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With the overwhelming passage of Proposal 71 in Washington D.C. the nation's capital has joined Colorado and Washington State in legalizing recreational use of marijuana. With Oregon and Alaska also approving measures to legalize recreational marijuana use in Tuesday's election, the tide seems to be moving clearly toward marijuana legalization across the nation.
Once the laws go into effect, three more states or districts will join the list of places where it is legal to smoke marijuana, and their tourism industries will receive whatever benefit the legalization of marijuana confers, a benefit that is so far extremely hard to measure.
The Washington D.C. law is more of a de-criminalization than a full-fledged legalization. It removes the legal penalty for people at least 21 years old possessing up to two ounces of marijuana or as many as three plants.
But a majority of city council members have said that if the measure passes they will submit legislation to Congress to allow the selling of marijuana and to establish a system for taxing it.
Proposal 71 could still be blocked by the U.S. Congress. Unlike the states, the District of Columbia's laws can be overturned by Congress. Republican Representative Andy Harris of Maryland has already said he would "blunt" the measure through an act of Congress. But if not stopped the new law will go into effect in January.
In Alaska the new law allows the possession of an ounce of marijuana or six plants. It sets up a regime for regulating and taxing the sale of marijuana and will go into effect 90 days after the certification of the election, which is expected to take place in late November.
Alaska legislators now have nine months to put together the system under which marijuana businesses will operate.
Oregon's law will not create any changes until July 1, 2015. The law will allow adults to possess up to one ounce in public or eight ounces at home. Public consumption is not allowed, and driving under the influence is prohibited under current DUI laws. Legal sales of marijuana cannot take place until 2016. Oregon's Liquor Control Commission must draft regulations for the sales of marijuana by Jan. 1, 2016.
Until then, Oregon residents can't legally buy marijuana, though they can grow their own after July 1, 2015. Until that date, Oregon's standing laws still apply, under which possession of four ounces of pot is a misdemeanor, more than four ounces is a felony, and possessing one ounce or less is not a criminal offense.
Meanwhile, in Colorado, which is nearing the one-year anniversary of its legalization of recreational pot, the effect on its tourism industry is hard to measure.
The Drug Policy Alliance released a report in mid 2014 that showed Colorado's crime rate in 2014 was 10 percent lower than in 2013, and its violent crime rate had reduced 5 percent. No correlation can be made with the legalization of marijuana, but the data does defy predictions that the opposite would occur.
The effect of legalization on tourism is still debatable. Colorado's tourism in fiscal year 2014, which ended June 30, hit all-time records. But it is impossible to say what combination of factors led to the increase.
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