Jim Finnel
Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex News Moderator
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."
NewsHawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Oregon Daily Emerald
Copyright: 2010 Oregon Daily Emerald
Contact: letters@dailyemerald.com
Website: Oregon Daily Emerald
Author: Ian Geronimo
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."
NewsHawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Oregon Daily Emerald
Copyright: 2010 Oregon Daily Emerald
Contact: letters@dailyemerald.com
Website: Oregon Daily Emerald
Author: Ian Geronimo
