cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Legalization Backers Suffer Defeats 





Marijuana Legalization Backers Suffer Defeats 
Posted by CN Staff on November 06, 2002 at 08:33:20 PT
By T.R. Reid, Washington Post Staff Writer
Source: Washington Post 
Advocates of marijuana legalization had a bad night at the ballot boxes yesterday as voters in several states appeared to reject proposals to relax or eliminate the prohibition on pot smoking. The only place to buck the trend was the District, where voters strongly backed a plan to send marijuana smokers to a clinic rather than to jail.Voters in Arizona and South Dakota rejected measures that would have legalized production and use of marijuana in certain circumstances. Nevada voters turned down a proposal to legalize the sale and use of the drug.
And South Dakota voters rejected a proposal to let defendants argue to the jury that drug laws are unfair. Voters in Ohio rejected a proposal similar to the one that passed in the District, requiring courts to treat marijuana use as a health problem, not a crime."The failure to relax the marijuana laws is probably the most surprising result this year," said Dane Waters, who tracks direct democracy initiatives at the Leesburg-based Initiative & Referendum Institute. "The legalization campaign scored several ballot victories in '98 and 2000, but this year they're striking out in most places."Efforts to crack down on the smoking of tobacco, meanwhile, produced mixed results. In Florida, voters approved a ballot measure that bans smoking tobacco in almost any public place, including restaurants. And Arizonans appeared to approve a big increase in the tax on tobacco products. But a proposal to quadruple the cigarette tax in Missouri appeared to have lost, by a small margin, with most precincts reporting. And Michigan voters spurned an initiative that would have directed the legislature to spend much more money on public anti-smoking campaigns.Voters around the country showed they were willing to raise their state or local taxes to pay for education and infrastructure improvements.Of 24 education funding proposals on the various ballots, 17 passed, six were defeated and one was uncertain early this morning, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Dozens of transportation bond issues also passed. But Washington state voters approved an initiative to cut auto license fees.Voters rejected the two strongest proposals for cutting taxes, heeding the words of state officials who had forecast dire impacts if the tax cuts went through. Massachusetts voters rejected a plan to eliminate the state income tax. In Arkansas, a proposal to end the sales tax on food and medicine was voted down.The growing effort to ban bilingual education produced mixed results in voting yesterday. Massachusetts voters gave resounding approval to a controversial ballot measure that would require immigrant students to take all courses in English in public schools. But a similar "English-immersion" proposal on the Colorado ballot appeared to have been defeated, with well over half the precincts counted.Unlike Massachusetts, top political officials from both parties in Colorado had come out against the English-only proposal. The opposition centered on a provision in the Colorado plan that would have allowed parents to sue teachers who used a student's native language in the classroom.California and Arizona voters have already approved proposals banning bilingual education. Backers of this year's initiatives said they would move on to other states in the future despite the Colorado rejection.The vote on another controversial education measure was running close in Florida. With 97 percent of precincts reporting, a proposal to limit class sizes in public schools -- it would permit a maximum of 18 students per class in lower grades and 25 in high school -- had the approval of 53 percent of voters. But the margin was small enough that absentee ballots could reverse the result.Florida returns also showed voters approving an animal rights initiative that would prohibit pork farmers from holding pregnant sows in cages until delivery. If passed, the measure is likely to be put on the ballots in other pork-producing states.Animal rights groups also appeared to win in Oklahoma, where a proposal to ban cockfighting had 54 percent of the vote with about one-third of all precincts reporting. But a proposal to make abuse of animals a felony appeared to have been defeated in Arkansas.Voters in 40 states and the District confronted ballot measures yesterday. The number of citizen initiatives before the voters this year was down sharply from two years earlier -- partly because legislatures have been tightening requirements for putting proposals on the ballot -- but there was still a rich variety of laws and constitutional amendments for the electorate to consider.Some of the initiatives reflected strictly local conditions, such as the innovative idea on the North Dakota ballot that would provide a bounty of up to $10,000 to any new college graduate who agrees to live in the state for at least five years. That measure was specifically designed to counter the flood of "outmigration" that has made North Dakota the slowest-growing state in the union.With about half the precincts reporting, the North Dakota bounty plan was being firmly rejected. State Republican leaders had attacked the idea, saying it would break the state's budget.But many of the proposals on state ballots reflected national campaigns by interest groups that decided they would have better luck taking their ideas directly to the people than going through a state legislature.Although the relaxation of "pot" laws is generally considered an issue primarily for the young, the ballot measures around the country were pushed vigorously by three rich senior citizens, who poured large sums into each of the local campaigns. Financier George Soros, businessman John Sperling and insurance magnate Peter Lewis have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the campaigns."It's three older guys who decided these laws are wrong," Lewis explained in an interview before Tuesday's voting. "You probably can't get the legislatures to ease up on drug penalties, but when you give people a chance to vote directly on the issue, the reforms get a lot of support."The total number of statewide ballot measures in 2002 is almost the same as in 2000, according to the Initiative & Referendum Institute, which tracks trends in direct democracy. But most of the measures, both statewide and local, have been placed on the ballot by city councils or state legislatures. A majority of these are proposals to issue bonds or raise taxes to pay for new public infrastructure.There has been a sharp drop this year in the number of initiatives placed on the ballots by citizen petitions. The institute counts 53 measures around the country that were initiated by citizens' groups rather than by legislatures."We seen a real fallback in the initiative process this year, but it's not clear whether this is a long-term trend," said Dane Waters, of the Initiative & Referendum Institute."It could be that this is because people don't have the money this year to launch a campaign. It may be that the advocates want to see how the state legislatures look after redistricting; maybe they can get what they want without going to an initiative."But the key factor is the fact that legislatures basically don't like the initiative process," Waters said. "There have been changes in several states making it harder to get a proposal on the ballot."Even in Oregon, by some measures the world capital of the citizen initiative process, there were fewer proposals placed on the statewide ballot by petition -- just 12 this year, as opposed to 26 in the 2000 election.Oregon voters appeared to reject the most far-reaching ballot proposals before. They voted down a proposal to provide universal health care to all state citizens and a proposed requirement that any food containing genetically modified organisms be so labeled.However, an initiative to raise the minimum wage in Oregon to $6.90 an hour -- about 25 percent higher than the federal minimum wage -- appeared to pass with more than half the votes counted.Source: Washington Post (DC)Author: T.R. Reid, Washington Post Staff WriterPublished: Wednesday, November 6, 2002; Page A28 Copyright: 2002 Washington PostContact: letterstoed washpost.comWebsite: http://www.washingtonpost.com Related Articles & Web Sites:NRLEhttp://www.nrle.org/Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/Americans Vote on Marijuana Use http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14666.shtmlQuestion 9 Opponents Feel Shortchanged http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14635.shtmlLocal View: Reefer Madness Strikes Againhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14624.shtml
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on November 06, 2002 at 13:09:07 PT
Thanks VitaminT - Cocaine!
Oh wow. That's unbelievable! What is drug treatment about? I'm sorry but I don't understand treatment unless a person wants it. I guess I have a terrible mind set when it comes to certain things. So jail will be the future for a Cannabis Consumer in D.C. but you'll walk sort of with Cocaine? I don't get it.
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Comment #6 posted by VitaminT on November 06, 2002 at 12:51:47 PT
they're talking Cocaine, FoM
Coke is not schedule 1. Coke, unlike our beloved herb . . . ahem, has medical value.
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on November 06, 2002 at 11:53:08 PT
Thanks Toad
What the heck does that mean? What drugs are they talking about if not Schedule 1 drugs? Aspirin maybe? Someone needs to help explain this to me.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/elections/2002/general/dc.html
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Comment #4 posted by Toad on November 06, 2002 at 10:45:22 PT
FOM
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/elections/2002/general/dc.html This briefly states what the initiative was about and the numbers on how it passed.
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on November 06, 2002 at 10:11:53 PT
Toad 
Please explain. I am busy looking for news and haven't found anything so far on the Treatment Initiative in D.C.My opinion about forced treatment has been said many times. I'm not for forced treatment. It won't work. If a person wants to quit drugs they should have the option but forcing a person will only enrage them. Marijuana might still be a Schedule 1 drug but it sure shouldn't be. It's a plant that has medical benefits.
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Comment #2 posted by Toad on November 06, 2002 at 09:58:48 PT
DC initiative excludes pot smokers
The drug treatment initiative passed in DC provides treatment instead of jail time for non-violent drug users on their first and second busts, UNLESS THE DRUG IS SCHEDULE 1(including marijuana). Was this written by the anti's? 
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Comment #1 posted by p4me on November 06, 2002 at 09:28:34 PT
The three rich reformers routine
They cannot get over the fact that the laws are in desperate need of change and three old men see this as an area of reform. I only wish Bill Gates would join the club. He would buy his own newspapers like the Wal-Mart Waltons and then what would they say? Yes, Bill. Right away. Don't make us look fascist or unconstitutional.I think I should move to Alaska and begin to campaign for legalization in 2004. There would be one vote for legalization for sure. Of course if the fascist are allowed to remove paper trails, we might has well just end elections and have everyone report to the jail nearest you to be drug tested to see if you qualify for release. Failure to prove absolute ourity will result in forfeiture of all your property and you will be sent to Texas to be executed, cremated, and mixed into fertilizer for Republinazi ranches.1
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