(Seth McConnell, Denver Post file)

Alaska legalized it: ‘Voters just aren’t falling for (the scare tactics) anymore’

“Of course progressive and independent Alaska legalized marijuana,” sighed the Internet on Wednesday morning.

But it wasn’t that easy to predict Alaska would go recreational, especially in a race that had zero legitimate polling in the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s election.

But as most marijuana initiatives throughout the U.S., big and small, succeeded on Tuesday, a common theme for cannabis in 2014 is this: Voters support marijuana reform, and activists are saying that citizens are starting to see through the anti-pot lobby’s scare tactics.

In the small Colorado town of Manitou Springs, which allows recreational marijuana sales but contemplated repealing that law in Tuesday’s election, activist Alan Delwiche said those trying to take pot outside of the town’s limits are using “fear-based scare tactics.”

“They project a bunch of fears, that the military might leave, that soldiers wouldn’t go to Manitou, that we might lose defense contractors — but none of it’s true,” Delwiche said, after the initiative to shutter Manitou’s pot shops failed. “None of this is happening.”

As Alaska went recreational in the early-morning hours of Wednesday, Marijuana Policy Project executive director Rob Kampia sent this statement to the media:

“The folks trying to keep marijuana illegal are relying on the same scare tactics today that they have relied on for decades, but voters just aren’t falling for it anymore. The results are particularly encouraging since voter turnout during a midterm election is typically smaller, older, and more conservative. Clearly, support for ending marijuana prohibition spans the political and ideological spectrums.”