cannabisnews.com: Leman Disqualifies Marijuana Petition Leman Disqualifies Marijuana Petition Posted by CN Staff on January 14, 2003 at 18:29:26 PT By The Associated Press Source: Kenai Peninsula Online Juneau -- Lt. Gov. Loren Leman stopped an initiative drive seeking to decriminalize marijuana, ruling Tuesday that hundreds of signatures collected were not valid.Leman, a former state senator who sponsored a bill in 1999 to turn back the state's medical marijuana laws, said in a statement that the pro-marijuana group will have to begin from scratch to get its measure before voters in 2004. The proposed initiative would have asked voters in the August 2004 primary ballot to decriminalize and regulate marijuana.Backers submitted 484 booklets containing signatures of Alaskans who supported putting the measure on the ballot. But officials with the state Division of Elections found several discrepancies in the petitions, Leman said in a press statement.In several instances the identity of those who signed the petitions could not be verified or were not registered voters, a spokeswoman for the Division of Elections said.Election workers also did not count 194 booklets containing signatures because of poor record keeping, the division said.Alaska law requires a petition drive collect signatures equal to 10 percent of the voters in the previous statewide election to get an initiative on the ballot.Backers of the marijuana initiative needed 28,782 signatures to get the measure on the 2004 ballot. The state Division of Elections verified 21,737 signatures of registered voters, said spokeswoman Virginia Breeze.The lieutenant governor's office said initiative sponsors will have to start the petition process again to get it on the ballot.Georgia Mario of Chugiak plus Anchorage residents Tim Hinterberger and Randall Patterson were listed as primary sponsors of the initiative. They could not be reached for comment Tuesday.The Alaska H.E.M.P office in Juneau was closed Tuesday afternoon.Source: Kenai Peninsula Online (AK)Published: Tuesday, January 14, 2003 Copyright: 2003 Peninsula ClarionContact: clarion alaska.net Website: http://www.peninsulaclarion.com/Related Article & Web Site:Free Hemp in Alaskahttp://www.freehempinak.org/Marijuana Group Brings Effort to Juneau http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14246.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #3 posted by Truth on January 15, 2003 at 13:14:47 PT Betty Buckley That's right Thomas, and Betty Buckleys karma came right back at her. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Thomas on January 14, 2003 at 20:28:45 PT The Same Political Game 194 booklets out of 484 were not even counted? It seems as if a lawsuit is in order to get the politicos to take this more seriously. Of course, nothing for the movement seems to go anywhere without a lawsuit. This sounds like Colorado so many years ago. . . [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by p4me on January 14, 2003 at 19:12:04 PT Okay Alaska, send a message If you would like to sign the petition hang a peecicle from your mailbox. Your peecicles will not go unnoticed. And all you potheads afraid your peecicles will be analyzed should not use pee from your pets. Using pet pee for urine test is putting the movement in a bad light because now the prohibitionist are saying cannabis leads to animal abuse.Happy peeing, Alaska. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment