cannabisnews.com: Pro-Pot Measures Lose in 3 States Pro-Pot Measures Lose in 3 States Posted by CN Staff on November 06, 2002 at 10:22:00 PT By Michael Luo, AP National Writer Source: Associated Press Activists hoping to soften American attitudes toward marijuana ran into vigorous opposition from the White House, and drug reform ballot measures were voted down in Nevada, Arizona and Ohio. Wealthy backers who had succeeded in easing access to marijuana for medical uses sought to go a step further and lessen the penalties for its use in general. Many voters apparently drew a distinction between the two ideas. Elsewhere, Florida voters banned smoking in most indoor workplaces and restaurants, joining four other states that have passed similar bans. Arizona residents slapped smokers with an increase in cigarette taxes from 58 cents to $1.18 per pack; Missouri narrowly defeated a quadrupling of the cigarette tax. Massachusetts residents voted to eliminate bilingual education, but Colorado voters decided to keep it — a split victory for Silicon Valley millionaire Ron Unz, who poured money into both campaigns. Unz, who condemns bilingual classes as a black hole leaving students lacking in English, began his English-immersion movement in California four years ago and scored victories there and in Arizona in 2000. Tennessee amended its constitution to allow statewide lotteries, leaving Hawaii and Utah as the only states without any form of legalized gambling. In Oregon, voters rejected two hotly contested measures, one that would require companies to label genetically modified food and another to universalize health care. The latter was expected to cost state taxpayers $1.7 billion. It was the pro-pot initiatives, however, that drew the most attention this year. Early polls had made advocates optimistic. The measures were heavily financed by three billionaire philanthropists — George Soros, John Sperling and Peter Lewis — as part of a broader effort to roll back the federal war on drugs. During the past six years, the three have financed successful efforts to pass 17 of 19 state-level initiatives easing drug laws. In the past, though, most of the measures dealt with medical marijuana. This time, voters in Nevada defeated a measure to legalize the possession of up to 3 ounces of marijuana. In Arizona, residents rejected an initiative that would have likened marijuana possession to a traffic violation. Finally, Ohio defeated a proposal that would have required judges to order treatment instead of jail for some drug offenders. President Bush's newly appointed drug czar, John Walters, campaigned in all three states against the measures, joining with state law enforcement, judicial and political leaders in denouncing them. Walters and his supporters characterized marijuana as a gateway drug that leads to increased drug abuse by youths and more traffic accidents, domestic violence and health problems. Advocates were surprised by the force with which the White House fought them in this election. "What we have seen tonight is how hard the drug war ideologues are willing to fight and how dirty they're willing to fight," said Bruce Merken, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, one of the groups that coordinated the campaigns. "I think we need to sit down and take a deep breath and take a look at how we can present the facts in a way that people can understand," said Merken. Advocates found some solace in the passage of two city-wide marijuana measures. In San Francisco, officials received approval to explore establishing a distribution program for medical marijuana; and in the District of Columbia, voters approved a treatment-instead-of-jail measure for pot possession. Critics of the three tycoons, contending the citizen initiative process had been hijacked, trumpeted the results as a victory for the common people. "We told them Ohio is not for sale," said the state's first lady, Hope Taft, a leader of Ohio's anti-pot campaign. On an unrelated ballot issue, a wealthy backer did get his way. Arnold Schwarzenegger, touted as a potential future California gubernatorial candidate, spent $1 million to help pass an initiative that earmarks a half-billion dollars annually for after-school programs. Also in California, secession measures that would have split Los Angeles into three entities — the city, Hollywood, and the San Fernando Valley — were defeated. In other results: _ Arkansas defeated a proposal to repeal the sales tax on food and medicine. _ Massachusetts rejected a measure to end the state's personal income tax. _ Nevada voters reinforced an existing ban on gay marriages. _ Oklahomans voted to ban cockfighting. The state had been one of three, along with Louisiana and New Mexico, that still allowed it. _ A Florida measure limiting class size in public schools passed, but the Democratic candidate for governor who strongly backed it, Bill McBride, was defeated in part over questions about how the program would be funded. _ Colorado and New Mexico voters rejected a proposed state holiday in honor of labor leader Cesar Chavez. Source: Associated Press Author: Angela Watercutter, Associated Press Writer Published: Wednesday, November 6, 2002 Copyright: 2002 Associated Press Related Articles & Web Sites:NRLEhttp://www.nrle.org/Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/State Voters Reject Legalizing Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14671.shtmlMarijuana Legalization Backers Suffer Defeats http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14670.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #1 posted by legalizeit on November 06, 2002 at 15:09:22 PT The SHEEPle have Bleated!! >"I think we need to sit down and take a deep breath and take a look at how we can present the facts in a way that people can understand," said Merken.I think this sums it up. Most Sheeple are either too dumb or too full of prohib propaganda to accept the fact that there are other points of view out there. Furthermore, they are too blind to ever question the word of the government. We as reformers need to find a way to convince them that pot is not the hideous, horrible drug that Uncle Sam has depicted it as. We need to educate them about the racism and deception that was involved in criminalizing cannabis in the first place. Also, we need to get the news (ALL the news) to them somehow, circumventing the major news outlets that conveniently scrap any news article or laboratory press release that might shed a positive light on pot and pot use. If they insist on believing the lies about cannabis we must at least educate them on the difference between cannabis used for personal introspection and the cannabis used for hemp. Most importantly, since cannabis reform has and will be effected mostly through the initiative process, we need to stress to the younger population, who are most likely to support legalization, the importance of dragging their lazy asses from in front of their Xboxes and going down to the polls on Election Day to spend ten minutes of their day letting their vote be heard! If only 110,000 more Q9 supporters had voted, we would be celebrating today. C',mon, I know there's got to be more than 501,883 registered voters in Nevada! (My wife, who's from Ecuador, says in that country voting is mandatory and citizens are fined for not voting. Let's hope it doesn't come to this, but there's got to be some way to get apathetic voters to the polls!)We have come a long way, but there is SUCH a long way to go yet. I think that other countries are going to lead the way. When Canada, Great Britain, Jamaica and other countries legalize, the Drug Warriors won't be able to sweep that under a rug. Eventually the Sheeple are going to realize that they've been fed a lie all this time, and states will realize the tax revenue that could be gained by legally growing and selling cannabis. If sufficiently enlightened, state governments could push Q9-type legislation through without a popular vote! We have two more years of tyranny under the Shrub and Friends. I fear for our country, the world peace and our environment during this time, and hope that if anything is left afterwards the Sheeple will realize what the Shrub is really all about and vote for candidates of other parties in 2004.We are winning, slowly and surely. The fact that almost half of Nevadans were for legalization shows that! Maybe when a Q9 type proposition comes up in the future we will get the other 12% to come to our side (or get the supporters that didn't vote to the polls) and get it passed!Thanks FoM for bringing all the news that matters to us. (Nothing about Q9 or any of the other cannabis proposals on any national program I looked at this morning.) C-News is the best tool we have to get the word out, and based on you hit count today the word is getting out just fine!Cheers and don't feel too bad everyone! We have lost a few small battles, but in time the victory will be ours! [ Post Comment ] Post Comment