AUGUSTA — A bill that would have let Maine voters decide whether to legalize marijuana for recreational use fell four votes short Friday in the House of Representatives.

The 71-67 vote crossed party lines — some Republicans supported it and some Democrats were opposed — after a lively floor debate that included jokes and serious concern about addiction and health issues.

Opponents who insisted legalizing pot in Maine for people 21 and older would lead to more problems than it would solve were matched by those who said the U.S. war on drugs was a failed policy and that prohibition isn’t working.

Taxes raised from the legal sale of marijuana would be erased by increased costs to society from addiction and crime, opponents argued.

But supporters, including Rep. Lance Harvell, R-Farmington, said casual marijuana use was already commonplace in Maine society.

“In full disclosure, I will confess before this body that I smoked marijuana and unlike a former president, I did inhale,” Harvell said, referencing the infamous line from former President Bill Clinton.

He also noted that among legal and illegal drugs, marijuana is one of the least dangerous.

“You actually cannot smoke enough marijuana to kill yourself,” Harvell said. “You will go to sleep first, not that I’ve experienced that.”

Harvell and the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Diane Russell, D-Portland, said the measure would let voters decide and that process was likely to happen with or without the Legislature’s input.

“We have an opportunity to send this out to the people,” Russell said. “We have an opportunity to ask them what they would like to do and how they would like to proceed on this very issue. If they choose they would like to tax and regulate this product, then it comes back to us, the Legislature.”

Russell said it was a rational approach that would put the Legislature in control.

“To ensure if this does happen in our state, then we are the ones driving the bus to do it,” Russell said.

But others said legalizing marijuana for recreational use would send a mixed message about the drug, which is legal for medical use in Maine.

“We have now designated in law that marijuana is a medicine; it is a drug used for pain and so is oxycodone and so many other drugs that are diverted into recreational use,” said Rep. Gay Grant, D-Gardiner. “We would be speaking out of both sides of our mouth to call this medicine and then say, ‘Oh, let’s use it for recreation.'”

Grant said passing the bill to let voters decide was a signal from the Legislature that it was ready to make pot legal.

“If the people want to legalize this addictive drug, they will do so through a grassroots effort,” she said. “We will deal with it then.”

Rep. Tim Marks, D-Pittston, a retired state trooper, said he didn’t support the legalization of marijuana. He worked much of his 27-year career in drug enforcement, including riding in helicopters to look for illegally grown weed.

Marks said the idea of legalizing marijuana goes against everything he spent much of his career working for. But, he said, voters should have a chance to make the decision in Maine.

Rep. Corey Wilson, R-Wilson, said the use of marijuana had become casual in Maine and that while he didn’t think it was a good idea, he did believe legalizing it would result in less crime.

“Prohibition is a failure,” Wilson said. “I think marijuana usage is, quite frankly, ignorant. I do not agree with smoking pot. I recognize others share a different view.”

And, he said, despite spending billions of dollars across the country to crack down on the black market of marijuana, the effort was failing. “We are doing nothing,” he said. “We are not stopping it. Look at us today: We are laughing and joking about it.”

Wilson said if the use of marijuana wasn’t going to stop, then the state should be collecting taxes from it and using that money to help fight off the more dangerous and addictive drugs, including painkillers and other opiates.

“I don’t support the use of marijuana, but I do think it should go to the voters,” Wilson said.

Despite the loss Friday, David Boyer, the Maine policy director for the Marijuana Policy Project, which advocates for legalizing marijuana, said the vote was telling.

“Today’s vote is another indication of the growing support for regulating marijuana like alcohol in Maine,” Boyer said. “There is no longer any doubt marijuana will become legal for adults in our state. It is now just a question of when and how it will be done.”

He added, “If the Legislature does not take action, this issue will eventually be settled at the ballot box. Marijuana prohibition has been just as big a failure as alcohol prohibition, and voters are ready to adopt a more sensible approach.”

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How they voted on LD 1229

Note: Yes vote is against the bill.

Rep. Michael Beaulieu, R-Auburn. Yes

Rep. Brian Bolduc, D-Auburn. No

Rep. Cheryl Briggs, D-Mexico. Yes

Rep. Mike Carey, D-Lewiston. Yes

Rep. Dale Crafts, R-Lisobond. Yes

Rep. Jarrod Crockett, R-Bethel. Absent

Rep. Mattie Daughtry, D- Brunswick. No

Rep. Mark Dion, D-Portland. Yes

Rep. Larry Dunphy, R-Embden. No

Rep. Ellie Espling, R-New Gloucester. No

House Speaker Mark Eves, D-North Berwick. Yes

Rep. Ken Fredette, R-Newport. Absent

Rep. Sara Gideon, D-Freeport. Yes

Rep. Paul Gilbert, D-Jay. No

Rep. Adam Goode, D-Bangor. Yes

Rep. Lance Harvell, R-Farmington. No

Rep. Terry Hayes, D-Buckfield. No

Rep. Craig Hickman, D-Winthrop. No

Rep. Roger Jackson, R-Oxford. Yes

Rep. Gary Knight, R-Livermore Falls. Yes

Rep. Michel Lajoie, D-Lewiston. Yes

Rep. Nathan Libby, D-Lewiston. No

Rep. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston. Yes

Rep. Diane Russell, D-Portland. No

Rep. Jeff Timberlake, R-Turner. No

Rep. Tom Tyler, R-Windham. No

Rep. Lisa Villa, D-Harrison. No

Rep. Wayne Werts, D-Auburn. No

Rep. Alex Willette, R-Mapleton. No

Rep. Tom Winsor, R-Norway. Yes

Rep. Stephen Wood, R-Sabattus. No

Click for complete roll call on LD 1229.