Oregon Becomes First State to Decriminalize Hard Drugs and More News

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The War on Drugs got a reset, as Oregon became the first state to decriminalize hard drugs emphasizing treatment over jail, while 5 other states have legalized marijuana, and at least 60,000 people voted for Kanye West as president.

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Oregon becomes first state to decriminalize hard drugs

In a landmark move by voters, the state of Oregon became the first to relax drug laws and focus more on treatment rather than incarceration for those who use recreational drugs.

Oregon decriminalized possession offenses for small amounts of street drugs such as cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and LSD, CBS reported.

Individuals arrested for possessing small amounts of hard drugs will pay a $100 fine and attend a drug addiction recovery program. The initiative establishes treatment centers that will be funded by revenues from legalized marijuana, which the state approved several years ago.

5 states legalize marijuana

Five states across the country had initiatives on the ballot to legalize marijuana for both recreational and medical use, ABC reports.

A majority of voters in New Jersey and Arizona legalized recreational marijuana in their states.

In South Dakota, two marijuana legalization measures were on the ballot, both passed legalizing cannabis for medical and recreational use.

Mississippi voters approved the establishment of a program for the use of medical marijuana for patients with debilitating conditions as well as legalizing cannabis for medical use, marijuana moment reported.

Montana voters approved two initiatives, one for recreational marijuana and another setting the legal age at 21, marijuana moment reported.

Prior to Election Day, eleven other states and the District of Columbia had already legalized the use of recreational marijuana.

At least 60,000 people voted for Kanye West

Anything’s possible in 2020…Kanye West may not have been the election spoiler for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden or incumbent Republican president Donald Trump that many had predicted, but Yeezy did manage to capture at least 60,000 votes so far with many to be counted.

West’s goal was never to win, but rather to shake things up and make a dent in the electoral pattern. And he did do that.

Surprisingly, in the highly religious state of Tennessee, the born-again rapper managed to capture 10,195 votes – about 0.3 percent of the state’s voters.

Also notable, overall across the US, West garnered more votes than the than the Constitution Party, the Green Party, and the Socialism and Liberation Party, Unilad reported. The only independent candidate he lacked significantly behind was Jo Jorgensen of the Libertarian Party.

Kanye West shared a video on Twitter showing his name written in on the ballot. West wrote in the tweet: “The first vote of my life. We are here to serve. We pray for every servant leader in the world.”