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The Marijuana Policy Project announced it will be leading efforts to legalize marijuana in Arizona.
Their goal is to have the U.S. government treat marijuana the same it would alcohol.
The organization has successfully lobbied for medicinal use of the drug in many states, and aided the effort to fully legalize it in Colorado in 2012.
It is now turning its attention to Arizona and nine other states.
MPP said it hopes to have marijuana legalization go to voters in Arizona, California, Maine and Nevada in 2016. They also want to have legislatures vote on the matter in Hawaii, Maryland, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont by 2017.
The group said the lessons learned in Colorado could help them pass similar laws in Arizona, as well as other states.
“We plan on doing the same thing in Arizona (as in Colorado),” said Mason Tvert, communications director at MPP. “And we are very confident that, with a well-written initiative, we are going to be able to win and end marijuana prohibition in the state by 2016.”
MPP has not written Arizona’s initiative yet, but said it will most likely be similar to Colorado’s system, which treats marijuana similar to alcohol.
A recent Public Policy Polling survey showed 59 percent of Arizonans are in favor of legalized and regulated marijuana in the state.
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