In the Pandemic, a Shifting Ballot Debate on Legalizing All Drugs

It’s about time –

Oct. 26, 2020 – New tax revenues from drug sales would be channeled toward drug treatment.

Supporters of the Oregon proposal, Measure 110, say the swirling, transformational forces of 2020 — the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the wave of social unrest over race, policing and incarceration — have highlighted a need for top-to-bottom change. Opponents say decriminalization courts disaster by normalizing drugs that carry the risk of deadly addiction.

Oregon is far from alone in stepping out onto new terrain. Legal marijuana, stalled for years in politically conservative states even as more left-leaning areas plowed ahead, has found a place on the ballot this year in Arizona, Mississippi, Montana and South Dakota. National groups that have long dreamed of a federal overhaul of drug laws say that success in those states could bring Republican elected officials into Congress with constituents who have said yes to legalization, potentially tipping the balance in Washington.