Surprise, Surprise: Oklahoma Governor Not OK With Marijuana

Photo: Oklahoma Farm Report

OK Gov. Mary Fallin: Smoking marijuana means you’ll end up in prison. For hash, make that a life sentence.

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In a bit of non-shocking news, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin said she’s firmly opposed to legalized marijuana, even for medicinal uses.

The Republican governor, who recently signed a bill establishing a life sentence for making hashish out of marijuana, made the statement Thursday during an online town hall forum, reports The Associated Press.

Fallin, one of the new breed of intellectually challenged crypto-conservative “I’d like to hit that” MILFs (think Palin and Bachmann) who seem to be the Republicans’ candidates of choice these days, claimed she analyzes hundreds of pardon and parole requests each month.

Of those, she estimates “90 percent of those criminals have struggled with substance abuse.” She claims many of those started by smoking marijuana.

Photo: Beats From The Streets

​Yes, it’s a real-life Reefer Madness governor who wants to lock you away forever for enjoying a natural herb.

The online forum, hosted by the Oklahoma GOP, had Fallin taking questions posted on the party’s Facebook page.

Dozens of the questions were about legalizing marijuana or allowing the medical use of cannabis.

A medical marijuana bill introduced in the Oklahoma Legislature earlier this year never even got a hearing.

Ironically, Governor Fallin claims to oppose federal interference in Oklahoma’s health care options.

“The federal government has the ability by law to come in and tell Oklahoma what we are going to do. I don’t want the federal government coming in and telling Oklahoma what we are going to do in insurance and providing health care,” she said in March in a conversation about President Obama’s healthcare reform.

Man, with stellar leadership like this in Oklahoma, it’s no wonder they lead the nation in… Well, I’m sure they do something right.

Free Weed!? I’ll Vote for That… Michigan Clinic Trades Weed for Civic Duty

Image Via THC Finder

I don’t need much motivation to participate in the political process. I mean, my Grandma marched with Martin Luther King in Alabama during the boycotts and my mother was politically active through volunteering and serving on committee boards. I know the power and privilege of the almighty vote.

But some people DO need motivation and recently Your Healthy Choice Clinic of Lansing, Michigan held their own voter registration. In an effort to motivate the citizens to come in and learn about the clinic patrons were offered free pot.

The owner who goes by the name of Shekina Pena offered up to a half of gram of marijuana to folks who visited her store. She saw this as a way to educate the public about medical marijuana and the issues facing the pubic in the upcoming November elections. Needless to say she was hit with plenty of criticism and the offer has since been rescinded.

It was not the intent of the citizens to allow for shenanigans like this,” Schuette said in a statement Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. “Citizens were told this was a way to help seriously ill people, yet here again is an example of the law being exploited by those with their own agenda.”

I don’t know, having politicians accuse medical marijuana dispensaries who attempt to participate in  the political process as ‘exploiting’ the system for their own agenda sounds like the pot calling the kettle Purple Kush. Shout out to the American political process…may she rest in piece (s).

- http://www.hailmaryjane.com

Legalize Marijuana to Decrease Usage

by Jeremiah Vandermeer - Wednesday, August 3 2011

The latest stats show the number of Americans who use marijuana has gone up since last year. If the government really wanted to reduce marijuana use, they would legalize it.

The AFP reports:

SAMHSA also looked at Americans’ marijuana use and found that numbers using pot in the past month were up for the two years covered by the report: 6.4 percent of Americans aged 12 and older said they had used marijuana in the past month compared to six percent in 2007-2008.

In the 12- to 17-year age group, marijuana use fell, but seven percent of US teens still use cannabis, the report said.
The 10 states that saw the highest use of marijuana were Alaska, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

Medical marijuana is legal in all of those states except for Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Perceptions of the dangers associated with marijuana use were lowest in the 10 states where the drug was used the most, according to the study.

