Columbus, OH — On Tuesday, Ohioans approved Issue 2, a ballot measure to legalize, regulate, and tax cannabis for adults’ use in Ohio. With 54% of the votes counted, Issue 2 was ahead by 55.6% to 44.4%.
Arianna Huffington, author, syndicated columnist, and businesswoman
"It's not just the over $8 billion that we would be saving in law enforcement; it's also the over $8 billion that we would be making by taxing marijuana... We are filling our jails with nonviolent drug offenders ⎯ predominantly young, predominantly African American... It's a great beyond left and right issue. It has support across the political spectrum and also the support of the majority of the American people."
Alice Huffman, grassroots leader and president of the California Hawaii NAACP
"We believe whatever potential harms may be associated with using marijuana are more than outweighed by the immediate harms that derive from being caught up in the criminal justice system. Once a young person is arrested and brought under the justice system, he or she is more likely to get caught in the criminal justice system again.... It is time to end the failed war on drugs by decriminalizing and regulating marijuana to save our communities."
Andrew Sullivan, author
"The sole tangible way in which pot is a gateway to other illegal drugs is that it is illegal. The best way to end this easy path to worse narcotics is to legalize it and take it out of the hands of criminals and gangs."
David Irving, former NFL player
"I want to change the bias toward marijuana. I want to educate America that it’s not a drug, it’s medicine. The real reason I’m not in the NFL is that I’d rather be out here saving lives."
DEA Chief Administrative Law Judge Francis L. Young
"Marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. By any measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within a supervised routine of medical care. ... It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance in light of the evidence in this record."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren
"Our federal marijuana laws perpetuate our broken criminal justice system, impede research, restrict veterans’ access, and hinder economic development."
Michelle Alexander, professor, civil rights advocate, legal scholar, and author of "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness"
"What is most fascinating about the marijuana legalization debate is how long it has taken us to get to this point. The potential harm associated with smoking marijuana pales in comparison with the harm suffered by the millions who have been arrested, jailed and branded criminals simply because they were caught with the drug."
Pat Robertson, chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network
"I really believe we should treat marijuana the way we treat beverage alcohol. If people can go into a liquor store and buy a bottle of alcohol and drink it at home legally, then why do we say that the use of this other substance is somehow criminal?"