cannabisnews.com: Grass Roots Campaign





Grass Roots Campaign
Posted by FoM on September 29, 1999 at 16:16:53 PT
By John Gregg
Source: Metro West News
Last Saturday, 40,000 sun-splashed celebrants rallied near the Statehouse to support the decriminalization of marijuana, making Boston Common look like the parking lot outside a Grateful Dead concert. 
The next day, straitlaced presidential candidate Bill Bradley -- a former Rhodes Scholar and United States Senator -- acknowledged on an ABC news program that he had smoked marijuana years ago, then asked his interrogators if they had, too. Sam Donaldson said yes. The Bradley interview made some news, in part because he turned the tables on the press, but did no damage to his presidential campaign. Millions of American voters who have tried marijuana were not about to judge him harshly. And taken together, the events last weekend point to a tougher question many Massachusetts residents may have to ponder soon in the privacy of a voting booth. Given their past experience sharing a joint, but also given their hopes and fears for their own children, would they vote to decriminalize marijuana? The question is not theoretical. A group called the Committee to Reform Marijuana Laws is sponsoring an initiative petition that would make possession of marijuana a civil violation, akin to a $200 speeding ticket, as opposed to a criminal misdemeanor that subjects pot users to arrest and prosecution. Supporters of the proposal, which could be on the 2000 ballot, argue that the public is ready to make the change, since many voters have enjoyed a benign, albeit illegal, experience with marijuana. "Too many people are being arrested on simple possession charges," said Steven Epstein, a North Shore lawyer and spokesman for the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition. "I think the general populace if they read the summary and get a good understanding of what it is about will definitely favor this initiative." "They lived through it and they are all here to say, `yeah, we survived,'" added Framingham resident James Pillsbury, a spokesman for the MetroWest chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and one of the first ten signees of the petition. And a top Democratic political consultant, who is not involved in the decriminalization campaign, said he thinks earlier action to allow some medical uses of marijuana in Massachusetts signal that a major shift in voters' attitudes has already taken place. "What that says to me is the public is making quantum leaps on the decriminalization of marijuana," said consultant Michael Goldman. "What's really happening is as the older voters dissipate as a voting block, it's more likely that marijuana will become legal." Making it to the ballot The language of the initiative petition crossed one hurdle this summer when it was cleared by the state attorney general's office. The measure would prohibit police from arresting adults for possession of marijuana, but would empower authorities to issue fines of between $50 and $200. Anyone under the age of 18 caught with marijuana would be held until released to their parents or guardian, and a fine would also apply. Anyone who knowingly sold marijuana to a minor would be subject to up to a 2 1/2-year jail sentence and $5,000 fine under the proposed law. But to make it onto the ballot, the question's backers face a daunting challenge. Following strict guidelines, their grassroots campaign will have to collect 57,100 signatures from registered voters by mid-November. "That is a monumental task," Epstein acknowledged, though the campaign may have gotten a jumpstart at last weekend's rally. Epstein said 1,500 copies of the petition were circulated, meaning organizers may have collected more than 10,000 "raw" signatures. However, many signatures will have to be weeded out if they came from supporters who are not registered voters in Massachusetts. Many people at the rally, for example, were college students who tend to be from out-of-state or are not registered to vote. While Epstein said up to 2,000 volunteers can be called upon to collect signatures around the state, some opponents said they doubted the campaign would muster enough written support to make it to the ballot. "I think people will be reluctant to put their name on the petition," said state Sen. Cheryl Jacques, D-Needham. "I think it's hard for people to put their names on a piece of paper to legalize marijuana and then go home and tell their children not to use drugs." Several other initiatives in the past, including proposals to cut taxes or abolish tolls on the Massachusetts Turnpike, have also failed in initial attempts to qualify for the ballot because of the difficult task of collecting enough certified signatures. But Goldman thinks enough signatures can be collected, especially if supporters spruce up their appearance, just as college students going door-to-door for Sen. Eugene McCarthy's 1968 presidential bid cut their hair in a "Clean for Gene" campaign. "You've got to have kids without nose rings doing these things," Goldman said of the signature drive. Who's for it? Another problem facing the decriminalization campaign is the fact that few public figures are likely to speak out in favor of the measure. While billionaire currency trader George Soros backed a successful 1996 campaign to allow medical use of marijuana in California, the current Massachusetts proposal has no such sugar daddy. Meanwhile, many police, prosecutors, and legislators are likely to speak out against wholesale decriminalization. Bob Weiner, a spokesman for the White House's Office of National Drug Policy, said marijuana was still illegal under federal law and recited a litany of social ills that opponents attribute to smoking pot. "The fact of the matter is marijuana is a drug which increases car crashes, expands dropouts from work and school, stops workplace productivity, and is dangerous to health," said Weiner, who works for national "drug czar" Barry McCaffrey. Proponents of decriminalization dismiss such statements as overheated propaganda. And McCaffrey's office also opposes any medicinal use of marijuana pending further clinical studies, suggesting a more hardline attitude than exists in a socially progressive state like Massachusetts. While Epstein said chronic long-term marijuana use can lead to chronic bronchitis, in 14 years as a lawyer, he said he has only represented one defendant accused of driving while impaired by marijuana. "People tell me `when we hang around and just drink we're likely to drive