cannabisnews.com: Ballot’s Marijuana Initiative Deserves Attention





Ballot’s Marijuana Initiative Deserves Attention
Posted by CN Staff on March 15, 2003 at 13:38:01 PT
By David Webber 
Source: Columbia Daily Tribune 
Columbia voters should carefully examine the marijuana initiative on the April 8 ballot. Partly because it was written by Anthony Johnson, a former student of mine and now a University of Missouri-Columbia law student, I have mulled the proposal for several months. After speaking with him, reviewing material on drug policy and seeking the insight of a variety of people around town, I have been unable to decide which way to vote.
The proposed ordinance would greatly reduce penalties for marijuana possession in the city. Now, an offender can get up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine for possessing 35 grams of marijuana or less. But the ballot proposal would replace those maximums with fines of $25 for a first offense, $50 for a second offense, $100 for a third offense and $500 for subsequent violations. The fines for first offenses are too low. The proposal would also direct offenses involving less than 35 grams of marijuana to municipal court rather than state court. This change is proposed because federal law bars student financial aid to anyone convicted in state or federal court of selling or possessing drugs. Reportedly 60,000 college students nationwide, and 38 at MU, have lost financial aid for this reason. This is a valid concern.Additionally, the proposed ordinance would allow seriously ill citizens to possess up to 35 grams of marijuana for medical use upon the recommendation of a physician.Illicit drugs are bad. People should not use them. I do not understand why students who spend a lot of time and money putting knowledge and skills into their heads would mess with their minds by using drugs and alcohol. But they do. More than one of four high school seniors reportedly use marijuana at least monthly. Nearly half the population older than 12 is reported to have tried illegal drugs. "Getting caught" is a matter of bad luck and poor judgment. For those who are caught, the sanctions imposed can be much worse than the potential harm from smoking the drug.It’s clear that current drug policies are ineffective. The war on drugs is increasingly expensive. The number of prisoners in Missouri - though obviously not all are incarcerated for marijuana offenses - has risen from 15,409 in 1993 to 29,871 this year. State corrections costs have almost doubled to $565.8 million this year, with a projected 5 percent increase next year at a time when most other state programs are being cut. Drug policies are also misguided. First-time use of marijuana is simply not the same as making methamphetamine or dealing heavy drugs. Several local health-related professionals, however, tell me the argument for medicinal use of marijuana is weak. They say that while marijuana might reduce pain in some instances, better treatments usually are available. Others disagree. The local chapter of the League of Women Voters, generally a reasonable group of citizens, endorses medical marijuana but has taken no position on the local initiative.Those who oppose decriminalizing any use or possession of marijuana make a good point when they argue that such action would strengthen the drug-distribution system and lead to social tolerance and even acceptance of more serious drugs. Because drug intoxication - like that caused by alcohol - compromises individual responsibility with potentially dire social consequences, I don’t accept the Libertarian argument that people should be free to make their own decisions about drug use.The ballot initiative is similar to one adopted in Ann Arbor, Mich., in the 1970s. Drug use there appears no different than anywhere else, as indicated by the 33 percent of students in Ann Arbor who report using marijuana in the past year, compared with 34 percent nationally.Those who support easing marijuana laws argue that alcohol use is a more serious social problem. That might be true, but is it wise to ease sanctions on one bad behavior because another is worse? That’s hard to see.Adopting the ordinance would send a mixed signal about the acceptability of drugs, although increasing the proposed fines would help correct that problem. If the proposed ordinance is adopted, the Columbia City Council can amend it just like any other ordinance on the books. I would suggest the council increase the proposed fines to $100 for a first offense and $500 thereafter.The council should also create a local drug court for first-time offenders convicted in municipal court. Drug courts have had a positive impact in many places across Missouri and should be part of this proposal if the goal is to more gently discourage marijuana use.In an era when many state and federal policy-makers take no action despite their awareness that drug policies are ill-conceived, the proposed Columbia ordinance represents a small step toward highlighting a policy problem that soon will cause a crisis. The people who drafted the initiative, and its key supporters, should be commended for putting a touchy topic on Columbia’s agenda.David Webber is an MU associate professor of political science. You can reach him via e-mail at editor tribmail.comComplete Title: Ballot’s Marijuana Initiative Deserves Voters’ Attention Source: Columbia Daily Tribune (MO)Author: David Webber Published: Wednesday, March 12, 2003Copyright: 2003 Columbia Daily TribuneContact: editor tribmail.comWebsite: http://www.showmenews.com/Related Articles:Pot Issue Elicits Clash of Interests http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15734.shtmlCouncil Sets Pot Revision for Electionhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15253.shtmlCity Council To Vote on Pot-Possession Penaltieshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15227.shtml 
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Comment #4 posted by ekim on March 15, 2003 at 18:25:15 PT
how much will hemp bring in
If you think that our economy is in bad shape now, ponder this from an Australian.This is worth reading, especially for those wondering WHY this war is so important.     http://www.freehi.com/downloads/oildollars.html
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Comment #3 posted by Virgil on March 15, 2003 at 18:17:35 PT
Cultural Baggage has their Friday show up
I would suggest the council increase the proposed fines to $100 for a first offense and $500 thereafter.I suggest no fine, no arrest, and no crap. Just what does he think the real dangers of cannabis are and what color is the sky in his fantasy land?Cultural Baggage has a show up every 2nd and 4th Friday. Today's show is with former LEO that is a lobbyist in lAustin against the drug war, president of Texas NORML, and a member of LEAP. http://www.cultural-baggage.com/kpft.htmIt mentions that Holland will begin prescription cannabis starting Monday.
