeanor suddenly changes. Instead of looking worried, he turns giddy.



"This is great," he says. "This is exciting."



Proposition 203, which had trailed until this afternoon, is now leading by about 4,400 votes.



About 8,000 early ballots and 2,000 provisional ballots remain to be counted in Maricopa County. But the pro-203 trend seen in the last few tens of thousands of provisional ballots processed bodes extremely well for the measure.



If it took a miracle to get this thing over the hump, it looks like another miracle will be needed for it to lose at this point.


Myers hugs his girlfriend and starts calling friends and family. Then reporters start calling.

"We're up by a very comfortable margin now -- it feels very good," he says to one.

Meanwhile, Carolyn Short of Keep Arizona Drug Free, the group that opposed the measure, sounds kind of stunned when we reach her by phone.

"Of course I'm disappointed," Short says. "But I'm thrilled at how well we did."

Short's not ready to concede yet, not with a few thousand votes still uncounted and the roller-coaster ride of the last few days.

About 8,000 early ballots and 2,000 provisionals remain to be counted in Maricopa County, the election department reports. All other votes are in.

The remaining votes could tip the scale back the other way. However, the early ballots have been trending about 50-50, so the "no" side won't pick up much there. The provisional ballots tended to skew so positive for 203, it seems more likely the final vote count will boost the "yes" side even more.

UPDATE: The win is official.

 

[Truthmatters]

yeap the cannibis marches on.

i think it will win next time in Cali

 

[topspin]

yes the young vote will be much larger for a Presidential.

 

[marv]

The message is that marijuana is good, tobacco is bad. Tobacco causes cancer which can be treated, and usually cured. Marijuana causes brain and genetic damage which cannot be cured.

My 2¢......btw, I was banned for life on another board because I opposed legalizing marijuana!

 

[topspin]

we welcome retards here, welcome

 

[uscitizen]

Why should anyone be against medical pot use?

I would use it but combined with all my pain meds it turns me into a right wing extremeist.
Need to keep what mental acuity I have remaining.

 

[topspin]

cannabis is a better alternative for many who don't want to get on addictive pain pills.

 

[uscitizen]

The message is that marijuana is good, tobacco is bad. Tobacco causes cancer which can be treated, and usually cured. Marijuana causes brain and genetic damage which cannot be cured.

My 2¢......btw, I was banned for life on another board because I opposed legalizing marijuana!

Ahh the old myths:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1jB7RBGVGk"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1jB7RBGVGk[/ame]

I know quite a few people that have smoked pot all their lives have healthy good children and successful careers.
Same as with alcohol, responsible users.

 

[uscitizen]

My only problem with full legalization of pot is how to test level of intoxication for DUI purposes. I do not want those stoned out of their gourds driving on the roads.

Aside from that I think it should be sold in Liquor stores just like alcohol.

 

[Avatar4321]

Not sure why people are so damn excited about putting chemicals in their body. Oh well.

 

[California Girl]

Cannabis and mental health

Mental health problems

There is growing evidence that people with serious mental illness, including depression and psychosis, are more likely to use cannabis or have used it for long periods of time in the past. Regular use of the drug has appeared to double the risk of developing a psychotic episode or long-term schizophrenia. However, does cannabis cause depression and schizophrenia or do people with these disorders use it as a medication?

Over the past few years, research has strongly suggested that there is a clear link between early cannabis use and later mental health problems in those with a genetic vulnerability - and that there is a particular issue with the use of cannabis by adolescents.

Depression
A study following 1600 Australian school-children, aged 14 to 15 for seven years, found that while children who use cannabis regularly have a significantly higher risk of depression, the opposite was not the case - children who already suffered from depression were not more likely than anyone else to use cannabis. However, adolescents who used cannabis daily were five times more likely to develop depression and anxiety in later life.

Schizophrenia
Three major studies followed large numbers of people over several years, and showed that those people who use cannabis have a higher than average risk of developing schizophrenia. If you start smoking it before the age of 15, you are 4 times more likely to develop a psychotic disorder by the time you are 26. They found no evidence of self-medication. It seemed that, the more cannabis someone used, the more likely they were to develop symptoms.

Why should teenagers be particularly vulnerable to the use of cannabis? No one knows for certain, but it may be something to do with brain development. The brain is still developing in the teenage years – up to the age of around 20, in fact. A massive process of ‘neural pruning’ is going on. This is rather like streamlining a tangled jumble of circuits so they can work more effectively. Any experience, or substance, that affects this process has the potential to produce long-term psychological effects.

Recent research in Europe, and in the UK, has suggested that people who have a family background of mental illness – and so probably have a genetic vulnerability anyway - are more likely to develop schizophrenia if they use cannabis as well.

What about driving?
In New Zealand, researchers found that those who smoked regularly, and had smoked before driving, were more likely to be injured in a car crash. A recent study in France looked at over 10,000 drivers who were involved in fatal car crashes. Even when the influence of alcohol was taken into account, cannabis users were more than twice as likely to be the cause of a fatal crash than to be one of the victims. So - perhaps most of us would also not want to be driven by somebody who had smoked cannabis in the last day or so.

 

[Care4all]

Avatar,

It's the freedom to be able to choose to do such silly things in the confines of their home, if they want to, that probably makes them excited.

some who support it, are not even users, but KNOW the gvt should not be involved in this kind of nanny state stuff....

some who support it, think we are wasting our time arresting and putting in jail, at a price of $50,000 a year each, 800,000 people a year for Pot use.

Some who support it see illegal marijuana use as a means for police or our gvt to be racist, and imprison minorities.

So not ALL people in support of decriminalizing or legalizing Marijuana use, are users.

