Drive to legalize marijuana in Maine advances on judge's ruling

Pro-marijuana activists in Maine spent months gathering 99,229 signatures to bring the state's recreational marijuana initiative to vote this November. Last month, Maine's Secretary of State office disqualified nearly half of the signatures, dropping the amount of valid signatures below the needed 61,123. The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol appealed the decision to disqualify the signatures and last week a judge supported their case, reinstating the signatures and once again qualifying the initiative for the ballot. If passed by voters in November, adults 21 and over would be able to purchase marijuana with a 10% tax, and smoking in public would remain illegal. 

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol, a national group advocating for the referendum, appealed the state's decision last month, saying that officials had disenfranchised tens of thousands of Maine voters based on a "handwriting technicality."