Florida legalizes medical marijuana
They may not have settled on a president yet, but Florida voters have agreed to legalize medical marijuana for people with diseases like cancer, PTSD, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, and other similar conditions. Arkansas and North Dakota will also vote on if they will ease medical marijuana laws, with five other states voting on its recreational use.
If all the states vote "yes" on the marijuana measures, the drug will be available to more than 23 percent of the population for recreational use. It is already legal in Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Washington state, and the District of Columbia.
"This is a major tipping point: With Florida's decision, a majority of states in the U.S. now have laws allowing patients to find relief with medical marijuana, and these protections and programs are no longer concentrated in certain regions of the country like the West and Northeast,” Tom Angell, chairman of Marijuana Majority, told The Daily Beast.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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