Pubdate: Thu, 19 Mar 2015
Source: Sacramento News & Review (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact:  http://newsreview.com/sacto/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/540
Author: Ngaio Bealum

CALIFORNIA POT INITIATIVES SPARK UP

I see plenty of people getting excited about legalizing marijuana in 
California, but are there any ballot initiatives ready to go? Any you 
can recommend?

- -Ivana B. Puffingwun

There are a few ready to go, but I am not sure they will have much of 
a chance. The folks behind the California Cannabis Hemp Initiative 
are trying (again) to get their initiative on the ballot. While I 
really like the language of their proposal (the tax on pot is really 
low, you would be able to grow an incredible amount of weed in your 
home and it would free people in jail for nonviolent cannabis 
crimes), I don't think they have a chance. The CCHI has no money, and 
no real organization. Sigh.

The people working on the Marijuana Control, Legalization and Revenue 
Act are crowdsourcing ideas for a new initiative (follow this link to 
see the initiative on a Google Doc: http://bit.ly/18iSM2q). These 
folks tried to get something on the ballot in 2014. I wish them luck in 2016.

Cannabis advocate and superlawyer Omar Figueroa has started drumming 
up support for his California Cannabis Artisan Initiative 
(www.californiacannabis2016.com). It would seek to support "mom and 
pop" marijuana businesses and create "reasonable regulatory oversight 
by a newly created, elected, and highly transparent governmental 
agency subject to term limitations, the California Cannabis 
Commission, with the dual requirements to facilitate the safe access 
of medical cannabis for seriously ill Californians and also to ensure 
that Californians 21 years of age or older have access to cannabis 
for responsible adult use from open, transparent, and highly reliable 
sources." This is a good and interesting idea.

ReformCA, a sort of supergroup composed of people from CA NORML, the 
Marijuana Policy Project, Oaksterdam University, the NAACP, the Drug 
Policy Alliance and a few more folks, is working on the language for 
its initiative as we speak. These folks may have the best chance, 
seeing as they will probably have the most money to spend on a 
campaign. It costs about $20 million to get an initiative on the 
ballot and the ReformCA team are excellent fundraisers.

One of the challenges in California is that seemingly everyone has a 
different idea of what cannabis legalization should look like. Some 
people want it super controlled, like it was Sudafed or some other 
dangerous drug, and some people would like a way more liberal 
approach to marijuana legalization. I hope we can a find a workable, 
passable balance. Also, people seem to think that marijuana 
legalization in California is inevitable, so the fervor and passion 
of previous campaigns hasn't really started yet.

Maybe we should just do what Texas Representative David Simpson has 
proposed: he recently filed a bill with the Texas legislature that 
would simply remove any law prohibiting marijuana from the books. 
Seems simple enough to me. Of course, if that happened, errybody and 
their momma would start a weed farm, but so what? I feel like we 
should grow weed everywhere anyway. It's good for the planet.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom