cannabisnews.com: Campaign To Legalize Medical ‘Pot’ Not Over





Campaign To Legalize Medical ‘Pot’ Not Over
Posted by CN Staff on July 13, 2004 at 12:16:41 PT
By Laura Kellams
Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 
Arkansans who’ve been campaigning for years to legalize marijuana as medicine say they’ll continue their attempt to put the question before voters, with or without the financial backing of an Ohio billionaire. The national organization supporting the Arkansas Alliance for Medical Marijuana announced last week that it’s pulling out of the state effort, citing the slim chances that a proposed initiative would qualify for the ballot.
But state supporters, dismayed by a costly campaign that may have produced fewer petition signatures than needed, announced Monday they’ll pick up where the national campaign left off. "We can’t stop now. This is farther than we’ve ever been before," said Denele Campbell of West Fork, treasurer for the alliance. The alliance turned in about 67,000 signatures on July 2 to get the proposed law on the Nov. 2 ballot. With at least 64,456 signatures of registered voters needed to qualify, national organizers said it seemed unlikely that enough valid signatures would be identified in the batch already submitted. So Campbell said the alliance will use the time remaining — at least a month — to try to come up with 20,000 or 30,000 more signatures to replace any that may be deemed invalid. She said she remains convinced that, if given the chance, voters would approve the initiative that would legalize marijuana use for people with "debilitating medical conditions." Arkansas supporters who’ve worked on similar campaigns for years said they don’t understand how a paid contractor apparently failed to come up with enough signatures after being paid $186,000 to canvass the state. With money supplied by Peter B. Lewis of Cleveland, an Ohio insurance tycoon, the alliance paid The Southwest Group of Las Vegas to gather the signatures. "I feel ripped off," said Reed Martin of Conway, a cancer survivor who said marijuana use helped him slow weight loss during chemotherapy. "I’d like to know what they did with all that money." A spokesman for Southwest Group referred questions about the Arkansas contract to the Marijuana Policy Project, the Washington-based lobby group helping to steer the Arkansas effort. Bruce Mirken, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, said Southwest Group should answer specific questions about the canvassing effort. Glen Schwarz of Little Rock, president of the Arkansas chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said he was a hired canvasser but that Southwest Group laid him off on June 8. He claimed the group shut down its Little Rock office about the same time. Mirken said he didn’t know about Southwest Group’s operations but that some local canvassers were indeed let go. "There were a lot of local petitioners who were submitting very low numbers of valid signatures," he said. "A bunch of those folks were laid off and replaced with professionals." Schwarz said he has a decade of experience gathering signatures. "They squandered quite a bit of money on their so-called professionals," he said. Mirken said no one gave up on the Arkansas effort early. Until last week, he and others thought the effort to gather signatures would continue, he said. "We truly did agonize over this decision until last Friday," he said. He said it became obvious that even if the alliance spent more money to gather signatures, commercial time would be expensive and hard to obtain in the weeks before the election, especially the race for president. Campbell said that’s a risk she and other members of Alliance for Reform of Drug Policy in Arkansas are willing to take. The group has been working for five years to legalize marijuana for medicinal use and created the Arkansas Alliance for Medical Marijuana as a ballot-initiative committee last year. "We’ve been doing this at a grass-roots level for years. We’ve never been fancy," she said. Larry Page of Little Rock, with the Coalition Against Legalized Marijuana, which was formed to fight the medical marijuana initiative, said it sounds like his job will be a little easier than expected even if the marijuana initiative makes it to the ballot. "Obviously, it doesn’t look quite as substantial as it would without the backing of a billionaire," he said. "But we’re still here. We haven’t shut anything down." Tim Humphries, lawyer for Secretary of State Charlie Daniels, said if the signature total comes up short, the alliance will have 30 days from the date of rejection to turn in a new batch of signatures. Campbell said continuing the effort is "the only choice of conscience" to help sick people who might benefit from the proposed measure. The initiated act backed by the alliance would allow Arkansans with debilitating medical conditions to use marijuana on the advice of a physician. They could use what they or a caregiver grew. Users would obtain a registry card from the state Department of Health. The proposed act defines eligible medical conditions as cancer, glaucoma, HIV-positive, AIDS, or treatment for those conditions. Also included in the definition are chronic or debilitating diseases or conditions that cause one or more of the following: wasting syndrome, severe pain, severe nausea, seizures, severe and persistent muscle spasms. Nine states have passed laws that protect patients who use marijuana as medication from arrest and imprisonment. They are Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. In Maryland, patients aren’t protected from arrest but they’re prevented from serving jail time for using marijuana for medical purposes. Martin, a cancer survivor, said he and other patients have been betrayed because they came out and publicly supported the effort only to find out the national organization gave up. "We pretty much stuck our heads out of the woodpile to get shot at," he said. "These guys just dropped us like we’re not even here." Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (AR)Author: Laura KellamsPublished: Tuesday, July 13, 2004Copyright: 2004 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc.Contact: voices ardemgaz.comWebsite: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Related Articles & Web Sites:Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/Arkansas Alliance http://www.arkansasalliance.org/Ballot Drive for Pot Rx in Arkansas Loses Its Legshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19165.shtml67,000 Add Names To Get Pot Initiative On Ballothttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19132.shtmlMedical Pot Act in Works for November Ballothttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18961.shtml
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Comment #2 posted by ekim on July 13, 2004 at 19:43:19 PT
how would you look Larry without the DEA
Larry Page of Little Rock, with the Coalition Against Legalized Marijuana, which was formed to fight the medical marijuana initiative, said it sounds like his job will be a little easier than expected even if the marijuana initiative makes it to the ballot. "Obviously, it doesn’t look quite as substantial as it would without the backing of a billionaire," he said. "But we’re still here. We haven’t shut anything down." Again i plead with the groups that are being funded -- post here Tommy so you want to crack them up how about -- showing the fun time Todd had for five years, and how Brian has been yucking it up. 
http://www.mmdetroit.org
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #1 posted by FoM on July 13, 2004 at 13:51:22 PT
Cheech & Chong Return 
Cheech & Chong Return After Stoner's Release From Jail July 12, 2004Stoner funnymen Cheech & Chong are teaming up for another movie just days after Tommy Chong's release from jail.Chong, who spent nine months behind bars in Bakersfield, California, on a drug paraphernalia rap, admits he learned so much in prison that he has enough material for a hilarious new film with his Up In Smoke partner, Cheech Marin.Chong reveals he met "some of the funniest guys" while he was serving time - including bikers and transvestites. And he isn't holding back when it comes to poking fun at the California penal system - he even plans to crack jokes at the expense of his camp administrator.But Chong admits his prison term in the desert wasn't too bad and he made a lot of friends.He adds, "Federal time is [bad] - there's like a two hour wait for the tennis court. Sometimes you're suntanning and the wind whips up some dust and you get it all over yourself."We're going to make another Cheech and Chong film. In the film, I'm going to show Cheech what I learned in jail." Copyright World Entertainment News Network 2004http://www.ktok.com/script/headline_newsmanager.php?id=328148&pagecontent=nationalnews&feed_id=59
Tommy Chong: He's Taking One Big Hit
[ Post Comment ]


Post Comment