Pubdate: Tue, 22 Jun 2004
Source: Oakland Tribune, The (CA)
Copyright: 2004 MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
Contact:  http://www.mapinc.org/media/314
Website: http://www.oaklandtribune.com/
Author: Angela Hill, Staff Writer
Cited: Oakland Cannabis Initiative http://www.taxandregulate.com/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)

PETITIONS IN FOR POT LEGALIZATION MEASURE

Cannabis Proponents Say They Collected 12,000 More Than the 20,000 
Signatures Required for a City Vote

OAKLAND -- It may be awhile before you can pick up some party pot at the 
store when you stop for cigarettes, tomatoes and milk in the city of Oakland.

But that's the ultimate vision held by advocates for the legalization of 
marijuana -- for recreational use, not just medical. And they're hoping 
Oakland voters will nudge it closer to reality.

On Monday, members of the Oakland Civil Liberties Alliance turned in more 
than 32,000 signatures to city election officials to get the Oakland 
Cannabis Initiative on the November ballot.

With at least 12,000 more than the required 20,000 signatures for ballot 
initiatives, Alliance members are feeling pretty confident of the measure's 
success. Officials at the City Clerk's Office confirmed the signatures were 
turned in Monday but said the names must still be certified in the next 14 
business days before the item can proceed to the voters.

"It makes us feel really good and confident that we're headed to the ballot 
in November," said Alliance member Joe DeVries.

The measure would not decriminalize pot in Oakland until cannabis is 
legalized by state officials, but it would prepare the city for the 
possibility, outlining ways to tax and regulate sales when the time comes.

Until that happens, the measure, if passed, would merely direct the Oakland 
Police Department to treat the private adult use of marijuana as its lowest 
priority.

"The measure would ultimately have the city tax and regulate the private 
adult use of cannabis in Oakland for people 21 and over," DeVries said. "It 
would help us keep cannabis under control, keep the city from wasting 
law-enforcement resources on it and keep cannabis out of the hands of 
children."

DeVries said the Alliance is perfectly aware that the city can't legalize 
marijuana on its own.

"We know this. That's why, in the text of the initiative, we're giving the 
city an out," DeVries said. "It says the city needs to do this as soon as 
it is possible under state law. And we believe in the next couple of years 
there will be state legislation allowing local
jurisdictions to legalize and regulate cannabis sales.

"And that would get rid of the street dealing of marijuana," he said. "If 
you put it behind the counter, put it in a store -- it's basically a 
substance up there with caffeine, tobacco and over-the-counter medicines -- 
then you basically take it off the black market, take away the profit for 
the dealers and get it off the street corners," he said.

Police, however, dispute the assertion that being able to buy pot legally 
in the store would get dealers off the street.

"It's not going to solve all the problems they say it's going to solve," 
said Oakland police narcotics Lt. Rick Hart. "How much would it cost in 
stores? How difficult will it be to get it? There's still going to be a 
black market if it's too expensive in the store and you can get it for less 
on the street.

"Also, you'll still have the under-21 folks interested in purchasing it, 
and where are they going to get it?" Hart said. "Because stores would 
presumably be carding, young people couldn't get it there and would still 
buy it on the street. So you won't have less dealers. As long as it's a 
lucrative business on the street, it's gonna be out there."

And Hart said personal adult use of marijuana is already a pretty low 
priority in Oakland. "Currently, if we stop someone and they have less than 
an ounce, if they have one joint in the car, they only get a citation 
anyway," he said. "Even now, we're not handcuffing people and taking them 
to jail for that. So the only thing that would change would be the amount 
they could have."

Aside from law-enforcement issues, advocates of the measure say money 
generated by taxing marijuana sales would help fund vital city services.

"The revenue it could generate for the city is phenomenal," DeVries said.

While proponents of the measure say it is completely separate from the 
medical marijuana issue, some people in the medical marijuana movement are 
concerned it might discredit medical users, DeVries said.

"They're afraid people will say, 'See, we told you that's what they were 
all after in the first place. They weren't really using it for medical.' 
But that's not going to happen. That's why we don't want to associate this 
with medical use. This is an economic issue, a law-enforcement issue. It's 
entirely separate."

Richard Lee of the Bulldog Cafe on Broadway, one of Oakland's medical 
marijuana dispensaries, said he didn't know of anyone on the medical side 
who is opposed to the measure.

"If anything, it should help get the prices down for medical users and 
raise availability, and we could increase hours," Lee said. "Plus, you 
wouldn't have cops saying, 'You don't look sick to me.'

"Exactly how this is going to play out has yet to be seen, but I do think 
there's a lot to be learned from how medical marijuana laws have developed, 
which could apply to laws for private recreational use," Lee said. "The 
city of Oakland is already permitting clubs, while the federal government 
still considers them illegal. That says a lot."

Indeed, the Oakland City Council recently voted to issue permits to medical 
marijuana dispensaries -- but only four permits, forcing a handful of 
others to close and bringing both praise and objections from the medical 
community.

"Medical marijuana started with a local movement, with San Francisco's 
Proposition P in 1991, five years before the statewide Prop. 215," Lee 
said. "Personal-use laws could happen like that too, if we get another few 
cities in the next few years to pass similar ballot measures as this one, 
and get more and more support for it -- we'll see what happens." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake