cannabisnews.com: Officials & Others React To Reports of B's Passage










  Officials & Others React To Reports of B's Passage

Posted by CN Staff on June 05, 2008 at 12:24:55 PT
By Ben Brown, The Ukiah Daily Journal 
Source: Ukiah Daily Journal 

Ukiah, CA -- As the dust settles on a long and divisive campaign with unofficial results showing an apparent win for Measure B, both supporters and opponents feel the measure will help make the county a better place.Measure B, which would repeal Measure G and set medical marijuana limits at six mature or 12 immature plants and eight ounces of dried marijuana, appeared to be passing early Wednesday morning with approximately 52 percent of the vote.
"The ability to obtain convictions on commercial growers will increase substantially," said Mendocino County District Attorney Meredith Lintott.Ukiah Police Chief Chris Dewey said the apparent passage of Measure B will create a "consistent enforcement standard" in the county.Lintott said she believed the new consistency in medical marijuana laws and the repeal of Measure G would create a "deterrence effect" that would keep people from coming to Mendocino County specifically to grow marijuana."The word will get out that Mendocino is not the place to grow marijuana," she said."We're hoping the people will self-regulate," Dewey said.During the campaign, one of the primary arguments of the No on B Campaign is that it would make every medical marijuana patient growing seven or more plants a felon. Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman said that is not the case."Legitimate medical marijuana will be respected," he said."The people who need to be concerned are the people who have been hiding behind Measure G and abusing the system," Allman said.Similarly, Lintott said her office would concentrate on prosecuting large commercial marijuana growers and not legitimate medical marijuana gardens that are out of compliance by a few plants."I've never been one to care about the number of plants," she said. "I'm interested in the totality of the circumstances and whether or not it is a commercial grow."Dane Wilkins, director of the Mendocino County chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said the apparent narrow margin of victory for Measure B should serve as a message to the community that there are a lot of people in the county who support the rights of medical marijuana users.According to unofficial election results, 16,285 people voted on Measure B, with 8,493 voting for the measure and 7,792 voting against. There are still 439 provisional ballots to be counted.Late Wednesday afternoon, the Elections Office issued a press release stating that in addition to the 439 provisional ballots, there are more than 10,000 mail-in ballots that were dropped off at polling places on Election Day and have not yet been counted (see accompanying article.)Before the announcement of the still-to-be-counted ballots, Wilkins had said he hoped the close result would foster communication between the two groups."It's a good starting point to having a dialogue with the other side," he said.Representatives from the California NORML office were more critical of the results. Dale Gieringer of NORML said the passage of the measure did not have the force and effect its supporters believe."The passage of Measure B settles nothing," he said. "Its major enforcement provision is invalid and it contains nothing that addresses the real problems of large-scale criminal cultivation. The county needs to go back to the drawing board."Gieringer was referring to the California Appellate Court decision in People v. Kelly in which the court found that the medical marijuana limits of six mature or 12 immature plants and eight ounces of marijuana are unconstitutional because the Legislature cannot make changes to a voter initiative without the voters' approval.Senate Bill 420 set the state limits, putting a cap on voter approved Proposition 215, which legalized medical marijuana but did not set a limit on the amount of medical marijuana a patient could possess.Gieringer also criticized the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors for placing Measure B on the primary ballot, which he said traditionally has lower voter turnout and attracts older and more conservative voters.All current election results are unofficial. Final results will not be available until the canvass is complete, which can take up to 28 days.Complete Title: Officials and Others React To Initial Reports of B's PassageSource: Ukiah Daily Journal (CA)Author: Ben Brown, The Ukiah Daily Journal Published: June 5, 2008Copyright: 2008 Ukiah Daily JournalContact: udjrb pacific.netWebsite: http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/Related Articles & Web Site:California NORMLhttp://www.canorml.org/Mendocino Pot Measure in Limbohttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread23987.shtmlMendocino Pot Repeal Narrowly Passeshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread23983.shtmlVoters Say Yes on B: Marijuana Reform Approvedhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread23982.shtml

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Comment #10 posted by John Tyler on June 07, 2008 at 08:23:31 PT
legal mess
Looks like there are a lot of votes left to be counted before either side can say for sure one way or the other. Then there is the matter of the recent court ruling that declared the state law Measure B wants to refer back to unconstitutional. So what have here is sort of a legal mess.
California has a huge financial problem. They need money and lots of it. They need to re legalize the cannabis industry so it can be taxed like any other business. Then these ridiculous lawsuits can be ended.  
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Comment #9 posted by OverwhelmSam on June 06, 2008 at 11:06:00 PT

FoM
Have an Obama Day!
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on June 06, 2008 at 08:35:02 PT

OverwhelmSam
I agree and have a nice day!
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Comment #7 posted by OverwhelmSam on June 06, 2008 at 08:33:45 PT

FoM
I like them because they sing about reflection and they're just regular folk who just happened to have ingenius talented. TTYL
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on June 06, 2008 at 08:18:34 PT

OverwhelmSam
I love this song by the two of them.Mockingbird - Carly Simon and James Taylorhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeOqD3
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on June 06, 2008 at 08:14:10 PT

OverwhelmSam
Thank you for the video. That is a very special video. Everyone should have an Obama Day. We then might work with each other better. Did you see Bob Dylan endorsed Obama? He really is behind him and that made me happy.
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Comment #4 posted by OverwhelmSam on June 06, 2008 at 08:04:49 PT

Thanks FoM
To be honest, I read it somewhere on the internet. By the way, I've been telling everyone to have an Obama day. Most people laugh, some people scowl at me and then I laugh. Now, people are starting to say it to me! I think it's going viral. An Obama day is a good day indeed.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_D0i7UC9UY&feature=related
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on June 06, 2008 at 07:53:11 PT

OverwhelmSam 
2028 that's good. 
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Comment #2 posted by OverwhelmSam on June 06, 2008 at 07:48:39 PT

Pot More Evil Than Nazi's
In case you missed it:http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/health/cannabis-now-worse-than-the-nazis-20070801315/On this article, I think they should wait until ALL the votes are counted before they announce victory. Remember Hillary? She was a good example for cannabis law reformists, never give up. I think she has tentatively penciled a date to concede for June 17th, 2028.
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Comment #1 posted by afterburner on June 05, 2008 at 22:27:10 PT

OT: Prohib Justifies Alcohol, Demonizes Cannabis 
Canada: Column: Romancing The Bottle, National Post, (04 Jun 2008) http://www.mapinc.org/newstcl/v08/n559/a06.html?176
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