Pubdate: Sat, 05 Oct 2013
Source: Times-Standard (Eureka, CA)
Contact: http://www.times-standard.com/writeus
Copyright: 2013 Times-Standard
Website: http://www.times-standard.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1051
Author: Lorna Rodriguez

HUMBOLDT REACTS TO DRIVE TO LEGALIZE POT: SECRETARY OF STATE SAYS 
PROPONENTS CAN START GATHERING SIGNATURES

As marijuana legalization advocates prepare another statewide ballot 
measure, the question remains: Will Humboldt County get on board this time?

The latest legalization effort comes on the heels of legalization in 
Colorado and Washington state and amid a rising backlash against the 
environmental damage being caused by large grows. Often in public 
forests or on private timber land, sometimes connected to Mexican 
cartels, stream diversions and heavy use of pesticides and 
fertilizers, clear cutting and soil grading at massive outdoor grow 
sites are being cited by more than one side in the legalization debate.

Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos said he thinks it is 
rational to decriminalize marijuana and regulate it.

"I think it is legitimately a public health issue, and I think it 
only becomes a public safety issue because of the criminalization," 
Gallegos said. "The criminalization of marijuana has been what's 
paradoxically created the public safety issues associated with it, in 
my opinion. ... I certainly welcome that change in the law, if it 
comes, and I certainly would support it."

Some supporters of legalization say the proposed California Cannabis 
Hemp Initiative 2014 would only make matters worse.

"I think that if this initiative were to pass, it would only 
exacerbate the environmental problems we're seeing now in Humboldt 
County with marijuana cultivation," said documentary filmmaker Mikal 
Jakubal, whose film "One Good Year" follows the lives of four medical 
marijuana growers in Humboldt County. "It's going to be completely 
impossible to enforce. It's going to be even more cover for people 
growing for the black market and shipping out of state."

The last time California voters weighed in on marijuana legalization, 
more local voters agreed with the filmmaker than the district 
attorney -- with most of Humboldt County giving a resounding "no" to 
Proposition 19 in 2010.

Southern Humboldt saw 65 percent of voters oppose the measure, 
followed by Fortuna at 63 percent, Willow Creek at 59 percent, Eureka 
at 53 percent and McKinleyville at 51. The numbers flipped in Arcata 
and Trinidad, where voters favored the measure by 57 and 58 percent 
of voters, respectively.

Fellow "Emerald Triangle" counties Mendocino and Trinity also 
rejected the proposition, and 53.5 percent of voters statewide 
rejected the measure.

Humboldt County Sheriff Mike Downey said a choice needs to be made: 
enforce existing marijuana laws or legalize it.

"But a state ballot initiative is not going to do it," Downey said. 
"We still have the feds out there saying it's against the law, so 
there has to be a national referendum."

Tony Silvaggio of the Center for Cannabis and Social Policy said 
Californians love to be on the front end of things. He said even 
conservatives hate being beat to the punch.

"I think that people in California, if there was actually a measure 
for legalization and it was on the ballot, I think it would pass," 
Silvaggio said. "We don't want to get left behind."

Silvaggio added that all eyes are turning to Washington state to see 
how well it regulates marijuana. That will shape what happens in 
California, he said.

Allen St. Pierre, executive director of NORML, a national nonprofit 
dedicated to reforming marijuana laws, said that recently released 
Public Policy Institute of California poll numbers indicate that more 
and more Californians favor legalization.

For the first time, a majority of California residents support 
legalizing pot, significant given the growing movement to do so in 
other states. Sixty percent of likely voters now back making 
marijuana legal in California, which in 1996 approved medicinal use.

"There is definitely more than enough support to get the signatures 
and qualify for the ballot," St. Pierre said. "The question really, 
frankly, is only a matter of resources."

Proponents of the measure must collect the signatures of 504,760 
registered voters by Feb. 24 to qualify for the 2014 ballot.

Push for legalization

Under the proposed California Cannabis Hemp Initiative 2014, 
residents would be able to grow 99 plants or 12 pounds of marijuana. 
According to the secretary of state's office, marijuana and hemp use, 
possession, cultivation, transportation and distribution would be 
decriminalized under the measure. It would also require a 
case-by-case review for people charged or convicted of nonviolent 
marijuana offenses, allow doctors to approve or recommend marijuana 
for patients, and ban state or local aid from enforcing federal marijuana laws.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom