cannabisnews.com: Initiative To Make Pot Legal May Be Doomed





Initiative To Make Pot Legal May Be Doomed
Posted by CN Staff on July 09, 2004 at 12:01:34 PT
By Ed Koch and Beth Slovic, Las Vegas Sun
Source: Las Vegas Sun 
The marijuana initiative will fall short in Humboldt County, officials there said today.If that holds true, the initiative that would allow voters to decide on Nov. 2 whether adults should be legally able to possess up to one ounce of pot will not make the November ballot unless the Secretary of State's office orders that every signature in Clark and Humboldt counties be checked, officials said.
With the initiative failing in Clark County, Douglas and Eureka County on Wednesday and the petition not being filed in Esmeralda County, the best the initiative can now do is qualify in 12 counties -- one shy of what is needed.Also, the White Pine County Sheriff's office today confirmed it is investigating irregularities in marijuana initiative signatures in that county.Detective Mike Stoke said no arrests have been made and that people were to be interviewed today in that probe. An employee in the White Pine County Clerk's office in Ely said some petitions were turned over to authorities when the names of dead people appeared on them as well as names of people who said they did not sign the petition.Humboldt County Clerk Tami Rae Spero, who serves as the registrar of voters, said a random sampling check found just 298 signatures valid out of 707 submitted. At that rate, the petition would be 139 signatures short."The number of blank lines (on the petitions) were unbelievable and there were just a lot of signatures of people who were not registered to vote and a number of duplicate signatures," Spero said.But Billy Rogers, head of the Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana and a member of the Washington D.C.- based Marijuana Project, said, "The count in Humboldt is just crazy. By our verification we had 488 valid signatures. Humboldt's count is completely off the wall."Rogers also said it is not the policy of the committee to collect phony signatures and that if something improper was done in White Pine the circulator of the petition would be ultimately responsible.The marijuana initiative still has one last gasp -- a chance that when the number of valid signatures from all 17 counties comes in to the Secretary of State by today's 5 p.m. deadline they will total at least 90 percent of 51,337 valid signatures needed (46,203) statewide to qualify for a total signature check.The committee submitted 66,135 signatures statewide. With 26,730 validated signatures in Clark County and 14,116 validated names in Washoe County, the committee has 40,846.Rogers said he believes there are enough valid signatures statewide to order the check of every signature in Clark and Humboldt counties, which would have to be conducted within 12 days.Under state law, election departments are required to initially check the larger of 5 percent or 500 signatures. This would mean that Clark County would have to check 35,400 signatures."If we are told to do so we will, but we already are working nights and weekends to keep up with the 5,000 voter registration applications we are processing each week," said Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax.Nine counties were to submit their signature verifications for the marijuana initiative to the Secretary of State's office today, and some of them said that the measure should qualify in those counties, though the numbers of unregistered voters signing the petition were high.Churchill County Clerk Gloria Venturacci said this morning the count was not completed, but that it appeared as though the initiative would have enough valid signatures, which is 742. She said there were no irregularities.Nye County Clerk Sandra "Sam" Merlino said her count also was not yet completed early today, but that it appeared as though the petition would have at least the required 1,098 valid signatures even though 296 of the 2,098 names submitted were not registered to vote -- one of the highest of any petition submitted. She too said none were irregular to warrant submission to authorities for investigation.Lander County Clerk Gladys Burris said on one of the petitions a husband had signed his wife's name and had indicated that he had done so.Dan Burk, Washoe County's Registrar of Voters, said his office examined 5 percent and found that 132 were not valid. The number of valid signatures represented 132 percent of what was needed.Note: Humboldt County officials report signature shortageSource: Las Vegas Sun (NV)Author:  Ed Koch and Beth Slovic, Las Vegas SunPublished: July 09, 2004Copyright: 2004 Las Vegas Sun Inc.Contact: letters lasvegassun.comWebsite: http://www.lasvegassun.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/Judge Asked To OK Late Pot Petitionshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19064.shtmlHearing on Missing Marijuana Petition Signatures http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19062.shtmlMJ Initiative Backers Forgot 6,000 Signatures http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19055.shtmlLegalization of Marijuana: Initiative in Jeopardyhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19052.shtml
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on July 09, 2004 at 14:51:25 PT
Editorial from Arkansas News Bureau
The Points for Making It Legal Friday, July 9, 2004 By Jack MoseleyThe fellow reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a marijuana cigarette. Lighting it, he said matter-of-factly, "Would you like a joint?"I declined. Not from fear I might be turned instantly into an incurable addict. Not because I feared being tempted to try harder drugs. Not even out of any kind of moral superiority. The only pot I ever inhaled gave me a headache. My wife and I used to go to Sunday movie matinees and sit in the balcony, where we could smoke good ole, legal, health-destroying American tobacco. It was impossible, however, not to inhale the second-hand pot fumes from those around us imbibing in something I always had been told would totally destroy my life.I've more than mellowed on the marijuana issue, however. In fact, I really don't see why Arkansas doesn't go all the way and legalize pot after putting a heavy tax on it, just like we've done with booze and cigarettes. It's pretty obvious we're not going to stop people from puffing the stuff.As for ruining lives, I'm increasingly convinced state and federal governments have ruined the lives of people who smoke marijuana far more than the substance itself.Before you start jumping up and down and organizing protest rallies, I'm not saying that pot cannot be abused. Obviously, it can impair your ability to control a motor vehicle or operate machinery or perform any number of other human endeavors, much the same as whiskey or beer can. In heavy and prolonged use, I guess it can destroy brain cells.I'm not suggesting we legalize the consequences of puffing on this weed, just decriminalize the weed itself. I continue to read and be told that in moderation marijuana inflicts less bodily injury to the occasional user than tobacco.We should not encourage our children to consume alcohol, tobacco, pot or any other potentially harmful substance. In today's society, however, young people too often see parents and other adults doing all of the above. For millions of Americans, it is pure hypocrisy for countless moms and dads to tell their children not to do things the kids are apt to catch their elders actually doing.Legalizing marijuana would restore a degree of honesty to our often less-than-truthful culture. Every possible incentive, including laws like those forbidding the sale of tobacco and alcohol to minors, should be retained and strictly enforced.I believe the American people once again are far ahead of their elected representatives on the marijuana legalization issue. Canada, which already allows legal marijuana consumption for the control of chronic pain in people with cancer and other illnesses, this fall will launch an experiment in which any adult will be allowed to purchase small amounts of pot over the counter at the corner pharmacy without a prescription.The least America can do is observe this experiment and see how it either works or fails. In Canada, the only problem I see is that the government seems a bit greedy in charging $110 per ounce for the stuff. Canadian patients using government pot have criticized the quality - not the price - of the weed, however. Some have said the illegal variety does them more "good" than the legal stuff.By contrast, it remains against federal law to possess any amount of marijuana for any purpose anywhere in the United States. Penalties for a first offense marijuana violation range from probation to long prison sentences. Eleven states have decriminalized marijuana, but most retain harsh laws against the drug. In Louisiana, you can get 20 years for selling 1 ounce. In Washington, selling even one joint brings a recommended sentence of five years. According to The New York Times, about 700,000 people get arrested for violating marijuana laws in this country each year. Most get charged with simple possession and are convicted of misdemeanors. Those nonfelony arrests, however, frequently carry jail time that costs people their jobs or suspensions of drivers' licenses.In some states, possession of as little as 1 ounce is a felony. Some states make a marijuana arrest grounds for denial of food stamps or other federal welfare programs, while allowing convicted murderers and rapists to continuing receiving such benefits.Meanwhile, state and federal governments will spend hundreds of millions of our tax dollars this year to arrest and confine people for smoking pot.I don't think I'm standing up for potheads. What I'm saying is this: Aren't there better uses for that money, like going after those who traffic in hard drugs that do far more documented harm? Ronald Reagan declared war on marijuana in 1982; we've been losing that war ever since. Isn't it time to try a new approach?I believe it is, but you won't see political candidates with the courage to take on such a controversial idea in this election year. For politicians, it's far easier for them to stick with the status quo and the lives it frequently ruins than to consider alternatives that just might save some money and make our justice system a bit more fair.Fairness flies out the window when it comes to marijuana law enforcement. Punishment depends strictly on where you get busted, and that's just flat wrong.Life, luck and -30-.Jack Moseley writes for the Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock.Copyright: Arkansas News Bureau, 2003 - 2004 http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2004/07/09/JackMoseley/253585.html
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Comment #1 posted by shrox on July 09, 2004 at 12:40:38 PT
Petition signatures
I can understand the problems with the signatures, many times people don't seem to understand they must be registered voters to legally sign a petition and have their signiature counted. The person with the petition as a great responciblitiy to ensure the signatures are valid.shrox
http://www.shrox.com/spiceflow.html
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