cannabisnews.com: Smoke Signals





Smoke Signals
Posted by CN Staff on November 07, 2002 at 14:47:09 PT
By Andrew Kiraly
Source: Las Vegas Mercury 
Holed up in the back room of the Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement offices, campaign manager Billy Rogers was wound tighter than a joint early Tuesday night. Swiveling from the TV to a laptop and back again, he was hoping to get his finger on the pulse of the Question 9 vote, but the state's website was down. The early numbers that were up--a 74 percent "no" vote as tallies trickled in--left Rogers unruffled. What happened if it didn't pass? Was there a Plan B? 
"We've only got Plan A--to win," a grimly resolute Rogers said. "I'm not even going to think about the what-ifs." It took a talking head to break the tension. On the television, KLAS Channel 8 analyst Jon Ralston made the crack that--nyuk nyuk--Question 9 supporters must have been running the state's website. Rogers gave him the finger as a round of groans went up. But who really got the last laugh? Conceding defeat shortly after 9 p.m. Tuesday, NRLE members and other allies cited a number of factors that had worked against their campaign. Other ballots initiatives, such as Question 2, brought out a "conservative wave," Walters said. Robert Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, pointed to the campaign's failure to convince voters--particularly the older demographic--that decriminalization means more regulation, not less. And final-phase efforts to get out 65,000 Question 9-sympathetic voters to the poll failed to show numbers they were hoping for. "The campaign did a great job at the grassroots level," said Andy Anderson, a retired police officer and former president of police umbrella group Nevada Conference of Police and Sheriffs. "But it just failed to take out the fear factor that decriminalization is going to lead to kids smoking marijuana and people driving under the influence." At the concession press conference, where the mood was amicably bummed out, pro-9ers gave a brief press conference with the standard back-patting and reiteration of the group's stance. But where to go from here? Local and national decriminalization forces offered a shrug--and a wink. "For the immediate future, we've got no specific plans, just more public education," said the Marijuana Policy Project's Kampia. He did point to promising developments elsewhere, such as in San Francisco, where a ballot initiative passed Tuesday directing the city to explore growing its own medical marijuana for the seriously ill. Otherwise, marijuana law reformers plan to quietly regroup to mull their next step. Some mulling is definitely in order; in many ways Nevada was the last stop on the relax-pot-laws party train. Wrapping up 39 percent of the "yes" vote, the state takes its place in a growing line of near-misses that spans three decades. In 1972, the California Marijuana Initiative garnered 34 percent of the vote; 1986 saw the Oregon Marijuana Initiative take 26 percent. Most promisingly, a 2000 ballot question in Alaska (where, before 1990, owning up to four ounces of marijuana was legal) that would decriminalize possession and even public use took 41 percent of the vote. The group Free Hemp in Alaska plans to mount another campaign to get a ballot question on 2004. Call it failing your way to success. Will the NRLE follow the lead of their allies up north? Rogers dodged the question of whether the NRLE would mount another campaign, but said he did consider 39 percent of the vote a big-picture victory. "This is the first of many battles," Rogers said. "We've got 36 to 37 percent support nationwide for reforming marijuana laws, and it's growing. Remember, this is a generational thing, and as Baby Boomers get older, things will change. This will happen. It's inevitable." Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani suggested everyone retire to a club across the street for some "legal drugs." The subtext: Remember, once upon a time, drinking was illegal, too.Smoke Signals: The Question 9ers Didn't Have the Votes, But They've Got a GenerationSource: Las Vegas Mercury (NV)Author: Andrew Kiraly Published: Thursday, November 07, 2002Copyright: 2002 Las Vegas MercuryWebsite: http://www.lasvegasmercury.com/Contact: gschumacher lasvegasmercury.comRelated Articles & Web Sites:NRLEhttp://www.nrle.org/Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/After Voting, Dreams of Legal Pot Go Up in Smoke http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14685.shtmlMarijuana Backers Pledge Continued Effortshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14680.shtmlState Voters Reject Legalizing Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14671.shtml
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Comment #4 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on November 08, 2002 at 06:16:49 PT
Think before you drink
--Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani suggested everyone retire to a club across the street for some "legal drugs." The subtext: Remember, once upon a time, drinking was illegal, too.--While I enjoy the irony of the subtext, one of the big reasons I don't drink any more is because I believe the alcohol companies are against anything which would erode their monopoly on socially-acceptable intoxication.
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Comment #3 posted by goneposthole on November 07, 2002 at 15:57:42 PT
Reefer Ignorance
Nothing more, nothing less.Masterfullly planned propaganda techniques are holding their own for the time being. Statist propagandists have worked many years brainwashing people to 'tame' the populace.Prozac, Zoloft, Ritalin and the like make people space cases. I see it everyday. They're bad drugs, mon.Get upStand upStand up for your rights
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Comment #2 posted by CorvallisEric on November 07, 2002 at 15:28:27 PT
Alaska
I thought it might be interesting to look back at 2000.------Of eight initiatives on state ballots, six passed. The only defeats came in Alaska, where a very loosely written marijuana legalization initiative went down with 40% of the vote, and in Massachusetts, where an envelope-pushing asset forfeiture and sentencing reform initiative sponsored by Campaign for New Drug Policies (CNDP) 53-47%.In post-election conversations, various reformers also pointed to victories in Congress, where some noted drug warriors were sent packing."We were disappointed in Alaska," NORML Executive Director Keith Stroup told DRCNet, "but we are cheered by the fact that Reps. Bill McCollum (R-FL) and James Rogan (R-CA) and Sen. John Ashcroft (R-M)) all lost. McCollum was the worst," said Stroup, "absolutely terrible. Good riddance."Stroup was part of a chorus of critics of the Alaska's initiative's language, which included an amnesty for marijuana offenders currently behind bars and a study of possible reparations for those harmed by marijuana prosecutions."That was the most badly-written initiative ever," said Stroup, "but we felt we had to support it. And the fact that even written as it was, 40% of voters approved it, makes me really optimistic that we can go back in two years and get it done."In addition to the amnesty and reparations provisions, Stroup also pointed to lack of clarity in how marijuana would be distributed and the fact that it allowed 18-year-olds to legally partake."Nobody knows how distribution would have worked," said Stroup. "And Alaska has a recent history of controversy over teen alcohol use, so even though it may make sense to legalize consumption by 18-year-olds, it was something that dragged the vote down."http://cannabisnews.com/news/7/thread7628.shtml------Also, Richard Cowan on Nevada:
http://marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=590
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Comment #1 posted by AlvinCool on November 07, 2002 at 14:59:01 PT
Exactly
I know it's grim right now but they are right. It'll happen if we just don't give up. 
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