cannabisnews.com: Pot Proposition Fails





Pot Proposition Fails
Posted by CN Staff on April 09, 2003 at 08:54:48 PT
By Quinn O’Brien and Sana Syed 
Source: Columbia Missourian 
Even in defeat, supporters of Proposition 1 felt like they’d made a difference. Columbia voters on Tuesday turned down a proposal to legalize the medical use of marijuana and soften municipal penalties. Final returns showed the measure failing, 57.8 percent to 42.2 percent.“The numbers sound like it’s a pretty substantial victory,” Columbia Police Chief Randy Boehm said late Tuesday night. “I would think this would be the end of it for awhile.”
Boehm said he would keep in place a policy he firmed up in response to the ballot issue, a directive that officers send simple possession cases of 35 grams or less to Municipal Court.“We kind of look at it as if we’ve already partially won,” Amy Fritz, deputy treasurer of the Columbia Alliance for Patients and Education, said during a gathering of Proposition 1 supporters at the Colosseum Bistro. “We led the police chief to look at his practice,” she said, “and that’s a victory in and of itself.”Proposition 1 was behind from the start. “After the first results came in, we knew we were a long shot,” said Anthony Johnson, author of the proposed ordinance. “We just accepted the fact that we were likely going to lose. I’m not going to be inconsolable.”Opponents of marijuana decriminalization breathed a sigh of relief.“I’m delighted, and feel this has been a good experience for us,” said Eve Pearson, president of the Mid-Missouri Coalition on Adolescent Concerns/Community 2000. “It has been a wake-up call for our community. A lot of us were educated on how mainstream this drug has become.”The fight over Proposition 1 attracted the attention of the White House. Scott Burns, deputy director of state and local affairs for the Office of National Drug Control Policy, came to Columbia on Thursday with a message from President Bush: The administration does not condone the “softening” of marijuana laws.On Election Day, Burns faxed a statement on Proposition 1, saying: “The federal government will continue to get out the truth regarding marijuana and will aggressively support local efforts to educate and inform the public about the dangers of marijuana. No community is better off with drugs.”Proponents were not pleased with the national attention. Dan Viets, president of the Missouri chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, and Johnson questioned the legality of Burns’ visit, saying that Burns was using taxpayer money to campaign against a ballot measure.“At all levels, we had to fight government and public funding,” Viets said.Opponents also said Burns was spreading misinformation, asserting that there was no evidence to support any of his claims that marijuana use would increase if the ordinance were to pass.On election day, Fritz said, she and other members of CAPE went door to door to mobilize supporters, remind them to vote, and to offer rides to the polls.Last fall, Johnson drafted the proposed ordinance with the help of Viets, a lawyer. Supporters gathered more than enough valid signatures for a petition to bring the ordinance to a vote before the City Council. The council panned the ordinance on a 6-1 vote, sending the initiative to voters.The margin of defeat was similar to a measure that went before Columbia voters in 1985. That measure did not include medicinal use of marijuana but would have reduced fines for possession of 35 grams or less for first-time offenders and send all possession cases of 35 grams or less to Municipal Court. The 1985 proposal was defeated 57 percent to 43 percent.Johnson said he was disappointed by Tuesday’s results but not discouraged. “It showed that a small group can get their voices heard. They can stand up for what they believe in, and get noticed,” he said.Viets said that while he’s not sure of what the next step will be, “we can all agree that medicinal marijuana is important.” He talked about a bill in the Missouri House of Representatives, sponsored by Columbia Rep. Vicky Riback Wilson, that would make medicinal marijuana legal in the state of Missouri.“We got a committee hearing because the Republican chair, a doctor, thinks this is important,” Viets said. “This will be our focus for the time being.”Unlike the united front of law enforcement officials, the medical community was somewhat divided on Proposition 1.Ali Khojasteh, a medical oncologist with practices in Columbia and Jefferson City, cited alternatives to marijuana that were already legal. “I think that this is a reflection of the people who recognize the fact that this type of proposition ultimately is going to be harmful to the young people,” he said. “People logically can see that there is an alternative to marijuana available now, medically.”Clay Anderson, an oncologist at the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center, supports the use of medicinal marijuana and decriminalization to allow studies of the drug’s medical benefits.“I’m just glad that we all got a chance to talk about it and learn more about it, and cast our ballot,” he said. “I think this time, we didn’t make any substantive step, but we made progress anyway.”Missourian reporter Stefanie von Brochowski contributed to this report. Note: Supporters say they were still successful.Source: Columbia Missourian (MO)Author: Quinn O’Brien and Sana Syed Published: April 9, 2003 Copyright: 2003 Columbia MissourianWebsite: http://www.columbiamissourian.com/Contact: http://www.columbiamissourian.com/feedback/Related Articles:Federal Official Issues Pot Warning http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15868.shtmlPot Initiative Draws Federal Attention http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15864.shtml Marijuana Proposition Worries Law Enforcementhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15845.shtml
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Comment #2 posted by Virgil on April 09, 2003 at 11:56:47 PT
Seattle has vote in September
I-75 will be on the ballot in September in Seattle. Isn't Seattle just a ferry ride away from Vancouver Island? There was someone from Finland commenting today at the hempcity forum about not being able to have coffeeshops in Finland. She said, "It pisses me up" when she was commenting in English. That is about what I think of the 9000 people that showed up to vote and did not cast a vote for a more sensible cannabis policy. I also ran across a new website that has a yahoo-looking format that is a rather large site. Cannabis might not make the newspaper but it spreading across the Internet- http://hemp.net/hemphoo/From http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/93317_marijuana29.shtml Tuesday, October 29, 2002Seattleites will vote on deprioritizing marijuana crimesSEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFFAn initiative that would make marijuana arrests and prosecutions the lowest priority for Seattle will head to the September 2003 ballot.The City Council declined yesterday to vote Initiative 75 into law or to offer an alternative measure. Instead, it chose to send the issue to voters next year. The initiative would require the Seattle Police Department and the City Attorney's Office to make cases involving adult personal use of marijuana the lowest priority for police.
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Comment #1 posted by Virgil on April 09, 2003 at 10:50:50 PT
We cannot win if we do not vote
Prop 1 Final vote- For- 7,348 Against- 10,075 95,226 Total registered voters26,755 BALLOTS CAST - TOTAL 28.10% Voter turnoutThe apathy shows when you consider the measure received 17,423 votes when 26,755 voted. One in three people that cast a ballot did not even vote on the issue. That is really sad.
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