Alaska could be the next state to legalize marijuana

Supporters of marijuana legalization are hoping that Alaska will follow the example set by Colorado and Washington state.

Timothy Hinterberger told the Anchorage Daily News that his ballot initiative to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in Alaska is about halfway there. Hinterberger, who sponsored the ballot initiative, and his supporters need to gather about 30,000 valid signatures by December 1 to qualify for next year’s primary ballot.

“In a free society, prohibition of popular substances is just bad public policy,” Hinterberger said. If approved by voters, the measure would allow those 21 and older to use and possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana for recreational use. Medical marijuana has been legal in the state since 1998.

The ballot measure is similar to two successful initiatives in Colorado and Washington state. Residents of both states voted to legalize marijuana in 2012. Read more >>

Marijuana and the ultimate showdown with feds

First came marijuana as medicine. Now comes legal pot for the people. Those who have argued for decades that legalizing and taxing weed would be better than a costly, failed U.S. drug war have their chance to prove it, as Colorado and Washington became the first states to allow pot for recreational use.

While the measures earned support from broad swaths of the electorate in both states Tuesday, they are likely to face resistance from federal drug warriors. As of Wednesday, authorities did not say whether they would challenge the new laws.

Pot advocates say a fight is exactly what they want. "I think we are at a tipping point on marijuana policy," said Brian Vicente, co-author of Colorado's marijuana measure. "We are going to see whether marijuana prohibition survives, or whether we should try a new and more sensible approach."

Soon after the measures passed, cheering people poured out of bars in Denver, the tangy scent of pot filling the air, and others in Seattle lit up in celebration.

Authorities in Colorado, however, urged caution. "Federal law still says marijuana is an illegal drug, so don't break out the Cheetos or Goldfish too quickly," said Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper, who opposed the measure.

As the initial celebration dies down and the process to implement the laws progresses over the next year, other states and countries will be watching to see if the measures can both help reduce money going to drug cartels and raise it for governments. Read more >>

U.S. Leads The World In Illegal Drug Use

Map showing how The Juvenal trafficking organization smuggled 20 to 30 metric tons of cocaine per month through Mexico into the United States. 

Despite tough anti-drug laws, a new survey shows the U.S. has the highest level of illegal drug use in the world. The World Health Organization's survey of legal and illegal drug use in 17 countries, including the Netherlands and other countries with less stringent drug laws, shows Americans report the highest level of cocaine and marijuana use.

For example, Americans were four times more likely to report using cocaine in their lifetime than the next closest country, New Zealand (16% vs. 4%), Marijuana use was more widely reported worldwide, and the U.S. also had the highest rate of use at 42.4% compared with 41.9% of New Zealanders.

In contrast, in the Netherlands, which has more liberal drug policies than the U.S., only 1.9% of people reported cocaine use and 19.8% reported marijuana use.

"Globally, drug use is not distributed evenly and is not simply related to drug policy, since countries with stringent user-level illegal drug policies did not have lower levels of use than countries with liberal ones," researcher Louisa Degenhardt of the University of New South Wales, Australia, and colleagues write in PLoS Medicine. Read more >>