Arizona Marijuana Legalization Campaign gets 200,000 Signatures

Posted by Sagar Satapathy on April 14, 2016.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in Arizona on Tuesday announced that it has collected more than 200,000 signatures for a November ballot initiative that would end marijuana prohibition in the state. The campaign needs to collect 150,642 valid signatures of registered Arizona voters in order to qualify for the ballot.

The campaign also aims to collect at least 225,000 signatures to account for invalid signatures, which will be verified by the Secretary of State's Office.

In a statement campaign Chairman J.P. Holyoak said, “Voters want to have their say on whether Arizona should end marijuana prohibition. It’s appearing more and more likely that they are going to have that opportunity. We’re finding that most Arizonans agree marijuana should be regulated and taxed similarly to alcohol.”

The proposed initiative would allow adults 21 and older to possess limited amounts of marijuana, and grow up to six plants in their homes without obtaining licenses, as long as the plants are in a secure area. It would also establish a 15 percent tax on retail marijuana sales, from which a majority of the revenue would go to schools and public education programs in Arizona.

The champions of marijuana believe marijuana is less harmful than alcohol. However, the opponents of marijuana legalization observe that the costs of going forward with such initiative will be untold expenses in treatment, rehabilitation, criminal violations, accidents and true education deficits, which will harm the society at large.

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