cannabisnews.com: Voters Reject Initiative To Decriminalize Pot





Voters Reject Initiative To Decriminalize Pot
Posted by CN Staff on November 06, 2002 at 22:26:32 PT
By Michelle Rushlo, Associated Press Writer
Source: Arizona Daily Sun 
Voters rejected an initiative Tuesday that would have decriminalized marijuana possession and also would have required state police to hand out the drug to seriously ill people. Despite the financial backing of three wealthy businessmen, Proposition 203 failed to garner enough "yes" votes, according to unofficial tallies. The measure was the third marijuana-related ballot measure brought before voters in the last eight years. 
The previous two, which focused on the medical use of illegal drugs, passed. Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley, an outspoken opponent of all the measures, including Proposition 203, said he was thrilled with Tuesday's outcome. "Of course I'm happy. It's the upset of the year," he said. "The good common sense of voters has prevailed." Proposition 203 would have decriminalized possession of up to two ounces of marijuana -- enough to make up to 200 cigarettes. The penalties for being caught would have been reduced to fines, similar to the way speeding tickets are treated. The initiative also would have provided seriously ill people with easier access to marijuana. It would have required the Department of Public Safety to distribute marijuana to people who had a recommendation from their doctor -- a provision supporters said was necessary to implement medical marijuana laws without interference from the federal government. The marijuana would have come from drugs confiscated by law enforcement. Former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods, who supported the initiative, said the DPS distribution provision likely proved to be the measure's fatal flaw. "It's pretty obvious that Arizonans support medical marijuana and I think they're ready for a whole new drug policy that makes more sense," he said. "But I think this provision that they put in 203 that had the DPS distributing marijuana was a dumb idea." Dr. Jeffrey Singer, who has supported 203 and the previous drug initiatives, said that while he is disappointed with the outcome of the race, he believes backers will be back to the ballot again in 2004. "We'll be back because this is a very worthy cause," he said of the provisions in Proposition 203. Supporters of the measure said the initiative, while often advertised as being about medical use of marijuana, was more of a referendum on the war on drugs. Detractors, including county prosecutors, argued that the voters were misled to believe that Proposition 203 and the initiatives approved in previous years were about medical marijuana. They said the proponents' aim had always been legalization. Arizonans first approved an initiative dealing with the medical use of illegal drugs in 1996. It gave doctors the authority to prescribe marijuana and other illegal drugs to seriously ill patients. State lawmakers who opposed the initiative dismantled the bulk of it in early 1997. That led backers back to the ballot in 1998, when voters restored the initiative to law.Source: Arizona Daily Sun (AZ)Author: Michelle Rushlo, Associated Press WriterPublished: November 6, 2002Copyright: 2002 Arizona Daily SunContact: azdsopinion azdailysun.comWebsite: http://www.azdailysun.com/Related Articles:Proposition 203 Seeks To Reduce Pot Penalties http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14622.shtmlDoctors Free To Discuss Pot Use with Patientshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14604.shtmlDrug Czar Opposes Prop 203 http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14403.shtml
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Comment #4 posted by goneposthole on November 07, 2002 at 07:40:12 PT
Let the Republicans have it all
If I were a Democratic or independent congressperson, I would not set foot in
Ol' Washington, DC. The fear factor prevails, I'm afraid.Wiith the seat of the federal gov Republicanized as it is, what bodes them only time will tell.Ddc is correct: Pot is not the problem.
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Comment #3 posted by DdC on November 07, 2002 at 01:08:30 PT
Voters rejected an initiative...Bushit!