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Comment #2 posted by ekim on March 15, 2003 at 17:38:03 PT
someone give this guy a clue
ok how about ol A.G. John A. whats he been up to, closing cannabis clubs for the sick and needy. 
how a professor could not draw a bead on loosing control of a state law that the people wanted and voted for is frightnen.
to loose site of how one's property is taken from him or her is to leave each other defenceless. here in MI we just had another round of cut's if the current Gov Jenny G. a good ol youper no less. would have listened to Geoffrey Fieger when he picked her for his AG this state would be saving say 30 million for the last 4 or 5 years. pretty soon your talken money.that is what has been projected saved when the first time drug offenders being let out early will save. that is only the money from prison what about all the other savings. like family --jobs --and just plain undue suffering of that person. oh yes she refused to even look at decrim. but hey i can forgive her. just please Gov Jenny allow other citys like Ann Arbor with its 31 year law to chose -- can you do it-- 
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Comment #1 posted by i420 on March 15, 2003 at 17:02:27 PT
FSP www.freestateproject.org
Plans are under way for an invasion of New Hampshire. Or Wyoming. Or maybe Delaware, Montana or Alaska. Sparsely populated and independent in spirit, they're all attractive targets for a certain bloodless coup in the making.Within the next several years, according to the plan, 20,000 Libertarans would move to a single state and begin infiltrating. They'd get jobs, join civic groups, get elected and take a hatchet to taxes and laws. In this utopia called the Free State Project, schools would be severed from the state, gun-control laws abolished, drugs legalized, health and social services privatized, most federal aid rejected. Government's only job would be to protect against "force and fraud.""The Libertarian movement has existed for decades and produced leading intellectuals and Nobel Prize winners, but despite all that it hasn't had much influence on a national level," says Free State Project founder Jason Sorens. "I think it's time we concentrate our resources in a place where we have a shot at actually winning."Anyone looking for traces of nuttiness will be disappointed by this 26-year-old Yale doctoral student who speaks in understatements and appears archetypically collegiate. He recently finished his dissertation, a study of secessionist parties in several advanced democracies. When he's not working on a model society that he hopes will be imitated around the world, he's looking for a job as a political science professor.A Libertarian since his teen-age years in Houston, Sorens floated his idea in a July 2001 article in the online journal Libertarian Enterprise. The Internet worked its magic and Libertarians around the country began pledging to move -- 2,600 of them so far. The drill goes like this: After the figure reaches 5,000, participants vote on their state of choice from a list of 10, selected because they have fewer than 1.5 million residents (easier to sway elections that way), a promising job market, a culture deemed "pro-liberty" and low reliance on federal aid.After 20,000 have signed on -- Sorens expects this by about 2005 -- the migration begins. By 2010, Sorens says, the group should be ready to start influencing policy, first as "foot soldiers" to the Libertarians already living in the state and then by running for local and state office. The next goal is to gain control of the state legislature. On a national level, the state's U.S. senators and congressmen would sell their votes on matters of less importance for support on the ones key to the state's Libertarian cause.Using a "beachhead strategy," Sorens told a gathering of 17 Libertarians in College Park, Md., recently, "we may be able to breathe free air in our lifetime."Libertarian parties in New Hampshire and Maine have endorsed the movement, and both are lobbying the Free State Project to move to their states.New Hampshire, with no state income or sales tax, a strong conservative voting base and a "Live Free or Die" motto, offers obvious appeal -- along with port access, which eases international trade and diplomatic bonding with other countries.Maine, teeming with small businesses, has a famously independent streak, says Geoffrey Keller, 40, a real estate agent in Dayton, Maine, and vice chairman of that state's Libertarian party. "Most of the people in Maine, even though they don't know it, are Libertarian ilk," he says. "They believe in taking care of themselves."But not all the reaction has been welcoming. There is some anxiety about newcomers moving in en masse, Sorens says. "One fellow from Montana threatened to get together a posse and do nasty things to us," he says.From the left end of the ideological spectrum, Jane Scease, a Green party steering committee member and selectman in Topsham, Maine, says a settlement of Libertarians would be good for the Greens, who often get blamed for robbing votes from Democratic candidates and thus handing the election to Republicans. Another party on the right, she says, "would even things out."Other states under consideration include Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota and Vermont. Of all the states, Alaska probably offers the most -- plenty of land and oil and a strong Libertarian party -- but getting people to move there might be a tough sell, Sorens says.Libertarians tried to stage a migration once before. In the late 1980s, Mary Margaret Glennie tried to bring 1,000 Libertarians to Fort Collins, Colo., where she lived. When that didn't work, Glennie came up with the idea of a Libertarian space colony.Over the years, religious sects have moved to particular communities and made them political bases, says Benjamin Ginsberg, political science professor at Johns Hopkins University, noting for example the Scientologists in Clearwater, Fla. The only migration comparable in scope to the Libertarians' current idea was the Mormon trek to the Utah territory in the 19th century, he says. "The Mormons succeeded in making Utah a quasi-independent entity under their control for several decades."Who are the men and women of the Free State Project? Well, they are mostly men -- probably a 70/30 split, Sorens says.Many are in their 20s and 30s, and a fair number are retirees. Professionally, the group is heavy into technology -- lots of computer geeks, as well as small business owners.A number of foreigners have expressed interest in moving to the chosen state, and the project would welcome them, Sorens told the group in College Park.
http://jordan.fortwayne.com/webinator/docs/0302230113.html 
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