How can we not recap the week without discussing the election?
While there were some major disappointments—we’re looking at you, white people of Texas–Tuesday was a historic night for women, people of color, and LGBTQ Americans in politics.
Let’s list the milestones:
Over 100 women were elected to Congress, the highest number ever, including the youngest woman in history, 29-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Colorado voted into office the country’s first-ever openly gay governor, Jared Polis.
Guam elected its first ever female governor, Lou Leon Guererro.
The U.S. elected not one but two Native American women to Congress for the first time ever: Deb Haaland and Sharice Davids, a queer, ex-MMA fighter who’s now the Democratic congresswoman in Kansas.
And if that’s not exciting enough, the country also voted two Muslim-American women into Congress: Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar.
Of course, we wouldn’t be Merry Jane if we didn’t spotlight a few other races that affect the one industry we hold dearest: cannabis.
With every election, the United States gets a step closer to a nation of legal recreational weed.
Voters in Michigan voted YES on Prop 1, which legalizes recreational cannabis and regulates it like alcohol. Following in Colorado’s footsteps, the proposal allows adults 21 and over to purchase and possess weed, and will tax cannabis products.
Missouri voted yes on Amendment 2. Doctors will be able to prescribe cannabis products for various symptoms, and patients can either buy it or grow it at home. Per the Associated Press, the four percent sales tax would fund veteran health services.
Utah voted for medical use, but there’s a catch. They did vote yes on Proposition 2, which would have allowed medical marijuana patients to cultivate cannabis plants, allowed for more dispensaries, and included a more expansive list qualifying conditions for a prescription. However, according to a compromise written into the prop, Utah’s governor will still call for a special legislative session to pen an alternative: a limited bill that would preclude legal patients won’t be allowed to grow their own weed and can only smoke the prescribed bud under certain circumstances.
Despite Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ attempts to stomp out legal weed, a 2017 Gallup poll showed record-high support for legalizing marijuana from both Democrats and Republicans. Voters across America have come out in support of legalizing both medical and recreational pot decriminalization and minimizing punishments so that possession is treated like a traffic ticket instead of a felony.
Recreational marijuana is currently legal in some form in Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and Washington, D.C. Additionally, 30 states offer some form of medical cannabis.
That’s all for this week, America! I’m going to go home and make up some patriotic-sounding strain names in celebration. I’m thinking something along the lines of Salt Lake City OG. Minnesota Mindfuck? Got any ideas? Tweet us some of your favorites @MerryJane and we’ll see you next week!