half of those registered never showed up...How many didn't bother to register? How many rounded up to prevent voting. How many voting rights stript for healing or alternative relaxation...How many P&J churchstatesmen hauled voters to the booths? I would like to thank the author for starting the article so tyically boringly hyped, it affords me the time to do something contructive by not reading any FURTHUR!Maybe spelling lessons?The Nation of Apathetic Puppets
http://pub3.ezboard.com/fendingcannabisprohibitionstuff.showMessage?topicID=132.topicIn the freest press on earth, humanity is reported in terms of its usefulness to US power...By John Pilger Long before the Soviet Union broke up, a group of Russian writers touring the United States were astonished to find, after reading the newspapers and watching television, that almost all the opinions on all the vital issues were the same. "In our country," said one of them, "to get that result we have a dictatorship. We imprison people. We tear out their fingernails. Here you have none of that. How do you do it? What's the secret?" The secret is a form of censorship more insidious than a totalitarian state could ever hope to achieve. The myth is the opposite. Constitutional freedoms unmatched anywhere else guard against censorship; the press is a "fourth estate", a watchdog on democracy. The journalism schools boast this reputation, the influential East Coast press is especially proud of it, epitomised by the liberal paper of record, the New York Times, with its masthead slogan: "All the news that's fit to print." It takes only a day or two back in the US to be reminded of how deep state censorship runs. It is censorship by omission, and voluntary. The source of most Americans' information, mainstream television, has been reduced to a set of marketing images shot and edited to the rhythms of a Coca-Cola commercial that flow seamlessly into the actual commercials. Rupert Murdoch's Fox network is the model, with its peep-shows of human tragedy. Non-American human beings are generally ignored, or treated with an anthropological curiosity reserved for wildlife documentaries. Not long ago, Kenneth Jarecke was talking about this censorship. Jarecke is the American photographer who took the breath-catching picture of an Iraqi burnt to a blackened cinder, petrified at the wheel of his vehicle on the Basra Road where he, and hundreds of others, were massacred by American pilots on their infamous "turkey shoot" at the end of the Gulf war. In the United States, Jarecke's picture was suppressed for months after what was more a slaughter than a war. "The whole US press collaborated in keeping silent about the consequences of that war," he said. Continued...
http://pub3.ezboard.com/fendingcannabisprohibitionstuff.showMessage?topicID=132.topicThat war this WoD all war...is manufactured.Some folks are born made to wave the flag,
 ooh, they're red, white and blue.
 And when the band plays "Hail to the chief"
 they point the cannon right at you.
 It ain't me, it ain't me, I'm no senator's son.
 It ain't me, it ain't me, I'm no fortunate one. Some folks are born silver spoon in hand,
 Lord, don't they help themselves.
 But when the tax man comes to the door:
 "Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale."
 It ain't me, it ain't me, I'm no millionaire's son.
 It ain't me, it ain't me, I'm no fortunate one. Some folks inherit star spangled eyes,
 ooh, they send you down to war.
 And when you ask them: "How much should we give?"
 Oh, they only answer: "More, more, more"
 It ain't me, it ain't me, I'm no military's son.
 It ain't me, it ain't me, I'm no fortunate one.FogertyA Better Way
http://www.cannabinoid.com/boards/politics/media/34/34750.gifDry Your Eyes 
http://www.cannabinoid.com/wwwboard/politics/binaries/28/28133.gif
Untitled Protest Buds Not Bombs!
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Comment #2 posted by eco-man on November 06, 2002 at 23:14:37 PT
Step by step tolerance of cannabis in USA
http://google.com/search?q=Arizona+Proposition+203+marijuana
It is useful to read the reasons people had for voting against the cannabis decriminalization initiative in Arizona, and against the legalization initiative in Nevada.We need to do this gradually so that people become more and more tolerant of cannabis. They will gradually discover that cannabis is not the demon seed of Satan as it is portrayed by the religious right nutcases in the fundamantalist Republican Party. Religion 101. Drug War = fundamentalist Holy War. 
http://corporatism.tripod.com/religion.htm 
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Comment #1 posted by eco-man on November 06, 2002 at 22:37:28 PT
Let's keep getting closer to 50%
"It's pretty obvious that Arizonans support medical marijuana and I think they're ready for a whole new drug policy that makes more sense," he said. "But I think this provision that they put in 203 that had the DPS distributing marijuana was a dumb idea." That may be a valid point and a good reason to do another initiative. Also may be good to lower the legal amount down to one ounce. The point is to get closer to 50% or to even win! Once cannabis is legal in any state in the USA the drug war is effectively over. *MMM Global Cannabis Action. Million Marijuana March. Annual rallies and marches in over 200 cities. Worldwide since 1999. The first Saturday in May. Cannabis Liberation Day. LINKS, alphabetical city contact lists, event navigators, mailing lists and archives, flyers and posters, rally report compilations, media coverage, MMM history, etc.. 
http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/y/mmmlinks.htm  and 
http://corporatism.tripod.com/mmmlinks.htm  
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