cannabisnews.com: It’s Time To Set The Wheels in Motion It’s Time To Set The Wheels in Motion Posted by CN Staff on September 12, 2003 at 07:37:53 PT By Matt Love, For the Tribune Source: Portland Tribune It is time. It is obvious. No one in Salem is talking about it. They should. If legislators return for a special session, they should take immediate action. Here’s the idea. It’s not mine. It’s not fresh. It bucks conventional wisdom. That’s exactly what Oregon needs. Legalize marijuana and tax it. Put the revenue generated from the sales and the money saved from ending absurd marijuana-related prosecutions and incarcerations into the general fund. Or earmark the dollars for rebuilding the many things in Oregon on the verge of a quick, ugly collapse. The point is to tap the underground marijuana economy. It is worth millions. Drill it hard, and drill it deep. Strike leafy green. Then start another drill into law enforcement agencies’ marijuana-related budgets. Let them keep the money for legitimate public safety needs, and when U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft comes calling, take him on. This is Oregon, man! In 1973 we were the first state to decriminalize marijuana. Later we rejected a ballot measure to re-criminalize it. We also passed a medical marijuana law. It’s in our lungs! It should be legally in our fields. The question is not whether marijuana should be legalized. The question is how it should be legalized. In the recent past, several ballot measures have asked Oregonians if they wanted to make pot legal. These have been fringe-led efforts that were ill-conceived. They all failed. This time the stakes are higher. Everybody knows this except the people who make laws. Thus, I call upon the Oregon Legislature and Gov. Kulongoski to pass and sign a law establishing the Oregon Marijuana Legalization Commission. Let it get to work, and get out of its way. This body would meet this fall, study the idea and make recommendations on every aspect of legalization, from potency to market or state-controlled distribution. The commission also would present a slate of referendums providing Oregon voters with ballot options on how marijuana is to be legalized and taxed, and how the revenue will be spent. Each referendum should have a sunset provision so it can be revisited. Let the people decide. They have said no to income and sales taxes. This would be a user fee, plain and simple. I volunteer to serve on this commission. Recently, I heard Sen. Ken Messerle, R-Coos Bay, say in Salem that he believes the way to fix Oregon is to get rural Oregonians working. Senator, I agree. Legalization would be an absolute boon to the state’s rural economies. It would explode like craft breweries and bakeries did in the ’90s. Senator, get on board. I live in rural Oregon, too, and I agree with the necessity of getting rural Oregonians re-engaged with the natural resources economy. But this time it has to be something new, unsubsidized and free from environmental group lawsuits. I know what many of you are thinking. The health risks, right? Let me offer a visual rebuttal. As I write this from an Oregon tavern, a man is halfway through a pack of cigarettes, on his third pint of ale, chasing it with coffee and pumping dead presidents into a video poker machine. The state allows him to do this and allows advertising to persuade him to do it more. Furthermore, I would love to see what prescription pain-relieving medications he has lined up in his medicine cabinet. Oregonians, kill the double standard. Murder the hypocrisy. Let common sense prevail. Get government off marijuana smokers’ backs and into their pockets. We need less government to fund more government. Matt Love, 38, is a freelance writer who lives in southern Tillamook County. He does not smoke marijuana. Two Views • Does legalizing marijuana make financial sense, or is it the way to ruin? Source: Portland Tribune (OR)Author: Matt Love, For the Tribune Published: September 12, 2003Copyright: 2003 Portland TribuneContact: letters portlandtribune.comWebsite: http://www.portlandtribune.com/Expect The Worst If Pot’s Made Legal http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17283.shtmlCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #4 posted by Nuevo Mexican on September 12, 2003 at 14:18:27 PT Johnny Cash, compassionate Piscean, Scorpio moon! It's always a revelation when I look at the chart of someone who has left the earth plane, to see what the 'trigger' (planet-wise) for ones passing over, and reuniting with the 'all that is'. So here it is: JC (not that one, though he was a Pisces also) was born with Mars at 1 degree Picses, his Sun sign also, and today, coincidentally, Mars is a 1 degree Pisces! Mars is the 'trigger' planet, and rules energy. Picses is the sign of dissolution, thus, he has returned to the source, where we all realize this temporary experience in the flesh, means little if we don't embrace our true purpose and show compassion for others, as that is the whole point of our being, when we learn that lesson, we get a free pass back home, where all is well, not good nor evil, only non-judgement exists, and love is the only force we recognize, as love is all there is, Thanks Johnny for all the great songs, your passion, and the truth you embodied in your lifetime. You have set a great example for other humans in the flesh to follow, now it is up to us to wake up to the fact that we are not here for ourselves, but to make the lives of others better, thus paying off our collective karma, but the bottom line in America is: Are you better off, (not are 'we' better off) today? Selfishness, greed, self-absorbtion, self-pity, me, me, me! That is what we have come to in this country, let's flush this idiotic time in our history down the toilet, make the world proud of us again and Impeach the Republicans and their minions from Washington. If we don't, we only have ourselves to blame.Act now: www.impeachbush.orgExploiting the Atrocity: http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0912-08.htm [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by DeVoHawk on September 12, 2003 at 11:12:31 PT: John Cash will be missed Well, you wonder why I always dress in black, Why you never see bright colors on my back, And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone. Well, there's a reason for the things that I have on.I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down, Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town, I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime, But is there because he's a victim of the times.I wear the black for those who never read, Or listened to the words that Jesus said, About the road to happiness through love and charity, Why, you'd think He's talking straight to you and me.Well, we're doin' mighty fine, I do suppose, In our streak of lightnin' cars and fancy clothes, But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back, Up front there ought 'a be a Man In Black.I wear it for the sick and lonely old, For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold, I wear the black in mournin' for the lives that could have been, Each week we lose a hundred fine young men.And, I wear it for the thousands who have died, Believen' that the Lord was on their side, I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died, Believen' that we all were on their side.Well, there's things that never will be right I know, And things need changin' everywhere you go, But 'til we start to make a move to make a few things right, You'll never see me wear a suit of white.Ah, I'd love to wear a rainbow every day, And tell the world that everything's OK, But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back, 'Till things are brighter, I'm the Man In Black. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by FoM on September 12, 2003 at 10:17:43 PT Off Topic: May They Rest in Peace Double Loss: Music Icon Johnny Cash, Actor John Ritter Diehttp://abcnews.go.com/sections/entertainment/GoodMorningAmerica/cash_ritter030912.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by phil_debowl on September 12, 2003 at 09:49:44 PT Two opposing views, one paper Wow, 2 totally opposing views, on the same day, in the same paper. As much as the 1st one pissed me off, I kinda think it's nice to see 2 totally opposite views of the same subject. If all media did this, maybe people would actually do some research and find the truth. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment