New Jersey residents vote to legalize recreational cannabis, issue on ballot in other states – National

New Jersey will become the latest U.S. state to legalize the recreational use of cannabis after citizens there voted in favour of the idea.

Eleven U.S. states have already fully legalized marijuana’s use for adults and on Tuesday, people in New Jersey were among citizens in four different states being asked to vote on the issue. The others were Arizona, Montana and South Dakota.

Meanwhile, in Mississippi voters were casting ballots on whether to legalize the medical use of cannabis.

READ MORE: The U.S. election could change the cannabis industry. Is Canada ready? 

In Oregon, where people voted in 2014 to legalize the recreational use and sale of cannabis, voters were asked to weigh in on a proposal that would decriminalize the possession of small amounts of hard drugs.

If people there vote to approve Measure 110, Orgeon would become the first state in the U.S. to adopt such a policy.

Measure 110 calls for people caught with small amounts of heroin, cocaine, LSD and other drugs to have the option of paying US$100 fines or attending a free addiction recovery centre instead of facing arrest and the possibility of time in prison.

The proposal calls for funding the recovery centres through tax revenue generated by the state’s legal cannabis industry.

The proposal to decriminalize the possession of such drugs was endorsed by several organizations that represent health professionals in the state.

“Punishing people for drug use and addiction is costly and hasn’t worked. More drug treatment, not punishment, is a better approach,” reads a statement previously issued by the Oregon Nurses Association, the Oregon chapter of the American College of Physicians and the Oregon Academy of Family Physicians.

While some district attorneys have also backed the initiative, at least two dozen of their counterparts have voiced their opposition to it.

More to come…

–With files from The Associated Press’ Andrew Selsky

Watch below: (From Oct. 17, 2020) As Canada’s legal cannabis industry turns two on Oct. 17, 2020, licensed stores across the country are celebrating a jump in sales. Jasmine Pazzano explains.

2:28Canada’s legal marijuana industry turns two: what has changed?