Pubdate: Thu, 13 May 2010
Source: Oregon Daily Emerald (U of Oregon, OR Edu)
Copyright: 2010 Oregon Daily Emerald
Contact:  http://www.dailyemerald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1518
Author: Ian Geronimo, News reporter
Cited: Oregon Cannabis Tax Act http://www.cannabistaxact.org/

EFFORT TO GET LEGALIZATION MEASURE ON BALLOT GROWS

Petition Needs 95,000 More Signers by July to Get Cannabis Measure on 
November Ballot

The campaign aiming to tax and regulate marijuana through the Oregon 
Cannabis Tax Act (OCTA) is circulating petitions to get the measure 
on the ballot for November's general election.

By creating a committee to oversee the taxation and regulation of 
marijuana, OCTA would effectively decriminalize the cultivation, 
possession and personal use of marijuana in Oregon. The measure would 
be the first law of its kind in the nation.

However, OCTA advocate Matt Switzer said cannabis regulation is a 
nascent movement, with Californians set to vote on the legalization 
of cannabis in November and Washington and Oregon cannabis 
legalization advocates in a similar predicament: scrambling to pool 
enough signatures to give the proposals life on election day.

OCTA supporters admit they have a long way to go before the measure 
can be brought to the ballot for a vote.

"The proposed initiative needs 100,000 signatures by July before it 
can be placed on the November ballot," Switzer said. "We have less 
than 5,000 signatures."

OCTA supporters reference an alliance they have with Law Enforcement 
Against Prohibition to fortify their case against the current 
criminalization of cannabis.

LEAP Executive Director Jack Cole, a 26-year New Jersey state police 
officer, said the injustice perpetuated by the current marijuana law 
has him fighting in California to assure the passage of cannabis legalization.

"When you prohibit any drug, you create an underground market for 
that drug, and that attracts criminal activity," Cole said. 
"Marijuana -- it's just a weed; it has zero value until we say it's 
illegal, then the price artificially inflates, becomes so obscenely 
high, that up until about a year ago when the economy took a turn, 
marijuana was worth more, ounce for ounce, than gold."

Cole said movements toward taxing and regulating cannabis were 
fighting for ballot measures in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New 
Hampshire, Nevada, California, Washington and Oregon.

The changes proposed by OCTA would not interfere with current medical 
marijuana laws defined by the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act. Switzer 
said the proposal, which would be ballot measure 73 if enough 
signatures are gathered come July, does not yet face any organized 
opposition, but opposition will probably develop if the proposal 
gains traction in the state.

"There will most likely be some backlash from those agencies who will 
likely see a decrease in revenue, along with marijuana farmers who 
may see the exorbitant price they charge decrease as the black market 
no longer will have a monopoly on the plant," Switzer said.

Cole predicted opposition would stem from law enforcement agencies, 
who he said receive 20 percent of their current budget from state 
revenue provided for the war on drugs. Switzer said the challenge 
precluding the revolutionary changes proposed by OCTA is not only 
opposition from without, but hesitation from within.

"Stoners are chronically bad at engaging with the political process, 
and many have reservations signing their names and addresses 
endorsing the legalization of a substance the government has for 
years lied about," he said. "We are trying to stress that this is a 
civil rights issue and that American citizens should not be 
imprisoned because of harmless beliefs and actions simply because 
someone saw they could make money from persecuting a large portion of 
the country."
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake