cannabisnews.com: Voters Will Decide on Marijuana 





Voters Will Decide on Marijuana 
Posted by FoM on September 22, 1999 at 06:56:15 PT
By Peter Blake
Source: Rocky Mountain News
The medical marijuana initiative that was kicked off the Colorado ballot last fall will be on it next year -- and supporters won't even have to gather new signatures.
A new petition count has revealed that the late Secretary of State Victoria Buckley made a mistake when she kept the initiative off the ballot for lack of signatures.As a result, voters will decide in November 2000 whether terminally ill people should be allowed to relieve their pain by smoking a marijuana, said Donetta Davidson, who succeeded Buckley in July.Davidson on Tuesday said her staff reviewed the signature count and found that more than 2,500 had been improperly disqualified by Buckley's staff.She said the initiative had 253 more signatures than the 54,242 needed to make the November 1998 election ballot.Some of the signatures included in Davidson's new count were on 66 petitions found in Buckley's office after she died of heart failure July 14."I feel very good," said Martin Chilcutt, a retired psychologist and community volunteer who led the effort to put the initiative on the ballot.The proposal would allow physicians to authorize the use of marijuana by patients suffering from cancer and other painful diseases.The initiative was in and out of state courts during the summer and fall of 1998 as Chilcutt and his supporters struggled to demonstrate that their petitions contained enough valid voter signatures to qualify for the ballot.The item was eventually put on the ballot over Buckley's objections, and Coloradans voted on it.But the state Supreme Court overruled that decision, and the votes were never counted.Davidson said she was told the week she took office that a recount was under way and that the marijuana initiative would qualify for the ballot.Chilcutt said Buckley admitted before she died that she'd erred and that the proposal did in fact have enough signatures to make the ballot.Davidson said she personally counted the signatures on the 66 petitions found in Buckley's office.She said she assumes the petitions were in Buckley's office because Buckley was helping to count them at the time of her death."The only thing I can say is, she was helping in checking those," Davidson said.Some of the problems can be traced to the use of temporary workers to check signatures, Davidson said."There's a human error factor in checking petitions," she said. "You're working with temps, and she (Buckley) had a short time to work them, so I would say human error was what accounted for the mistakes."The number of signatures was close to the minimum needed to appear on the ballot, she said.Chilcutt declined to speculate on why Buckley got the count wrong or why 66 petitions were in her office."Bless her heart, she's not here," he said.Sam Riddle, who was Buckley's spokesman, said problems occurred because "the secretary of state is allocated far fewer people than they need to count signatures," many of which come in at the last minute.Riddle said he thinks the 66 petitions were in Buckley's office because she was counting them.September 22, 1999 © Copyright, Denver Publishing Co.Coloradans For Medical Rightshttp://www.medicalmarijuana.com/
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Comment #3 posted by Thomas on September 22, 1999 at 07:21:05 PT
Buckley
I guess when I see pigs flying, I will accept the explanation of Buckley's "error." Democracy doesn't mean the same thing to everyone.
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on September 22, 1999 at 07:17:50 PT:
Medical-Pot Bill Back on Ballot
By Mike SoraghanDenver Post Capitol Bureauhttp://www.denverpost.com/Sept. 22 - Voters in 2000 will be asked again whether they think the medicinal use of marijuana should be legalized. Only this time, their votes will count.Secretary of State Donetta Davidson has found that organizers of a petition drive did obtain enough signatures last year for the measure to be put on the ballot."We're extremely pleased people suffering from glaucoma, cancer, AIDS and other illnesses will finally have an additional treatment option,'' said Luther Symons, spokesman for organizers of the drive, Coloradans for Medical Rights. "We're extremely confident that voters will pass this measure in November 2000.''Former Secretary of State Vikki Buckley, who died in July, had blocked the measure in 1998. She said the proponents, Coloradans for Medical Rights, had not gathered the required 54,242 signatures.Because the legal wrangling lasted into the final days before the election, the "medicinal marijuana'' question was printed on last November's ballot, but the results were not tallied.Since then, however, the group went back through the pile of signatures that Buckley threw out. Symons said they found that workers, when entering names and addresses had made errors, such as dropping the direction in a street name, such as South Broadway or East Colfax.The Secretary of State's office and organizers of the petition drive now agree that organizers garnered 253 more signatures than were actually needed to get the measure on the ballot.The remedy is to put it on the 2000 ballot, said Maurice Knaizer of the Colorado Attorney General's office. Knaizer - who represents the Secretary of State's office - said, "It will be on the ballot in 2000.''The maneuver is not without precedent. A measure to bring casino gambling to Trinidad was ruled out in 1994 and put back on the ballot in 1996.Both sides have agreed to a proposed order putting the measure back on the ballot but have been waiting for a final order from Denver District Court.Symons said the group's exit polling in the 1998 election showed 58 percent supported the measure.Copyright 1999 The Denver Post
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Comment #1 posted by Thomas on September 22, 1999 at 07:17:19 PT
Buckley
Oh, bless her heart. She was just trying to help.
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