Michigan voters approved a measure to fully legalize marijuana Election Day Nov. 6, 2018,, making it the first state in the Midwest to allow retail cannabis sales for adults 21 and older.
As of 2:30 p.m. Central time Nov. 7, 2018, the Michigan Secretary of State’s unofficial tally from 82 of 83 counties has Proposal 1 leading with nearly 55 percent approval.
“This is yet another historic election for the movement to end marijuana prohibition,” Marijuana Policy Project executive director Steve Hawkins said in a statement to Marijuana Moment. “Voters have once again sent a message loud and clear that it is time to legalize and regulate marijuana. The victory in Michigan highlights just how widespread support is for marijuana policy reform.”
Under the new law, adults will be allowed to possess, buy and consume marijuana, and each individual can cultivate up to 12 plants for personal use. Adults may possess up to 10 ounces of cannabis at their residence.
Retail purchases will be subject to a 10 percent excise tax. That tax revenue will then be distributed to local governments, K-12 education and infrastructure projects.
In October 2018, the non-partisan Michigan Senate Fiscal Agency projected that the state would collect about $730 million in tax revenue in the five years after the legal system is implemented.
Proposal 1 also legalizes the cultivation and sale of industrial hemp in Michigan.
The main political action committee backing the measure was the Coalition To Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, which received significant financial support from national groups including Marijuana Policy Project, Drug Policy Alliance and New Approach.
Anti-legalization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana dumped more than $1 million into the opposition committee, Healthy and Productive Michigan, through its political action committee. Other opponents to the measure included the Detroit NAACP chapter and the Michigan Sheriffs Association.
Even in the final days before the election, big dollars flowed into committees on both sides. But ultimately, voters chose to usher in a new era of legalization in the Great Lakes State.
This article has been republished from Marijuana Moment under a content syndication agreement. Read the original article here.
Featured Image: Renaissance Center, Detroit, Michigan, via Wikimedia Commons. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International. The licensor does not endorse Marijuana.com or Marijuana.com’s use of the image. Image was resized.