Drug Warriors love to shout in booming voices that if we legalized marijuana, stoners would begin coming out of the woodwork and cause an epidemic of bong-rips and bloodshot eyes. Scientists completely disagree, and say that marijuana law reform does not lead to an increase in usage.

In fact, they say just the opposite. Evidence from countries like Portugal and the Netherlands shows that liberalizing drug laws actually leads to a decrease in usage. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Drug Warriors.

Don’t believe me? Listen to The Young Turks:

How To: Help Re-Legalize Cannabis by David Brannon

Want to help re-legalize cannabis? Here’s an idea anyone and everyone can do if (1) you have access to the internet, and (2) you live in a community holding an election this coming November. If you are reading this you have satisfied #1, and if you live in America you satisfy #2. So, let’s get to work.

TO START: Create a list of your local candidates and the office they seek; identify where on the political spectrum each of your candidates fall. A quick review of the candidates’ on-line website or a local voter’s guide will reveal this information.

NEXT: Have you heard of the Just Say Now campaign? Our primary purpose will be to advertise the efforts of Just Say Now. So, if necessary, enlighten yourself before going any further. Pay attention to the political leanings of the members of the Advisory Board of Just Say Now. This Board represents every compass point on the political spectrum – just like your list of candidates.

Every one of your local candidates can be philosophically and politically “matched” with a Just Say Now board member. Someone on that Board is going to look and sound very much like your local candidates. Example: there are several law enforcement reps on the Board – pair them with your more conservative candidates.

THEN: Appear wherever your local pols are speaking, shaking hands, kissing babies, whatever it is they are doing, and, in front of as many voters and television cameras as possible, ask that candidate:

Do you agree with the goals and ideals of Just Say Now as “big shot so-and-so” [the candidates “match”] has done?”

Use your “do you agree” question to wake up both candidates and voters to Just Say Now. Our efforts will help get people talking about changing drug policy. Know how long it has been since this was even discussed during an election cycle? Jimmy Carter was President!

Nothing changes until lots of people start loudly demanding change. Every one of us can do our bit to help. The diverse board of Just Say Now allows a way to approach anyone seeking any office. Why shouldn’t every local dog killer be asked to take a position on drug law reform? Let’s get every politician on the record. Let’s bring to the attention of the candidates, the voters, and the media the growing, coming-from-the-bottom-up demand to reassess the failed war on drugs.

The Marijuana Tipping Point Is Here

Graphic: NewsReview.com

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By Jack Rikess

Toke of the Town

Northern California Correspondent

The writer and social critic, Malcolm Gladwell, defines the ‘Tipping Point’ as the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point; the point at which the buildup of minor changes or incidents reaches a level that triggers a more significant change or makes someone do something they had formerly resisted.

Another way of saying it would be that point in time and space when everything changes and there’s no turning back.

Every day there are more encouraging headlines appearing in newspapers and on the Web from California to Maine supporting medical marijuana legislation suggesting the tide is turning.

Even when the cynics call medical marijuana a joke and claim the real goal of this smokescreen movement is legalization of pot, there are medi-jane supporters with valid and logical arguments to counter-balance any archaic rhetoric with which the anti-pot forces continue to misinform.

New Jersey passed one of the most restrictive medical marijuana rights and benefits program on the books so far. The state with a very conservative governor will soon have medical marijuana. Why? Because the people wanted it.

 It does seem like Time is marching on, but when is it gonna get there?

We’re zeroing in on something but when is the Tipping Point going to kick in fully regarding medical marijuana?

What possible signs do we need to see before we believe that it works?!

Here are some small recent events that may prove someday to have influenced the way we think, tipping the scales our way towards a bigger picture…

Photo: KSL.com

Utah Atty. Gen. Mark Shurtleff opposed medical marijuana — then he got cancer.

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1) Okay, this guy never ever got high and he’s for Medical Marijuana!

June 12th: How much straighter do they have to come? 

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff approves of medical marijuana after battling cancer.