about, but when we're smoking marijuana, we don't want to go anywhere. We'll just call Domino's,"' Epstein said. And Pillsbury, 46, said he rarely meets people whose lives have been harmed by marijuana use. "I'm celebrating my 31st year of consuming cannabis. As far as I'm concerned there are no detrimental effects," Pillsbury said. "The hundreds of thousands of people who are consuming cannabis are not dropping dead each year." Is pot a `gateway' drug? Debate also rages over whether marijuana should be considered a " gateway" drug, the first step toward dangerous narcotics such as cocaine and heroin. Epstein and Pillsbury say such arguments are one of many "myths" opponents use to demonize marijuana, and point to medical studies that assert there is no gateway effect. But Jacques, a former assistant district attorney and assistant attorney general, said she observed many criminal drug cases where marijuana was the first step to other problems. "I know it's a slippery slope in the sense that it can be a gateway drug in that people may use marijuana, and may start dealing it and other drugs, and also may start committing petty thefts and burglary to support their habit," she said. And Sturbridge state Rep. Reed Hillman, the former commander of the Massachusetts State Police, said that marijuana users were more likely to ingest other illegal chemicals. "In and of itself, I think a (criminal) fine is probably appropriate for a first-time possession charge. In the greater scheme of things it's not as bad as driving while being drunk, but I...think without question it is a gateway drug," Hillman said. Who goes to jail? Both sides agree that few people ever go to jail in Massachusetts for a first-time marijuana possession charge. In fact, to avoid court and prison backlogs, most cases are normally continued without a finding, meaning even the arrest record disappears after a brief probation period. "I have never seen anyone go to jail for marijuana use," Jacques said. "Most people don't even have a criminal record from it." But Epstein says that fact backs the argument that a tremendous amount of police resources are being wasted pursuing marijuana users for little reason, instead of imposing a quick civil fine. "Instead of police officers spending an hour, or two hours, booking a person, he can be back on the streets in a matter of minutes," Epstein said. "That's important for public safety." Hillman said the current system was "kind of a joke" because valuable police time resulted in little or no sanction against marijuana users. He said he favored tougher criminal, as opposed to civil, fines, and more use of measures to take away driver's licenses from people convicted of marijuana possession. "You're caught, you walk. For a young person, that would be a real deterrent," Hillman said. Marijuana as medicine Criminal or not, more and more people in Massachusetts appear comfortable with measures to allow medicinal uses of marijuana for certain diseases. State law allows marijuana to be used to alleviate problems stemming from glaucoma, asthma, and the treatment of nausea from chemotherapy, and was even backed by then-Gov. William Weld, a former federal prosecutor who said he had never smoked marijuana himself. But because the federal government has blocked the state from obtaining any legal source for the controlled substance, the law has had little practical effect to date in Massachusetts. Framingham Rep. John Stefanini, who is pushing to include AIDS patients in the provision, took a nuanced approach to further decriminalization, saying lesser sanctions may be in order while more attention was devoted to cracking down on drug traffickers. "I think politically and socially (marijuana) is more acceptable because there are more people who know people who have used it or have themselves tried marijuana," Stefanini said. "That being said, it doesn't diminish the need for us to have order and structure. That's why by separating between use and trafficking, you'll see greater support for that." Baby boomer parents struggle Given government studies that show nearly 70 million American have used marijuana -- about 33 percent of all adults -- parents may have to struggle with how to reconcile their past experience and present-day values. Henry Tischler, a professor of sociology at Framingham State College, said baby boomers are "more discriminating" about not lumping marijuana with other drugs like cocaine and heroin. "They do realize that there are very dangerous drugs out there," Tischler said, "(but) they are less likely to make blanket statements that all drugs were bad." At the same time, Tischler also said he was uncertain how he would vote if faced with the decriminalization proposal. "If I were to walk into the ballot booth, I would probably stop. I wouldn't have an automatic answer as to how I would vote," he said. "I'd have to give it some thought." Goldman, the political consultant, said "the public is way ahead of where the politicians are on this issue" and predicted the measure will ultimately succeed, though it may take a couple of tries. He noted that ballot questions such as the recycling "bottle bill" and the state's seat belt law also took a few attempts before winning passage. And Pillsbury and other backers say they believe more people will embrace their cause if the issue receives a full airing. "I think whether we win or lose this particular time around, it does bring the debate to the forefront," Pillsbury said. "I think any of us could only ask to intelligently debate this subject." September 26, 1999Copyright © 1995-1999 Community Newspaper Company
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Comment #2 posted by Thomas on September 30, 1999 at 08:51:27 PT
McCaffrey The Liar!!
The long awaited IOM report commissioned by McCaffrey's office was supposed to be the definitive report on which the ONDCP would evaluate thier policy . . . . that is until it was released and it did not say what McCaffrey wanted it to say. Now medical cannabis is still on hold until more scientific studies (studies that come to the "right" conclusion) are completed. Could our leaders motives be any more transparent? It is truely disgusting.
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on September 29, 1999 at 16:22:53 PT:
Related Web Sites & Articles
NORML's Web Sitehttp://www.norml.org/MassCann's Web Sitehttp://www.masscann.org/Marijuana Rally Has a Goal This Year - 9/17/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread2924.shtml 
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