CA Local Voters Approve More Legal Pot Shops, Filipino Drug War Continues but With Fewer Killings, More... (11/15/22)

The Gallup organization looks at which groups support or oppose marijuana legalization, most Oregon residents will be able to access nearby psilocybin therapy centers, and more.

[image:1 align:right caption:true]Marijuana Policy                

Gallup Poll Draws Links Between Marijuana Views and Ideology, Religiosity, and Age. In its latest poll of attitudes toward marijuana, taken in October, Gallup finds that support for legalization remains steady at 68 percent. The polling organization also combined data from the last five years to examine which demographic, social, and political groups strongly support it or strongly oppose it. Subgroups whose support for legalization exceeds the national average by at least 10 points include those with no religious preference (89 percent), self-identified liberals (84 percent), Democrats (81 percent), young adults (79 percent) and those who seldom or never attend religious services (78 percent). Subgroups whose support for legalization was more than 10 percent below the national average include those who attend church weekly (46percent), conservatives (49percent), Republicans (51percent), older adults (53percent) and Hispanic adults (56percent).

California Voters Approve Ballot Measures to Expand Pot Shop Sales. Voters in a localities across the state voted last week to approve 12 ballot measures that will either expand or create legal retail marijuana markets. The victories, mainly in Los Angeles and San Diego counties, should result in 70 new retail marijuana sales licenses, along with opportunities for ancillary businesses. Los Angeles County should see 25 new retail licenses, while San Diego County should see 20 more. But while 12 communities approved expansions, another half-dozen rejected them. The votes to ease access to adult use marijuana comes as the state’s legal marijuana sector struggles to expand amidst high taxes, local bans and hindrances, and a black market that refuses to go away.

Psychedelics

Oregon’s Rural Voters Reject Therapeutic Psilocybin Centers but Most Oregonians Will Have Access. On Election Day last week, 27 counties and 114 cities and towns asked voters to approve moratoria or bans on psilocybin therapy centers, which were approved by voters statewide last year. In almost every instance, voters rejected the therapy centers, but those areas account for only a small fraction of the state’s population, and most Oregonians will have local access to such facilities. , Nearly three out of four of the state’s 4.2 million residents live in localities where the centers are approved, including 17 of the state’s most populous cities and 11 counties, including all of the most populous ones.

International

Philippines’ New Drug Crackdown Less Violent than Under Duterte, Police Say. Philippine police have arrested more than 22,000 people in a new crackdown on drugs by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that also left 46 people dead. The national police chief said the relatively low death toll reflected efforts by police to reduce the use of lethal force. Under Marcos’s predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, tens of thousands of people perished in the bloody drug war he unleashed, with near total impunity for the killers and their bosses. “You can see here the Philippine National Police now wanted to minimize as much as possible the killings of people engaged in drug activities,” the country’s police chief, Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said. “I emphasize to every policeman, if it will not endanger their lives, we minimize the use of force in arresting suspects in criminal activities,” Azurin said. Still, 46 people killed by police enforcing drug prohibition has drawn criticism of the Marcos administration from human rights groups. Chief Azurin declined to comment on the scope of drug war deaths under Duterte, but did say police sometimes failed to assess that some suspects were “not really harmful.”