It's with enthusiasm that I present this top-10 list for 2010. While there were a few disappointing losses -- most notably the statewide ballot-initiative defeats in Oregon and South Dakota on November 2 -- almost everything else demonstrated positive momentum for the marijuana policy reform movement.
In trying to make this list manageable, I haven't listed (1) developments in clinical research; (2) developments in foreign countries; (3) the passage or defeat of local measures to tax medical marijuana, since these measures can be viewed as either good or bad; and (4) the progress that the Marijuana Policy Project made with moving our bills forward in the Delaware, Illinois, and other state legislatures where we haven't yet achieved the ultimate victories we seek.
(In the interest of full disclosure: MPP, of which I am the executive director, played a significant role in five of the 10 victories below, assisted in an ancillary way in four, and played no role at all in one [the court cases]. They are listed in no particular order.)
- NEW JERSEY LEGALIZES MEDICAL MARIJUANA: 2010 started with a bang when New Jersey's outgoing Democratic governor signed a bill that made New Jersey the 14th state to legalize medical marijuana. (Unfortunately, the new Republican governor has conspired with his state health department to delay and subvert the new law from taking effect and -- now one year later -- patients still do not have legal access to medical marijuana.)
It's also worth celebrating that 2010 marked the all-time record level of support among U.S. adults for making marijuana legal, which, according to the Gallup organization, is now at 46%. Since support has recently been increasing by 1.5% or 2% annually, we should be looking at majority support nationwide in 2013. However, there is still much work to be done. 2011, here we come ...
Rob Kampia is co-founder and executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C.