Shurtleff said he would support the legalization of medical marijuana after experiencing months of intensive cancer treatment.

Shurtleff said never used marijuana himself, but had talked to other patients who had traveled out-of-state to receive marijuana treatment.

Photo: 99Post

Miss USA Alyssa Campanella: “Medical marijuana is very important to help those who need it medically”

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2) Not innocent enough. Okay, as they say, from the mouth of babes…

June 26: Miss USA and medical marijuana

During the question-and-answer part of the competition, Miss California Alyssa Campanella was asked about her perspective on the medicinal cannabis.

“Well, I understand why that question would be asked, especially with today’s economy, but I also understand that medical marijuana is very important to help those who need it medically,” Alyssa said.

“I’m not sure if it should be legalized, if it would really affect, with the drug war,” she said. “I mean, it’s abused today, unfortunately, so that’s the only reason why I would kind of be a little bit against it, but medically it’s OK.”

She got Miss USA.

When’s the last time you had the crown on the line and you spoke the truth?

I actually can understand why someone could dismiss a beauty queen and a cancer patient as being not scientific enough. They’re just regular people.

​3) What about Big Business. They have scientists? They have economists? They understand the world…? Don’t they?

June 13: Good Weeds, Bad Weeds - High Hopes at Miracle-Gro In Medical Marijuana Field

Scott’s Miracle-Gro Company has long sold weed killer. Now, it’s hoping to help people grow killer weed.

In an unlikely move for the head of a major company, Scott’s Chief Executive Jim Hagedorn said he is exploring targeting medical marijuana as well as other niches to help boost sales at his lawn and garden company.

“I want to target the pot market,” Mr. Hagedorn said in an interview.

“There’s no good reason we haven’t.”

​4) We’ve heard from the People, Big Business, and now from across the aisle comes…

June 22: Ron Paul, Barney Frank to jointly offer bill to end war on weed

Congressmen Ron Paul, Barney Frank and others will introduce legislature Thursday that aims to end a major part of the war on drugs — namely the battle against marijuana.

Reps. Paul (R-Texas) and Frank (D-Mass.), though technically on opposite sides of the aisle, have often spoken out against the war on drugs and will propose a bill “tomorrow ending the federal war on marijuana and letting states legalize, regulate, tax, and control marijuana without federal interference,” according to a statement from the Marijuana Policy Project via Reason.

The bill would allow the individual states to decide how they want to deal with pot.

The legislation, co-sponsored by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.), and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), is the first of its kind to be proposed in Congress that would end the 73-year-old federal marijuana prohibition that began with the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937.

…….

These four events that just transpired in the last month couldn’t be more current, more ‘now.’ What is it going to take in order for that cosmic plate to tilt to our side? And stay that way!

Entrepreneurs and forward thinkers are testing the waters of the medical marijuana Industry with venture capitalists abroad throwing dollars into edible research think-tanks and other esoteric ganja-related enterprises.

Politicians and law enforcement from all walks and talks of life are coming forward, decrying that the time is now to lose the campaigns that have never worked and to embrace a new way of thinking. To challenge the uncommon wisdom and to end the wars on law abiding citizens who because they ingest a specific weed, they could have their lives ruin because we, as a nation and a society refuse to change.

Sixteen states support medical marijuana. Every poll taken shows public support for medical marijuana. GW Pharma (Weed) and Novartis (Ritalin, Excedrin) have become partners in Sativex (medical marijuana spray) licensing pact overseas and now, in America.

“My professional view of cannabis as a substance is that it appears to be a remarkably safe substance in comparison to most medicines prescribed today,” said Dr. Geoffrey Guy, chairman of GW Pharmaceuticals. “The more I learn about this plant the more fascinated I become. It has through its various constituents multiple effects of therapeutic interest, many of which are now being validated by the enormous growth in basic cannabinoid research.”

