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| Group Seeking Ballot Issue To Legalize Possession |
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Posted by FoM on July 04, 2001 at 12:58:25 PT By Doug Caruso, Dispatch City Hall Reporter Source: Columbus Dispatch 
A group seeking an end to criminal penalties for the possession of up to 7 ounces of marijuana yesterday presented the Columbus city clerk with a 2-foot stack of petitions. For a Better Ohio President Kenneth Schweickart said his group had gathered 10,179 signatures from people who want to put the issue on the November ballot."That's after we weeded out the bad ones,'' he said. A receptionist in the clerk's office laughed out loud, and Schweickart turned up a sheepish grin as he realized his unintentional pun. It was a light moment, but Schweickart and his group take decriminalizing the possession of misdemeanor amounts of marijuana seriously. If at least 7,213 signatures -- 5 percent of city voters who cast ballots in the last general election -- hold up to the scrutiny of the Franklin County Board of Elections and pass legal muster with City Attorney Janet E. Jackson's office, Columbus voters will get their say in November. College students, Schweickart said, shouldn't lose financial aid if they are arrested for marijuana; nor should people who use marijuana to alleviate medical problems face arrest. And adults who smoke a joint at home after work instead of drinking a martini shouldn't fear a knock at their door, he said. "It is more safe than alcohol or nicotine or even aspirin,'' Schweickart said. He is careful to point out that For a Better Ohio doesn't want to legalize marijuana. People who sell the drug still would face arrest, those who possess more than 7 ounces -- enough to roll about 200 joints -- could face felony prosecution, and people younger than 18 also would face arrest for misdemeanor amounts. If the issue makes the ballot, Schweickart likely will spend a lot of time debating those points with people such as Paul H. Coleman, president of Maryhaven, Columbus' oldest alcohol- and drug-treatment center. This measure is a half-step toward For a Better Ohio's real goal, Coleman said. "They want to make marijuana legal,'' Coleman said yesterday. "Should the matter be certified for the ballot, I think the debate and the discussion about that will be healthy. Voters will reject it, and they will reject it for good reasons.'' All drugs are dangerous, whether they kill on the first dose or cause problems over a long period of time, Coleman said. Maryhaven already sees enough problems with marijuana under the current laws, he said. "I don't want to get into a debate on the relative evils of the cornucopia of drugs that are available in our society.'' But, he said, marijuana is not as harmless as Schweickart says. In a 1999 study of emergency- room admissions by the Drug Abuse Warning Network, marijuana accounted for more admissions than heroin, Coleman said. Pot was third on the list, behind alcohol and cocaine. The study, Coleman said, did not weight emergency-room visits by the actual threat to the patient's life. "In these cases,'' he said, "the patient himself or herself thinks they need to go to the emergency room.'' Schweickart, however, said that marijuana is not only safe, "It has great therapeutic uses. There's a lot of people that already see it our way.'' Complete Title: Group Seeking Ballot Issue To Legalize Possession of Pot Source: Columbus Dispatch (OH) Related Articles & Web Site: For a Better Ohio Marijuana Issue May Go On Ballot The Campaign To Decriminalize Pot Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #6 posted by Lehder on July 07, 2001 at 07:16:21 PT |
| There’s another factor, too. Prison construction is a state industry, and by now it’s a fairly substantial stimulus to the economy. It’s not on the scale of the Pentagon, but it’s growing. For some years now it’s been growing enough that the big financial institutions like Merrill Lynch are interested in floating bonds for prison construction, and even high-tech industries are interested. High-tech industry has for some years been turning to the idea of administering prisons with high-tech equipment, meaning supercomputers and (maybe some day)implanted electrodes and so on. I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if we find that prison incarceration levels off and that more people are imprisoned in their homes. Because if you think about the capacity of the new technology, it’s probably within reach to have surveillance devices which will control people wherever they are. http://www.lol.shareworld.com/zmag/articles/mar97barchom.htm [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #5 posted by jorma nash on July 05, 2001 at 17:08:27 PT |
"I don't want to get into a debate on the relative evils of the cornucopia of drugs that are available in our society.'' since neither you nor anyone else can defend your bigotry in a debate, i suppose you'll pass on that debate sooner or later, one of these initiatives will pass, [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #4 posted by Floyd on July 05, 2001 at 15:36:55 PT |
| The thing that really gets me is that according to him pot was the third greatest drug cause of people in the emergancy room. First of all, the toxicity level of pot has been estimated at a larger concentration than it is physically possible for a human to willingly consume under their own power. Secondly I cant get over the fact that he never even flinched at admitting it came 3rd to cocaine, an evil drug by most peoples standards, and ALCOHOL, a federally sold and taxed drug, and it CAN KILL EASILY! When will people wake up and stop being so ignorant...... (that means you Mr. Coleman, and your like) [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #3 posted by SirReal on July 04, 2001 at 17:55:43 PT:
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| Seems to me that 'ol Cole baby's got one of them that vested interests in saying that pot is evil. A conservative estimate of all the traffic through his "outreach", "halfway house", "place of coerced assistence" or whatever it is, is over half mandated by the courts. Look into who owns the rehab centers in your town. Two judges in my town own two rehab centers and then sentence people to them...of course paying for the services.....what a scam [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #2 posted by greenfox on July 04, 2001 at 17:03:30 PT |
| In a 1999 study of emergency- room admissions by the Drug Abuse Warning Network, marijuana accounted for more admissions than heroin, Coleman said. Pot was third on the list, behind alcohol and cocaine. blep blep blep a) Coleman is bitter because he doesn't get laid blep blep blep b) alcohol mentioned; alcohol legal. blep blep blep c) alcohol is microbacterial shit; marijuana is carbon-based, RNA-containing, living plant matter blep blep blep d) old saying: garbage in, garbage out. Coleman gets not the slit-ith he seeks, (because he is old and shriveled,) therefore Coleman turns to legal intoxicant to relieve inept sorrows regarding size and other personal-such issues, and therefore we are left to hear his output. (garbage in, garbage out). blep blep blep e) emergency room visits divulge personal information such as toxins in the body; marijuana is retained the LONGEST out of most common narcotics; raped fourth amendment rights allow the misuse of the human excrements, (primarily urine,) to disallow the subject of their freedom via an unrelated visit to the er. Therefore, the primary reason for the er trip is *seldom (*paranoid first time reactions) or never marijuana alone. blep blep blep f) I love amerika. I love catholic school. I love the moral majority. I love big brother. blep blep blep.. sly... blep blepblepblep... in green.....blep..blepblep -greenf0x... ..blep
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| Comment #1 posted by aocp on July 04, 2001 at 14:51:18 PT |
| All drugs are dangerous, whether they kill on the first dose or cause problems over a long period of time, Coleman said. Please note that this does not mean whatsoever that Maryhaven already sees enough problems with I bet. Nevertheless, Maryhaven has never had an [ Post Comment ] |
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