cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Legalization Group Tries a New Strategy





Marijuana Legalization Group Tries a New Strategy
Posted by CN Staff on September 23, 2004 at 08:09:03 PT
By Tataboline Brant, Anchorage Daily News
Source: Anchorage Daily News 
A group calling itself Yes on 2 has begun campaigning in earnest for a November ballot measure to legalize and regulate marijuana in Alaska and has a strategy different from what voters saw for a similar, unsuccessful initiative in 2000.This time around, organizers are asking less of voters in an attempt to make the measure more appealing in the Nov. 2 election. They also have enlisted a more carefully selected group of spokespeople to help make their pitch, including a biomedical professor, a former high-ranking state corrections officer and a prominent Republican Party official.
The statewide campaign, which includes television and radio spots and a push to get supporters registered to vote by the Oct. 3 deadline, has some opponents worried. "The legalizers have done a good job this time," said former U.S. Attorney Wev Shea, who backed a 1990 initiative to criminalize pot in Alaska and was also a key spokesman against legalization in 2000. "Have you seen the commercials? ... They're really professional."There does not appear to be any organized opposition to Ballot Measure 2, another worry for initiative foes. "I'm very concerned," said Shea, who called on federal and state prosecutors and Alaska politicians to take a strong stand on the issue.Shea said in his years in law enforcement he spoke with several junkies who told him "it all starts with marijuana or alcohol."U.S. Attorney for Alaska Tim Burgess and state Attorney General Greg Renkes both said in interviews Tuesday that laws forbid them from using their positions to tell people how to vote. Both did say, however, that they believe marijuana is dangerous.Gov. Frank Murkowski also by law cannot campaign against Ballot Measure 2. His personal feeling, according to a spokeswoman, is that legalizing marijuana could encourage use and abuse of the drug, which has damaging consequences to children and families."He is absolutely against it," said Murkowski's press secretary, Becky Hultberg.Alaska has gone back and forth on its marijuana laws over the last three decades. Snipped: Complete Article: http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/strategy.htmSource: Anchorage Daily News (AK)Author: Tataboline Brant, Anchorage Daily NewsPublished: September 23, 2004Copyright: 2004 The Anchorage Daily News Contact: letters adn.com Website: http://www.adn.com/ Related Articles & Web Site:Alaska H.E.M.P.http://alaskahemp.org/Court Chooses Privacy Over Pothttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19488.shtmlAlaska Court Narrows Marijuana Search Law http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19406.shtmlAlaskans to Vote on Pot Legalization in '04 http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18067.shtmlAlaska Court: Drug Ban Unconstitutionalhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17184.shtml 
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Comment #6 posted by fearfull on September 24, 2004 at 08:02:51 PT
There is the ol' gateway again...
""Shea said in his years in law enforcement he spoke with several junkies who told him "it all starts with marijuana or alcohol.""For me it all started with breast milk, man watta' rush!! 
Of course that was nearly 50 years ago, I believe I have rehabilitated myself since then.
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on September 23, 2004 at 20:57:26 PT
Related Article from The Associated Press
Supporters Campaign for Marijuana Initiative The Associated Press September 23rd, 2004ANCHORAGE — A November ballot measure to support and regulate marijuana in Alaska is being bolstered by an organized campaign of the initiative's backers.The group, called Yes on 2, has taken a different strategy from that employed in 2000, when a similar initiative was defeated.Organizers are asking less of voters in an attempt to make the measure more appealing, they have enlisted a more carefully selected group of spokespeople and they have launched a statewide campaign of television and radio advertisements.In 2000, proponents wanted the drug to be legal for those 18 and older and also wanted the government free some jail inmates convicted of marijuana crimes and set up a commission to consider reparations for them.Sixty percent of voters turned the initiative down.This year's initiative drops the amnesty and reparations and also increases the legal age of pot use to 21. It also allows for government regulation of marijuana similar to tobacco or alcohol and for laws limiting use in public and to protect public safety, such as forbidding people to drive under the drug's influence.The measure also allows for taxation of marijuana."There's a little more common sense in the approach this time," said Republican Moderate Party founder Ray Metcalfe, who supports the measure.Ken Jacobus, the group's treasurer and a former attorney for the Republican Party of Alaska, said one problem with state law as it stands now is that there is no way for residents — including medical marijuana patients — to legally obtain marijuana. Ballot Measure 2 would take care of that by regulating the drug, he said.There does not appear to be any organized opposition to Ballot Measure 2, which is a concern for foes of the initiative."The legalizers have done a good job this time," said former U.S. Attorney Wev Shea, who backed a 1990 initiative to criminalize pot in Alaska and was also a key spokesman against legalization in 2000. "Have you seen the commercials? ... They're really professional."Shea has called on federal and state prosecutors and Alaska politicians to take a strong stand on the issue. But U.S. Attorney for Alaska Tim Burgess and state Attorney General Greg Renkes both said that laws forbid them from using their positions to tell people how to vote.They did say, however, that they believe marijuana is dangerous.Gov. Frank Murkowski also by law cannot campaign against Ballot Measure 2. His personal feeling, according to a spokeswoman, is that legalizing marijuana could encourage use and abuse of the drug, which has damaging consequences to children and families."He is absolutely against it," said Murkowski's press secretary, Becky Hultberg.Renkes said the notion that making Alaska's drug laws more permissive would somehow help better control marijuana use doesn't ring true."There's no data to prove that," he said.Jennifer de Vallance, a spokeswoman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy, agreed. She said alcohol is regulated and kids still get their hands on it."It doesn't make sense that making this legal would hamper access," she said. "If anything, it sends a mixed message to kids that it's OK."Alaska has gone back and forth on its marijuana laws over the last three decades. In 1975, the landmark case Ravin vs. State made it legal for adult Alaskans to possess a small amount of marijuana in their homes for personal use.In 1990 voters criminalized all amounts of pot, but last year, the Alaska Court of Appeals reversed that, saying privacy rights guaranteed in the Alaska Constitution can't be taken away by voters or legislators. The Alaska Supreme Court earlier this month let that ruling stand by refusing to review the case.Copyright 2004 The Associated Press
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on September 23, 2004 at 10:40:54 PT
News Brief from Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Pot Initiative Backers Kick Off CampaignSeptember 22, 2004A group formed in support of a ballot initiative that would legalize all amounts of marijuana in Alaska has kicked off its campaign. Yes on 2, named after Ballot Measure No. 2, opened its campaign headquarters in Anchorage last week and started hitting the airwaves with its message. "We have ads on TV, we have ads on radio and we have campaigners doing door-to-door in selected areas," said Timothy Hinterberger, one of the organizers of the initiative. Ballot Measure No. 2 would remove all criminal and civil penalties for people 21 or older who "grow, use, sell or give away marijuana or hemp products." It would allow the state or local governments to regulate marijuana like alcohol or tobacco and establish laws that limit marijuana use in public. Hinterberger said the initiative is starting to generate more media interest from Alaska as well as national and international outlets. Fox News broadcast a story on the initiative last month and a reporter from La Presse, a French-language newspaper based in Montreal, is in Anchorage reporting on a story about the marijuana situation in Alaska, he said.--Daniel Ricehttp://www.news-miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113~7244~2418762,00.html
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Comment #3 posted by b4daylight on September 23, 2004 at 09:57:26 PT
WTF?
"Renkes said the notion that making Alaska's drug laws more permissive would somehow help better control marijuana use just doesn't ring true. "There's no data to prove that," he said."That is a connvient sentence to use. How do you get Alaskan data if it is ilegal pal. Second if you are talking in general then Netherlands should suffice for data pal. 
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Comment #2 posted by afterburner on September 23, 2004 at 08:45:03 PT
Safe???
' de Vallance said, "There is no well-funded political movement to keep our society safe." 'I guess he never heard of the ONDCP or the DEA/FDA/HHS/NIDA.
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Comment #1 posted by Sam Adams on September 23, 2004 at 08:30:11 PT
Frightened?
David Finkelstein, treasurer of Alaskans for Marijuana Regulation and Control, said he expected Yes on 2 to spend "hundreds of thousands" of dollars on its campaign.Which is yet another worry for initiative opponents. "That's a frustrating part of the drug legalization movement," de Vallance said. "There is no well-funded political movement to keep our society safe."Look out - the legalizers are coming! We're going to deploy Cat Stevens to turn all your children into gay, granola-munching hippies! And the Alaska is absolutely defenseless, naked to the invasion.  The kids will stop shooting animals, grow dreadlocks, and go snowboarding! It's all over.
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