What is it about marijuana that makes us afraid to go forward and embrace a new safer tomorrow? Pharmaceutical giants are moving forward with patents and marketing. You would think that the data from research geeks would be refutable, they’re the same people who give us our aspirin, for gosh sakes.

The data’s coming in like a Haboob through Phoenix. Unstoppable. Marijuana has applications that can help certain people. That’s it. It can’t be changed.

Marijuana does some good. It’s proven.

You can’t go backwards with that. Only thing you can do is not open your eyes to what’s in front of them.

Why aren’t we coming together as a nation over this issue when people with perspectives as different as those of Miss USA to the Mormon Attorney General of Utah support medical marijuana?

When law enforcement officials and Ex-President Jimmy Carter come forward to say the War on Drugs not only doesn’t work, it’s unwinnable. A waste of money.

Speaking of money, when Wall Street, Main Street and Home Depot all say the time is right to build the future fields of dreams of medical marijuana that only Weed-Gro can protect. What more do we need to hear?

Do we need Nancy Reagan in her Chanel housecoat to come forward to say she was wrong? Would that be the final straw? Would that be our national Tipping Point? To have someone other than ourselves say it is okay for us to have this weed? Mommy, please say its okay because in 1937, someone said it was bad.

Right now President Obama has alienated the Ganja Nation with his reversal on leaving the medical marijuana community alone. More and more his obtrusive agenda is forcing the hand of medical marijuana to take a stand, one way or another in various localities. Howard Zinn said you can’t be neutral on a moving train.

Opinion is sliding to the side where the weed grows green and high. Mendocino County is aggressively constructing a platform that is workable for growers and law enforcement alike. Not perfect, but a start.

Growers are paying taxes in exchange for their right to grow medical marijuana. They pay just like anyone else.

The Tipping Point is already here. Embrace it.

Video: Director of the Drug Policy Alliance on Real Time With Bill Maher

Ethan Nadelmann, Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance, discusses the failed war on drugs and marijuana legalization in this one-on-one interview with Bill Maher.

Overtime with Bill Maher

Bill Maher, Ann Coulter, Chaz Bono, Amanda Foreman, Christopher Hayes and Ethan Nadelmann take questions from the online audience.

http://www.hbo.com/video/video.html/?autoplay=true&vid=1192423&filter=real-time-with-bill-maher&view=null

Fight Anti Medical Marijuana Legislation in California

TODAY we need your help to fight two alarming bills before the California state legislature that jeopardize collectives and dispensaries from being able to stay open and operate. These bills, SB847 and AB1300 affect all of California’s cities and counties, further restricting zoning and allowing those cities and counties to ban safe access entirely.  The votes on these bills are coming up quick. Time is of the essence and we need your help TODAY!

Right now we are asking that you call one or more of the Assembly members on the list below and utilizing the script below ask them to support an amendment to SB 847 that would exclude small collectives from the requirements of this bill.

We also ask that you email this information to your contact lists, social media accounts and reach out to other patients and caregivers – We ALL need to contact our Assembly Members today. Using the script below, call one or more Assembly members from the list below. When your call is answered, simply read the script (feel free to embellish it in any you wish) and thank them for providing your information to the Assembly member. Then call another assembly member on the list until you have called as many as you can.

Will you contact your Assembly members on this bill TODAY?

Thank you again so much for your time. If you have any questions you can contact Lanny at 760-799-2055 for more information. Please help pass this information along!

Here’s the script:

Hello, My name is ____________________ and I am calling ____(name of Assembly member)________ about SB 847 that will make illegal the small collectives patients form to cultivate at someone’s home. This will force patients to obtain their medicinal marijuana from illegal sources. Would you please ask ________(name of assemblymember)________ to add and support an amendment to SB 847 saying that this bill does not apply to small collectives with 10 or fewer members. Thank you.

