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 Only two U.S. states, Washington and Colorado, currently allow
recreational marijuana, which remains illegal under federal law.
Oregon's proposal will come before voters just two years after they
rejected a similar measure.
"This is a moment we've been waiting for, that we've worked months
to get to," said Peter Zuckerman, spokesman for the campaign in
favor of the Oregon initiative. Since 2012, when voters turned down
a similar measure, public support has grown for legalized marijuana
in the Pacific Northwest state, he said.
If passed in November, Oregon would be the latest in a string of
U.S. states to liberalize marijuana laws, either for recreational or
medical use. On Sunday, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed a bill
allowing children and adults with epilepsy to use marijuana to treat
their seizures. Twenty-two U.S. states have passed laws legalizing
medical marijuana.
Voters in Alaska also will decide on a recreational marijuana
initiative in November, and a similar measure is being vetted by
election officials in Washington, D.C.
Proponents of the Oregon initiative submitted 88,584 valid
signatures from voters in favor of placing it on the ballot, the
elections division of the Oregon secretary of state's office said in
an update on Tuesday, more than the 87,213 required to qualify.
"Every signature represents an Oregonian who believes it’s time for
a new approach to marijuana," Zuckerman said. "We've been trying the
black market approach for 40 years and it's not working."
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Kevin Sabet, co-founder of the national anti-marijuana group Smart
Approaches to Marijuana, said recent sales of now-legal marijuana
products, including baked goods, has led to "disastrous" public
health problems in Colorado, where there have been a number of
reports of children ingesting cannabis-laced sweets.
If the measure passes, money-fueled big marijuana businesses would
bring the same problems to Oregon, he said.
"Despite already having the most lax marijuana laws next to Colorado
and Washington, big money, special interests from D.C. are now
descending onto Oregon in order to create the next Big Tobacco of
our time," Sabet said.
(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, Calif.; Editing by
Cynthia Johnston, Peter Cooney and Eric Beech)
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