cannabisnews.com: Forgotten Box of Pot Petition Signatures Found





Forgotten Box of Pot Petition Signatures Found
Posted by CN Staff on June 24, 2004 at 11:27:04 PT
By Ed Koch, Sun Capital Bureau 
Source: Las Vegas Sun 
A forgotten box containing 6,000 petition signatures of Clark County residents might cost voters a chance to decide in November whether to legalize possession of up to an ounce of marijuana.Organizers of the ballot question last week said they submitted 66,135 signatures. Out of those, they need 51,337 valid signatures to get the issue on the ballot.
However, Billy Rogers, who works for the Washington D.C.-based Marijuana Project and operates a local political consulting firm, subsequently told the Election Department he found a box with 6,000 more signatures and wanted to turn them in after the June 15 deadline.Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax said no, citing state law that outlaws signatures from being turned in after the deadline.The marijuana signatures were turned in on June 15, Lomax said, noting that, under state law, even if they were turned in on June 10, the additional signatures would not have been accepted if they were turned in later that day. All signatures must be submitted at one time, he said.Supporters of the measure, which also would increase penalties for selling pot to minors and for driving under the influence of the drug, remain undaunted even with the setback."We have more than 66,000 signatures statewide, we are confident we will make it on the ballot," Rogers said today, noting that more than 35,000 signatures from Clark County were turned in where 31,360 were required.Rogers wrote in a letter to Lomax dated Monday: "The discovery of properly notarized signatures on June 19, 2004, should not disenfranchise voters if a remedy exists to include them in the count and verification."Lomax said a general rule of thumb is that during the validation process three of every 10 signatures are tossed out for various reasons, most commonly because the signer is not a registered voter."They are going to need an unbelievably clean petition," Lomax said noting that 10 percent of 35,000 -- 3,500 -- would put the petition on the cusp of failure."The Education First ballot question qualified yesterday with a 72 percent validity rate. Seventy percent usually is a good estimate, though we have had much cleaner petitions and much worse than that."Education First, which would require the Legislature to pass the school aid budget first, turned in 83,046 signatures.But if the 70 percent threshold holds true in the marijuana case, the 6,000 forgotten ballots might not have made a difference anyway. Those signatures would have put the number at 72,000 names submitted, and 70 percent of that number is 50,400, which would be a few hundred valid signatures short.Rogers declined to comment today on why someone forgot to turn in the additional signatures which currently "are being stored in the law offices of Ross Goodman for safekeeping," Rogers wrote in his letter to Lomax.Lomax said the validation process is under way for the signatures on the marijuana question and four other questions and is expected to be completed sometime next week.Newshawk: Marc Paquette - http://www.medpot.net/forumsSource: Las Vegas Sun (NV)Author:  Ed Koch, Sun Capital Bureau Published: June 24, 2004Copyright: 2004 Las Vegas Sun Inc.Contact: letters lasvegassun.comWebsite: http://www.lasvegassun.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/MJ Initiative Backers Forgot 6,000 Signatures http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19055.shtmlLegalization of Marijuana: Initiative in Jeopardyhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19052.shtmlMarijuana Legalizers Not Giving Up Yethttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19039.shtml
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Comment #3 posted by Hope on June 25, 2004 at 17:30:11 PT
Oh boy
But Ballotta says opinion is too polarized and the debate "too emotional" for that to happen anytime soon.
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Comment #2 posted by Richard Paul Zuckerm on June 25, 2004 at 11:48:48 PT:
OOPS! I FORGOT THE PETITIONS!
Oops! I forgot the petitions! Duh! REMIND ME NEVER TO CONTRIBUTE TO MPP!!!
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on June 24, 2004 at 12:57:40 PT
News Article from Radio Free Europe
EU: In Europe, Trend Is Toward Softer Policies On Drug UseBy Kathleen MooreEurope is famously home to a country with one of the world's most liberal attitudes to drugs -- the Netherlands. But in recent years, other European countries have been softening their drug policies, too. Increasingly, they're moving away from the outright prohibition of drugs and the punishment of drug users. Instead, the focus is now on reducing harm to addicts and treating addiction as an illness, not a crime.Prague, 24 June 2004 (RFE/RL) -- When Jeff Ditchfield opened his so-called "medicinal cannabis center" in Wales last September, the police were waiting at the door, and he was arrested for marijuana possession. But a jury later cleared him of supplying cannabis to help ease the pain of those who are sick with cancer and other illnesses. Ditchfield now says he has a good relationship with local police officers. "They often pop in for a cup of coffee, and we always have a chat when they're walking past. We have a very good relationship. I think they realize there are more important priorities for themselves than a few sick people being helped with cannabis," Ditchfield says. Other programs include "consumption rooms," where addicts can go to inject drugs. And there are even experimental schemes to distribute heroin.Ditchfield appears to be benefiting from what he says is a change in attitude to soft drugs in Britain. Though cannabis is still illegal, police in England and Wales are increasingly taking a softer line on possession and making fewer arrests. That's because the drug was downgraded earlier this year to "Class C' -- judged the least harmful of three categories of drugs. By contrast, heroin is a "Class A" drug and amphetamines are "Class B." It's just the latest example of what experts say is a Europe-wide shift toward more lenient drug policies -- coupled with an increased crackdown on trafficking. Danilo Ballotta is a policy adviser to the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction in Lisbon. "There is a certain trend that we can see in all countries, in both [giving] more attention to harm reduction and having a different approach to drug use. [With] soft drugs, there is an approach to not criminalize the consumption of illicit drugs and to apply administrative sanctions [instead], and [with hard drugs] there is a tendency to...help those who are addicted, and firstly try to minimize the risks that they create to themselves and to the society," Ballotta says. Another recent example is Portugal, which three years ago decriminalized the possession and use of all drugs. Experts say several factors have prompted the rethink in Europe. Chief among them are the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the explosion in recreational drug use -- and the realization it's better to keep both categories of drug user out of jail. Ballotta says, "If you put someone in jail who is heavily addicted or maybe has HIV or other infectious diseases, countries have realized that this is highly ineffective. It doesn't reduce the consumption, because in jail people continue to use drugs, and they are 'bombs' because they can spread their infections. So, the idea that prisons are not the best way -- actually they are one of the worst ways if you want to cure addiction -- [has] changed a bit the attitude of policymakers." So instead of punishment, the focus is increasingly now on reducing harm to addicts and treating addiction as an illness, not a crime. Syringe exchange programs are one common component of such "harm reduction" policies. Another that has become more popular in Europe is substitution treatment, where addicts are given methadone to wean them off heroin. Methadone is a synthetic narcotic drug with milder withdrawal symptoms. Other programs include "consumption rooms," where addicts can go to inject drugs. And there are even experimental schemes to distribute heroin. But such programs are not without controversy -- and Europe is increasingly finding itself at odds with the United Nations drug control agencies. The International Narcotics Control Board warned this year that while harm reduction measures might help individuals, they might have "far-reaching negative consequences" at national and international levels. And it said drug injection rooms violate international drug control conventions and are a source of "grave concern." Brice de Ruyver is an expert on European drug policies at Belgium's Ghent University. He says the UN drug control bodies are to a great extent influenced by the United States, which is strongly prohibitionist. "UN policy and UN agencies dealing with drug issues are under serious pressure of the major donors, and it's clear that there the U.S. plays an important role. Officially, the UN agencies will stay on their prohibition viewpoint, and they will stick at that, and officially they are a little bit blind to certain realities which are going on in the different national states," de Ruyver says. The recent changes in practice, particularly in Europe, have prompted debate about whether there should be reform of the main international conventions on drugs -- the most recent of which is from 1988. But Ballotta says opinion is too polarized and the debate "too emotional" for that to happen anytime soon.http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2004/6/DC13A028-0CD8-40F3-A4C0-1EA33FCF0870.html
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