Sen. Jeff Merkley says he plans to vote for a ballot measure on Election Day to legalize marijuana in Oregon.
“I lean in support of it,” the Democratic senator told TPM in an interview on Wednesday.
Measure 91 would green-light marijuana for recreational purposes in Oregon and authorize the state to regulate and tax it. Colorado and Washington enacted similar measures in 2012.
“I think folks on both sides of the argument make a good case,” Merkley said. “And there is concern about a series of new products — and we don’t have a real track record from Colorado and Washington. But I feel on balance that we spend a lot of money on our criminal justice system in the wrong places and I lean in favor of this ballot measure.”
A vote for it would make Merkley the first U.S. senator to support making marijuana legal in his state.
Merkley didn’t point to a time when he came around to the view that pot should be legal, saying it has not been an issue in his reelection bid. He’s in good shape to win, according to recent polls.
Go get um Jeff! We may have crappy weather here in OR but we are lucky to have a pretty good group of Senators and Congressmen to represent us. Yes I did vote for him, pretty much voted party lines. Couldn’t pay me to live in the south.
Why shouldn’t he vote for legalization? The drug war is a colossal failure and imprisoning people for supplying, possessing, or using MJ is a colossal waste of federal and state money. It’s a Senator’s job to vote to end ineffective programs like the war on drugs and to end wasteful, pointless spending. Even if it is just a state referendum, I am pleased that Sen. Merkley is showing some leadership on this issue.
Good on him. Also not a surprise but it is good there is public political support now.
I think I just realized what Smoke On the Water was REALLY about.
I hope the legalization of pot has the same momentum as gay marriage has. America needs to join the twenty first century.