Care

 

[topspin]

Ron Paul is for decrim, and he say's he would never use.

 

[JBeukema]

The message is that marijuana is good, tobacco is bad. Tobacco causes cancer which can be treated, and usually cured. Marijuana causes brain and genetic damage which cannot be cured.

My 2¢......btw, I was banned for life on another board because I opposed legalizing marijuana!

I smell bullshit

 

[California Girl]

Avatar,

It's the freedom to be able to choose to do such silly things in the confines of their home, if they want to, that probably makes them excited.

some who support it, are not even users, but KNOW the gvt should not be involved in this kind of nanny state stuff....

some who support it, think we are wasting our time arresting and putting in jail, at a price of $50,000 a year each, 800,000 people a year for Pot use.

Some who support it see illegal marijuana use as a means for police or our gvt to be racist, and imprison minorities.

So not ALL people in support of decriminalizing or legalizing Marijuana use, are users.

Care

I'm not against idiots choosing to spend their days stoned.... as long as it doesn't impact on me. I voted against legalizing in CA. My reason was not about not allowing people to choose, it is because there is no guarantee that their stupid behavior will not impact on me. Give me that guarantee and I'll vote for it.

I do not want another member of my family dead due to someone else's addiction. I don't want to fund other people's inability to hold down a job due to their addiction. I don't want to pick up their medical expenses. I don't do drugs and I don't want to help anyone who does. I don't care what anyone does - until it affects me and mine.

 

[Care4all]

Cannabis and mental health

Mental health problems

There is growing evidence that people with serious mental illness, including depression and psychosis, are more likely to use cannabis or have used it for long periods of time in the past. Regular use of the drug has appeared to double the risk of developing a psychotic episode or long-term schizophrenia. However, does cannabis cause depression and schizophrenia or do people with these disorders use it as a medication?

Over the past few years, research has strongly suggested that there is a clear link between early cannabis use and later mental health problems in those with a genetic vulnerability - and that there is a particular issue with the use of cannabis by adolescents.

Depression
A study following 1600 Australian school-children, aged 14 to 15 for seven years, found that while children who use cannabis regularly have a significantly higher risk of depression, the opposite was not the case - children who already suffered from depression were not more likely than anyone else to use cannabis. However, adolescents who used cannabis daily were five times more likely to develop depression and anxiety in later life.

Schizophrenia
Three major studies followed large numbers of people over several years, and showed that those people who use cannabis have a higher than average risk of developing schizophrenia. If you start smoking it before the age of 15, you are 4 times more likely to develop a psychotic disorder by the time you are 26. They found no evidence of self-medication. It seemed that, the more cannabis someone used, the more likely they were to develop symptoms.

Why should teenagers be particularly vulnerable to the use of cannabis? No one knows for certain, but it may be something to do with brain development. The brain is still developing in the teenage years – up to the age of around 20, in fact. A massive process of ‘neural pruning’ is going on. This is rather like streamlining a tangled jumble of circuits so they can work more effectively. Any experience, or substance, that affects this process has the potential to produce long-term psychological effects.

Recent research in Europe, and in the UK, has suggested that people who have a family background of mental illness – and so probably have a genetic vulnerability anyway - are more likely to develop schizophrenia if they use cannabis as well.

What about driving?
In New Zealand, researchers found that those who smoked regularly, and had smoked before driving, were more likely to be injured in a car crash. A recent study in France looked at over 10,000 drivers who were involved in fatal car crashes. Even when the influence of alcohol was taken into account, cannabis users were more than twice as likely to be the cause of a fatal crash than to be one of the victims. So - perhaps most of us would also not want to be driven by somebody who had smoked cannabis in the last day or so.

We need to get Marijuana off of the highest danger drug list that the government put it on, so that WE CAN DO THESE KIND OF STUDIES ourselves, here in America.

Right now, Cocaine and Crack and LSD and other dangerous drugs are on this classification of drug list, at a much lower danger and risk than marijuana....? Seems plain WRONG to me.

and tests and studies on marijuana use, and on children, are illegal in the USA due to marijuana's status of being the MOST DANGEROUS DRUG list and the rules that go with that....and this is just plain wrong imho, scientists and doctors should be able to do some analysis on the negative or positive affects of the drug.

 

[JBeukema]

Why should anyone be against medical pot use?

I would use it but combined with all my pain meds it turns me into a right wing extremeist.
Need to keep what mental acuity I have remaining.

I take issue with these measures because they treat it as though it is an opioid or other potentially dangerous drug. This plays into the fear mongering of many who oppose marijuana for racist or business reasons (the reasons it's illegal in the first place).

I favour outright legalization.

I expect the tobacco companies to begin growing marijuana on a large scale if this is achieved; I expect the legal and economic situation to be comparable.

 

[topspin]

the riech against are hillarious, still buying the 1937 style reefer madness.
It was made illegal for racist and industialist reasons. PERIOD

 

[JBeukema]

My only problem with full legalization of pot is how to test level of intoxication for DUI purposes. I do not want those stoned out of their gourds driving on the roads.

Aside from that I think it should be sold in Liquor stores just like alcohol.

A valid point. I think it's the same problem we see with prescription abuse and sleep deprivation.

I belp believe that if you are stopped on suspicion of diminished capacity, and you fail a field test designed to demonstrate cognition and coordination, you should be cited for dirving under diminished capacity, be it due to alcohol, marijuana, too many codeines, or staying up all night.

As it is now, we do not do enough about people operating deadly weapons under diminished capacity because we're only targeting certain causes, primarily alcohol.

 

[topspin]

Most educated people realize it's less harmful than beer, the tea party will lead the riechwing away from prohibition.