Top Ten Marijuana Victories in 2010

By Rob Kampia

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.)