Assembly members to call:

Cameron Smyth – Chair

Rep-38 (Santa Clarita)

(916) 319-2038

Assemblymember.Smyth@assembly.ca.gov

Luis A. Alejo – Vice Chair

Dem-28 (Salinas)

(916) 319-2028

Assemblymember.Alejo@assembly.ca.gov

Steven Bradford

Dem-51 (Inglewood)

(916) 319-2051

Assemblymember.Bradford@assembly.ca.gov

Nora Campos

Dem-23 (San Jose)

(916) 319-2023

Assemblymember.Campos@assembly.ca.gov

Mike Davis

Dem-48 (East LA)

(916) 319-2048

Assemblymember.Davis@assembly.ca.gov

Richard S. Gordon

Dem-21 (Los Altos)

(916) 319-2021

Assemblymember.Gordon@assembly.ca.gov

Ben Hueso

Dem-79 (Chula Vista)

(916) 319-2079

Assemblymember.Hueso@assembly.ca.gov

– Courtney Sheats
Community Liaison, Sacramento

Americans for Safe Access
Courtney@SafeAccessNow.org

C: (916) 588.8672
O: (510) 251.1856 x322

http://AmericansForSafeAccess.org

Medical Marijuana Industry Should Have Same Rules As Other Businesses

Don’t Undermine the Medical Marijuana Industry

It’s hard for legal dispensaries to get bank loans, and they can’t deduct expenses from their taxes. Let’s back legislation to fix that

By Scott Shane

Consider two small business owners: One sells a product that medical researchers have shown is a major cause of health problems, from cancer to heart disease. The other provides a medical treatment that doctors prescribe for glaucoma, pain, and the side effects of chemotherapy. Which owner can borrow from a bank and deduct expenses on income tax returns? The answer is the first, who sells cigarettes; the second, who sells medical marijuana, cannot. (To be clear, dispensary owners aren’t prohibited from applying for bank credit. The trouble is anti-money laundering statutes intended to stop illegal drug dealers make banks reluctant to do business with legal dealers.)

In late May, two Democratic congressmen, Jared Polis of Colorado and Pete Stark of California, introduced bills to remedy the federal government’s bias against the owners of medical marijuana dispensaries. Representative Polis’s bill would permit medical marijuana sellers to borrow money from banks, while Congressman Stark’s bill would allow them to deduct business expenses from their taxes. Passage of these bills makes sense for four reasons.

The first is fairness. No small business owners should be denied access to financing or be subject to unfair tax rules simply because they run a business that some in government don’t like. The government should create a level playing field for all business owners. As Polis explained when introducing his bill, “It is simply wrong for the federal government to intrude and threaten banks that are involved in legal transactions.” Using a law designed to root out illegal drug dealers, terrorists, fraudsters, and money launderers as a back-door way to make life difficult for the operators of medical marijuana dispensaries is simply unfair. If Congress doesn’t like state medical marijuana laws, it needs to challenge the legality of these laws directly rather than stack the rules against them.

FAVORING TOBACCO OVER MARIJUANA

But fairness isn’t the only reason I support these bills. I also find it perverse that the government favors the tobacco business over the medical marijuana industry when the former is responsible for several costly medical problems and the latter provides a medically prescribed treatment. Not only does the government’s approach makes it difficult for people who need physician-prescribed marijuana to get the treatments they need, imposing pain and hardship, but the approach is also backwards. The government supports the sale of cigarettes, which cause cancer, but discourages the sale of medical marijuana, which is used to manage the side effects of the chemotherapy that these cancer patients must endure. As for healthy individuals who abuse the system to get high, isn’t that why we spend large sums of money to stop the illegal drug trade?

By blocking the growth of the medical marijuana industry, federal policy makers are missing a golden opportunity to encourage entrepreneurship. Government officials often speak of finding new, high-growth industries, which are rare. Consultancy See Change Strategy in Olney, Md., forecasts that medical marijuana, currently a $2 billion industry, will reach nearly $9 billion in five years. That’s about the same size as the dry cleaning and laundry service industry.

