Pubdate: Thu, 26 Feb 2015
Source: Tucson Weekly (AZ)
Copyright: 2015 Tucson Weekly
Contact:  http://www.tucsonweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/462
Author: Maria Ines Taracena

POT FOR THE CITIZENS

Marijuana Policy Project, Safer Arizona Prepare Final Initiative 
Draft to Collect Signatures for Legal Pot Initiative for Nov. 2016 Ballot

Keep an eye out in the beginning of March for the final draft of a 
citizens' initiative to legalize recreational marijuana in 2016.

The Washington-based Marijuana Policy Project and Safer Arizona have 
been in intense talks about the language in the measure, in the works 
since the end of October. Throughout the process, wishes and concerns 
have influenced sections of the initiative, especially cultivation 
rights, small business opportunities and more lenient legal consequences.

The latest rough draft was released Feb. 15.

The rules governing legalized marijuana in Arizona could be similar 
to how alcohol is regulated. Pot would be available to adults 21 and 
older, you can't drive while impaired, you can't get high at work or 
at school, or sell to minors, and so on.

What stands out about the initiative, known as the Regulation and 
Taxation Marijuana Act, is the creation of a department that will 
solely deal with pot with a director appointed by the governor and 
state Department of Health Services' staff who have pot experience.

Starting Jan. 1, 2018, that responsibility would shift from the 
Arizona Department of Health Services to a new Department of 
Marijuana Licenses and Control. The entity would oversee all things 
marijuana, including business applications, cultivation licenses, and 
security measures for transporting pot and ensure all other rules are obeyed.

In the DUI realm, the initiative establishes that there must be proof 
a driver is impaired while behind the wheel, rather than centering 
convictions on the mere presence of active or inactive THC 
metabolites in the bloodstream.

The initiative looks nice to consumers. You won't need a card to buy 
pot, you can grow six plants (as long as you follow zoning rules set 
up by the city you live in, and a household gets to grow 12 plants), 
possess up to 1 ounce, including 5 grams of extracts-Safer Arizona is 
trying to raise those limits. If those numbers stay the same in the 
final draft, people found with more than 1 ounce but less than 2.5 
ounces, as well as those who smoke in public, will get a petty 
offense and may have to pay a fine of $300. For the most part, all 
violations don't result in higher than a misdemeanor, except for "a 
person who manufactures marijuana by chemical extraction, unless 
pursuant to a marijuana product manufacturing license," which will 
get a class 6 felony.

Licensing is strict.

There are plenty of options for people who want to establish a 
business, but the costs are up there, thousands of dollars up there. 
Permission to cultivate is $30,000 the first year and $10,000 for the 
annual renewal; product manufacturers (for instance, a marijuana 
pastry shop) pay $10,000 to start and then $3,300 the following 
years; testing facility licenses are $15,000 and $5,000 to renew.

The tax rate is 15 percent on top the state's sales taxes. The costs 
are likely to be a little pricey, since all marijuana will be tested 
and labeled.

"Arizona's tax rate is lower than Colorado's and the rationale behind 
that is Colorado still has continuing black market and people argue 
it is because taxes are so high," said Mikel Weisser, the political 
director at Safer Arizona. Colorado's rate is 25 percent, but the 
revenue is so obscene the state is even considering issuing tax 
refund checks to residents from that money. Also, part of the funds 
go to education-a major plus.

The rough draft doesn't clearly specify where the revenue will be 
spent. Weisser says Safer Arizona is proposing money should go to the 
Department of Education, Department of Health Services, and law 
enforcement, "since law enforcement will face a tremendous decrease 
in their budget with impending cuts in their marijuana enforcement 
budget," the group says.

Some of the recommendations Safer Arizona has for MPP's final draft 
are completing a spending formula for the revenue and penalizing 
unlicensed marijuana businesses with civil penalties rather than 
criminal ones. There are a few more, and according to Weisser, MPP 
has been compliant with plenty of Safer's opinions in the past.

When the final draft is out, Safer Arizona will be one of the 
entities gathering signatures-they need 174,000-so the measure makes 
it on the November 2016 ballot. Those efforts failed last year, but 
Weisser is confident this time around.

"Safer Arizona is preparing a series of public events, and we 
encourage anti-marijuana proponents to challenge us," he says. "I 
have no anxiety about whether or not we can present a good case of 
why this war on marijuana is wrong."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom