Pubdate: Sun, 22 Jul 2012
Source: Register-Guard, The (OR)
Copyright: 2012 The Register-Guard
Contact: http://www.registerguard.com/web/opinion/#contribute-a-letter
Website: http://www.registerguard.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/362

FULL-BORE LEGALIZATION

Oregonians to Vote on Wide-Open Marijuana Measure

For years, political debate over marijuana has focused on medical 
uses of the drug. That's going to change. An initiative measure has 
qualified for Oregon's November ballot that calls for wide-open, 
no-holds-barred marijuana legalization. The efficacy of marijuana 
laws and the effects of their repeal will be debated head-on.

The Oregon Cannabis Tax Act would allow anyone to grow and possess 
any amount of marijuana for personal use. Any amount - no limit. For 
those not interested in growing their own, the measure would create a 
state agency that would certify marijuana growers, purchase their 
crops and distribute the drug to state outlets for sale to any buyer 
21 and older.

There's more: The measure creates a legal distinction between 
marijuana and hemp - one is a drug, the other is a crop that can be 
used in the manufacture of fabrics, oils and other products. The 
state would be forbidden to regulate hemp. Most of the state's 
profits from marijuana sales would go to the general fund, but a 
small portion would be used for drug education, treatment and the 
promotion of industrial uses of hemp.

Oregon's measure goes beyond the measures that will be on the 
November ballot in Colorado and Washington state, both of which would 
legalize possession of marijuana in amounts of 1 ounce or less. In 
Oregon there would be no limit.

The campaign will hinge on arguments that proponents of legalization 
have been making for decades. They say legalization would drive 
criminal enterprises out of the marijuana business. They say 
marijuana could become a significant source of state revenue, like 
alcohol and tobacco. They say police could concentrate on fighting 
other crime. They say hemp could become the basis of mew agricultural 
and value-added industries.

Oregonians didn't buy these arguments in 1986, when voters rejected, 
by a 3-1 ratio, a measure to allow the cultivation and possession of 
any amount of marijuana for personal use. That was a long time ago. 
But other states' more recent legalization proposals have also 
failed, though by closer margins - 59 percent rejected a Colorado 
measure in 2006, and 54 percent opposed a 2010 California initiative in 2010.

The long-standing arguments against legalization will also be heard 
again. Opponents say that making marijuana less expensive and more 
widely available would increase its use, adding to the problems 
created by other legal drugs. They claim marijuana can cause physical 
and mental harm, especially in the potent forms that have become 
common. They point to the likelihood that minors would find it even 
easier to obtain marijuana than it is now. And they warn that 
marijuana, legal or illegal, is a gateway to harder drugs.

In addition, the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act would be squarely in 
conflict with the federal Controlled Substances Act. The federal 
government has mostly turned a blind eye toward states' medical 
marijuana laws. No such half-hearted response to Oregon's full 
legalization would be possible. The sponsors will have to explain why 
Oregon should invite a collision with the federal government, or show 
how it might be avoided.

Oregon can expect an influx of out-of-state money to finance the 
campaigns for and against legalization. And the nation will be 
watching to see whether a state that is often in the vanguard of 
changes in public policy will enact the world's most libertarian marijuana law.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom