Supporters for the legalization of marijuana celebrate at the Measure 91 party at Holocene night club in Portland, Ore., on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014. Oregon voters legalized recreational pot use Tuesday, making the state the third to approve the drug for commercial sales. AP
PORTLAND, Oregon — Voters in the northwestern state of Oregon and the Washington capital district approved ballot measures Tuesday allowing the recreational use of marijuana by adults, elating legalization activists who hope to extend their winning streak across the United States.
Oregon will join the company of Colorado and Washington state, where voters approved the recreational use of pot two years ago. And the US capital is on the same path unless Congress, which has review power, blocks the move.
Another marijuana-legalization measure in Alaska was maintaining a steady lead in early returns.
Other key issues on state ballots included minimum wage increases and abortion. Voters in Washington state, faced with two competing measures on gun sales, approved an expansion of background checks.
The marijuana measure in Washington, DC, would make it legal to possess up to two ounces (56 grams) of pot and up to three mature marijuana plants for personal use, but it does not provide for the legal sale of marijuana, leaving that matter up to the DC Council. That’s different from the measures in Oregon and Alaska, which would follow the example of Colorado and Washington state in setting up systems for regulating and taxing retail sales of marijuana.
The Drug Policy Alliance, one of the leaders of the legalization campaign, said Tuesday’s results would bolster its efforts to push through a ballot measure in California in 2016.
Oregon’s measure calls for pot legalization by July 1, and requires the state Liquor Control Commission to adopt regulations by Jan. 1, 2016.
Oregon sheriffs were among the law’s chief opponents, contending that legalization would give children access to marijuana and could lead to more people driving under the influence.
The campaign in DC included a debate about race — the measure’s supporters said blacks in the city had been disproportionately targeted for marijuana arrests.
In Florida, a measure that would have allowed marijuana use for medical reasons fell short of the 60 percent approval to pass; near-complete returns showed it getting about 57 percent of the vote. Twenty-three states allow medical marijuana.
In other state ballot measures, voters in Colorado and North Dakota rejected measures that opponents feared could lead to bans on abortion.
North Dakota voters rejected an amendment that would have declared in the state constitution “the inalienable right to life of every human being at every stage of development must be recognized and protected.”
Voters in Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota — all Republican-leaning states — approved increases in the state minimum wage at a time Republicans in Congress have blocked a national minimum wage increase.
In Washington state, voters approved a measure to expand background checks on gun sales and transfers; the checks will be extended to private transactions and many loans and gifts. A rival measure would have prevented the state from expanding checks in that fashion; it was trailing statewide.
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