Finally, by opposing the medical marijuana industry, the federal government is missing the chance to cut government expenditures and raise taxes in one of the few areas where such actions would face little opposition by business owners. Unlike virtually every other industry, where higher taxes are vehemently opposed, the medical marijuana industry welcomes higher taxes. In Oakland, for example, the industry drove the effort to impose a 1.8 percent tax on gross sales from medical marijuana sellers.

The potential economic gains from the legalization of marijuana are far from trivial. A 2005 study by Jeffrey Miron, then a visiting economics professor at Harvard, found that government spending could be cut by $7.7 billion and tax revenue increased by $6.2 billion if marijuana sales were legal and taxed at the same rate as alcohol and tobacco. A $14 billion improvement in the government budget isn’t something to ignore, especially in the current environment of paralysis over how to reduce high deficits.

Allowing owners of medical marijuana dispensaries to borrow money and deduct their business expenses from their taxes seems like a way to make policy fairer, encourage a high-growth industry, and reduce government expenditures and raise tax revenues without much opposition. Those seem to me like the kinds of objectives our elected officials should be striving for when introducing bills into Congress.

Scott Shane is the A. Malachi Mixon III Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at Case Western Reserve University.

‘New Approach Washington’ Files Initiative To Legalize Marijuana

Photo: Don Skakie

Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes: “Ending marijuana prohibition and focusing on rational regulation and taxation will free up law enforcement resources to combat violent and property crimes, and it will restore respect for government and the law”

​There’s a new move afoot to legalize cannabis in Washington state. The newly formed political action committee New Approach Washington on Wednesday filed an initiative to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana in the state. Sponsoring the measure are prominent civic leaders, along with members of the public health and legal communities.

The initiative would authorize the Washington State Liquor Control Board to regulate the production and distribution of marijuana for sale to adults 21 and older through state-licensed stores. A new marijuana excise tax would be earmarked for prevention, research, education, and health care. State and local retail sales taxes would be directed to the general fund and location budgets.

Unfortunately, the initiative would not allow the cultivation of marijuana by recreational users (medical marijuana patients in Washington are already allowed 15 plants). Cannabis users would be required to buy their supply at state-licensed stores. Another possible sticking point is the codification a THC blood level of of 5 ng/ml as per se driving under the influence; that would criminalize any driving by most medical marijuana patients, although very few daily medicinal users would be impaired at that level.

Photo: Don Skakie

From left, Mark Johnson, Bob Wood, Rick Steves, and Alison Holcomb are among the sponsors of the New Approach Washington initiative to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana in Washington state

​Sponsors of the initiative are:

• Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes

• John McKay, former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, 2001-2007

• Travel writer Rick Steves

• Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, Washington state legislator, 36th District

• Kim Marie Thorburn, M.D., MPH, former director of the Spokane Regional Health District, 1997-2006

• Salvador A. Mungia, immediate past president of the Washington State Bar Association

• Mark Johnson, past president of the Washington State Bar Association, 2008-2009

• Robert W. Wood, MD, former director of the HIV/AIDS Program of Public Health – Seattle & King County, 1986-2010

• Roger Roffman, DSW, professor emeritus, University of Washington School of Social Work

• Alison Holcomb, New Approach Washington campaign director

The campaign has until December 30 to collect 241,153 signatures to qualify for the ballot. If and when those signatures are filed, the initiative will go to the Legislature for consideration during the 2012 session. If the Legislature takes no action, the proposal will go before the voters in the November 2012 election.

Photo: Don Skakie

Alison Holcomb, New Approach Washington campaign director

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“Ending marijuana prohibition and focusing on rational regulation and taxation will free up law enforcement resources to combat violent and property crimes, and it will restore respect for government and the law,” said Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes.

More than 8,200 Washington adults were arrested for simple possession of marijuana in 2008 — more than 20 a day — with more than 3,200 convictions, costing the state millions of taxpayer dollars.

