Oregon, D.C. voters approve legal marijuana

WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- Voters in Oregon and Washington, D.C., approved ballot initiatives legalizing marijuana on Tuesday, while Florida voters rejected medicinal marijuana.

A similar proposal in Alaska was still too close to call.

Oregon's Ballot Measure 91, which allows the state to regulate sales of recreational marijuana, passed 54 to 46 percent with 65 percent of the precincts reporting.

In D.C., 69 percent of voters backed Initiative 71, which won't regulate and tax sales of marijuana, but it does allow people over 21 to possess up to two ounces and keep up to six cannabis plants in their home.

Oregon, which had a medicinal marijuana program in place, is now the third state to legalize recreational marijuana, following Colorado and Washington in 2012.

Marijuana legalization advocate Anthony Johnson told supporters on Tuesday night in Portland that voters had "ended a painful, discriminatory, harmful policy that has terrible consequences for our state."

The picture is more complicated in the nation's capital, where Congress has the power to override D.C.'s decision.

Maryland Rep. Andy Harris, a Republican, said last June that he would attempt to block the measure if it were approved.

In Florida, however, voters said no to a local amendment legalizing medicinal marijuana. Amendment 2 garnered 57 percent of the vote, but it needed 60 to pass.