Your guide to Measure LA on the 2022 California midterm ballot
Measure LA is a ballot measure on the ballot in California this November that would legalize a half million metric tons of cannabis annually, including up to 1,000 plants per person and up to 500 plants per household. It would require the state to take over regulation and implementation of that policy, with the state retaining complete control over how and where cannabis can be grown, distributed and sold.
Measure LA is also on the ballot in Colorado this November, in which the state of Colorado legalized recreational use of cannabis in 2014. However, cannabis is still classified under a Schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substances Act, which makes it illegal to manufacture or distribute.
Measure LA is also on the statewide ballot in Washington, where voters will decide this fall how to deal with a similar measure, Initiative 502. That measure would legalize the recreational use of marijuana in Washington state, but it also would create a system for licensing and regulating medical cannabis grown within the state.
How Measure LA is being described
Measure LA, as well as other state-by-state ballot measures in cannabis-friendly states such as Alaska and Oregon, was described as “the most far-reaching reform effort ever on the ballot” by a spokesman for the California League of State Senators.
However, opponents argue that the measure would be worse than putting cannabis behind bars.
“Measure LA will have a devastating impact on California’s economy,” said Robert Sarlo, president of the advocacy group Americans for Safe Access, when the measure was first announced.
However, a poll conducted by the state Department of Public Health found that 76 percent of voters oppose allowing “high potency cannabis that you can buy at a dispensary.”
At the same time, a poll conducted for the Sacramento Bee found that 82 percent of voters favor legalizing cannabis for medical use statewide. They also reported that 76 percent of voters oppose prohibiting local governments from regulating medical cannabis.
The ballot measure does not actually change anything about how cannabis is currently sold, grown and distributed in California.
In order to be considered in this state, a proposed measure has to run on the ballot with a two-to-three-percent requirement that the measure support recreational cannabis. However, since this state has opted out of recreational cannabis, there is no need to put such a measure on the ballot to legalize