Marijuana is already one of Washington’s largest cash crops — second only to its famed apples — and billions of dollars go into the illegal market untaxed.

“We cannot afford to ignore an enormous source of untaxed revenue, and we must stop the financing of drug cartels,” said Mark Johnson, former Washington State Bar Association president.

“These are revenues we could capture and direct to effective programs that protect youth from risk factors that contribute to early use of alcohol, tobacco and marijuana,” said Roger Roffman, a “marijuana dependency” treatment expert.

“As a parent and as someone who cares deeply for my community, I’ve seen how Europe treats drug use as a public health issue rather than a criminal one,” said travel writer Rick Steves. “The fascinating result: per capita, Europeans consume far less marijuana and have far fewer people in prison than we do.”

Initiative sponsors pointed out the serious impacts that current marijuana laws have on people. “Criminalizing marijuana use disrupts families and cannot be justified when marijuana is compared to alcohol and tobacco,” said public health doctor Kim Thorburn.

“The public health impacts of alcohol and tobacco and more serious than marijuana, but we do not criminalize the use of those substances,” said Bob Wood, a public health doctor. “It is time for Washington to take a new approach to marijuana focused on regulation and education rather than punishment.”

Further, marijuana laws are enforced disproportionately against people of color. In Washington, an African American is three times as likely to be arrested, three times as likely to be charged, and three times as likely to be convicted for marijuana possession as a white Washingtonian, despite the fact that whites use cannabis at higher rates.

“Even a misdemeanor conviction for marijuana possession can permanently alter the trajectory of a person’s life,” former bar association president Sal Mungia said.

The campaign expects petitions to be ready for signature gathering beginning in August, giving New Approach Washington a five-month window within which the gather the 241,153 signatures.

Key Features of New Approach Washington
2012 Marijuana Law Reform Initiative

• Distribution to adults 21 and over through state-licensed, marijuana-only stores; production and distribution licensed and regulated by Liquor Control Board (LCB)
• Severable provision decriminalizing adult possession of marijuana; possession by persons under 21 remains a misdemeanor
• Stringent advertising, location, and license eligibility restrictions enforced by LCB
• Home growing remains prohibited; except, initiative does not affect Washington’s medical marijuana law
• Estimated $215 million in new state revenue each year¹, with roughly $40 million going to state general fund (B&O and retail sales tax) and $175 million (new marijuana excise tax) earmarked:
  • Evidence-based prevention strategies targeting youth, chosen in consultation with UW Social Development Research Group²
  • Dedicated funding stream for Healthy Youth Survey³
  • Washington’s Building Bridges program for at-risk youth⁴
  • Science-based public education materials regarding health risks of marijuana use hosted by UW Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute⁵
  • Research by UW and WSU into the short- and long-term effects of marijuana use, including driving impairment
  • Dedicated marijuana Quitline analogous to tobacco Quitline operated by state Department of Health⁶
  • Additional marijuana-related public health educational programs administered by Department of Health at the state and local level
  • Biennial evaluation of impacts of law by Washington State Institute for Public Policy⁷
  • Washington’s Basic Health Plan
  • Community health centers
• THC blood concentration  of 5 ng/mL  or higher  is per se Driving Under the Influence⁸
• Remedy provision that stays implementation of any provision found to be preempted by federal law until federal law changes

 

Download the complete text of the initiative.

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¹ See Fiscal Note for HB 1550 (2011)
² http://www.sdrg.org/
³ http://www.hys.wa.gov/
⁴ Chapter 28A.175 RCW
⁵ http://depts.washington.edu/adai/
⁶ http://www.quitline.com/
⁷ http://www.wsipp.wa.gov/
⁸ See http://www.aclu-wa.org/blog/blood-cannabis-content-considering-legal-limit-driving-under-influence-cannabis for more information.

For more information, visit New Approach Washington.

Everything You Need To Know About Marijuana Legalization