cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Backers Expect Legalization Initiative Marijuana Backers Expect Legalization Initiative Posted by FoM on December 11, 1999 at 18:40:02 PT The Associated Press Source: Anchorage Daily News Backers of an initiative to legalize marijuana say they have enough signatures to put the measure on the November ballot. "We're working on our insurance signatures right now," said Al Anders, ballot coordinator for the 99HEMP Committee. Anders said 26,000 signatures have been gathered, more than the minimum 22,716 required to put the question on the ballot. Election officials encourage backers of initiatives to gather 1,500 to 2,000 extra signatures because some are usually disqualified because they're not from registered voters. Sponsors of initiatives have until Jan. 10 to turn in their petitions if they hope to place a measure on the November ballot. The marijuana measure would prevent the state from prosecuting people for growing, distributing, possessing or consuming marijuana or other hemp products. It calls for marijuana to be regulated similarly to alcoholic beverages and would allow the Legislature to prohibit people from driving or operating heavy equipment under the influence and from using marijuana in public places. The measure also calls for clearing the criminal records of people prosecuted for marijuana crimes in the past - and for the state to consider making restitution to people convicted of past marijuana crimes. In the 1970s, Alaska's Supreme Court ruled that the state constitution's privacy provisions protected people from prosecution for having small amounts of marijuana in their homes. A 1990 citizens' initiative recriminalized marijuana possession. Last year voters approved a ballot measure that allowed people to grow and use marijuana for limited medical purposes. Anders said the current measure would end the hypocrisy of treating marijuana differently from alcohol. "I think it's absolutely a shame that we're throwing men and women in prison and stealing their children away from them over a plant ... the use of which is at worst foolish, but is far less harmful than almost any other intoxicant that God has put on this earth," Anders said. Michael Rowcroft, a Juneau chemical dependency counselor, said legalizing pot is a bad idea. Marijuana is addictive and impairs thinking, memory and reaction time, Rowcroft said. Before 1990, the rate of adolescent marijuana use in Alaska was double the national average, Rowcroft said. Published: December 11, 1999Copyright © 1999 The Anchorage Daily News Related Article:Battling From The Fringe - 11/26/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3787.shtml END SNIP --> Snipped Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #5 posted by keith on June 11, 2001 at 09:04:25 PT: legalize weed I think marijuana should be legal in all the United States. I feel that it should only be wrong if you do something wrong while your under the influence, something like alcohol and its laws. For instance if your on the drug and you commit a crime or cause an accident your punishment should be more severe. But i dont understand how it hurts anybody if your just sitting around smoking a splif, and not doing anything wrong. We should just punish the people who can't handle the drug. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Dan Hillman on January 12, 2001 at 00:31:39 PT doesn't ring true, Dave... > I have done studys relating to youth suicide and depression, and have found that pot is a bad influenceGosh, Dave, you sound so concerned. Now, is it not true that other studies (not conducted by you, alas) have shown that gay teens commit suicide at much greater rates than their straight counterparts, mostly because of the social sanction (especially among teens) against homosexuality? I assume, of course, that you are active in the "gay teen coming out" movement, since you've studied the issue of teen suicide so carefully and seem to want to help young people.To be honest, Dave, when I look back on my teen years and consider the idea of the "stoners" committing suicide because of pot, it just doesn't ring true. Pot was what was keeping them *alive*, as I recall. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by observer on January 12, 2001 at 00:17:36 PT Cannabis Is I have worked extensively with youth in the area I am from, Right: appeal to authority...http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/appeal-to-authority.html and for anyone to tell me that it isnot harmful is full of rubbush. Oh, now there's an old straw man for you.``Is marijuana really harmless, like everyone has been saying?``This is an example of what logic texts call a "strawman" argument, an easily knocked down target that its opponents have set up to make it appear that they are defeating their enemy. We frequently hear prohibitionist propagandists . . .'' continues at http://www.marijuananews.com/marijuananews/cowan/is_marijuana_really_harmless.htm I watched as youths I knew well, began to dabble at the start of their teens and then I watched the downward slide that was attributed to smoking pot and now I see them, their future seems to be in the same field ten years later, with no real hope for the future, and no motivation to do anything about it. It was not one or two, but large groups. I have done studys relating to youth suicide and depression, and have found that pot is a bad influence and it is a substance that does lead to harder drugs. seeMarijuana's Gateway Mythhttp://www.drcnet.org/pubs/guide/06-95/gateway.htmlHistory of the Marijuana Gateway Mythhttp://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/media/schaffer1.htmA Conversation About the Gateway Mythhttp://www.tfy.drugsense.org/conv.htmetc.Oh yes, the prohibitionists' perennial "Gateway Theory" (aka "Domino Theory" aka "Stepping-Stone Theory", the wholly specious (but nice sounding) idea that using marijuana (or whatever drug the prohibitionist needs to demonize at the time) will inevitably "lead to" other, harder drugs.See:Themes in Chemical Prohibition, [NIDA, 1979]``THE PROHIBITIONIST THEMES ...``4. The concept of "controlled" usage is destroyed and replaced by a "domino theory" of chemical progression.''``5. The drug is associated with the corruption of young children...''http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/ticp.htmlIt's a classic technique. As someone who "worked extensively with youth" etc, I'm sure you do see lots of people with problems. What that has to do with jailing adults who responsibly use cannabis, I don't know. Many Americans want to see returned to them the same freedoms over their own bodies that all Americans once shared (in this case, before 1937). Why dont you pull your head out of the sand and look carefully, i emphasis e care for others, not your own selfish motives. I don't think that the people calling for a return to traditional American freedoms and liberties for adults, are the one with their heads in sand. We're trying to get the laws changed that throw adults in jail for using cannabis. That's far greater care then being hell-bent on putting adults in jail for using cannabis, wouldn't you think? I have seen and it is my personal experience i speak from, not someones study, or a chart somewhere. I see real people, real lives every day, not just numbers and stats. read some stories about what happens to people put in jail for no other "crime" but using marijuana:Stop Prison Rape http://www.spr.org Drug Reform Coordination Network [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Dave Rowcroft on January 11, 2001 at 23:58:50 PT: Marijuana is not I have worked extensively with youth in the area I am from, and for anyone to tell me that it isnot harmful is full of rubbush. I watched as youths I knew well, began to dabble at the start of their teens and then I watched the downward slide that was attributed to smoking pot and now I see them, their future seems to be in the same field ten years later, with no real hope for the future, and no motivation to do anything about it. It was not one or two, but large groups. I have done studys relating to youth suicide and depression, and have found that pot is a bad influence and it is a substance that does lead to harder drugs. Why dont you pull your head out of the sand and look carefully, i emphasis e care for others, not your own selfish motives. I have seen and it is my personal experience i speak from, not someones study, or a chart somewhere. I see real people, real lives every day, not just numbers and stats. Thanks Dave [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by R. Gutierrez on December 13, 1999 at 22:55:20 PT: Mr. Rowcroft is misinformed Mr. Rowcroft is apperantly misinformed or just plain ignorant as to the actual addictivness and cognitive effects of marijuana.There have been numerous studies,both in the u.s. and internationally,that are in direct conflict with the statements quoted in this article.It is interesting though that someone in the "rehab" industry does not have current scientific information.The IOM report comissioned by our scatted brained "drug czar" Barry McCaffrey,also indicated that there is no conclusive proof that marijuana leads to the use of harder drugs.It's time we as americans ended this tragic failure called the war on drugs.Freedom has nothing to fear from the truth. read IOM report and other studies not in the media [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: