From: tuco@frontiernet.net   
      
   Marijuana reform scores big gains   
   Wednesday, November 10, 2004   
   Robert Kampia   
   IN MY OPINION Robert Kampia   
      
      
   H owever anyone feels about the results of the presidential race, Nov. 2 was   
   a banner day for marijuana policy reform. Nationwide, 17 of 20 initiatives   
   won, including a massive victory for medical marijuana in Montana.   
      
   Montanans, by a whopping 62 percent to 38 percent, made their state the 10th   
   to pass a medical marijuana law. Not only did this continue the unbroken   
   winning streak for initiatives allowing medical use of marijuana, it also   
   was the biggest margin of victory in any first-time vote on a statewide   
   medical marijuana measure anywhere.   
      
   Indeed, many voters who supported Montana's ban on same-sex marriage (which   
   passed with 67 percent of the vote) also supported protecting medical   
   marijuana patients. Clearly, a lot of conservative voters think it is wrong   
   to send patients to jail for using medical marijuana.   
      
   In Alaska, although an initiative to replace marijuana prohibition with a   
   system of regulation failed, the 43 percent support that measure received   
   was the all-time highest vote percentage ever recorded for a statewide   
   marijuana regulation or "legalization" initiative. There have been only four   
   other such initiatives in the history of the country -- in Alaska,   
   California, Nevada and Oregon -- and the previous record-holder was Alaska's   
   59 percent to 41 percent loss in 2000. None of the others even broke 40   
   percent.   
      
   In Oakland, Calif., voters put the city on record in support of taxation and   
   regulation of marijuana and made enforcement of personal marijuana offenses   
   the lowest priority for local police, by an overwhelming 65 percent to 35   
   percent. Around the country, 17 local marijuana reform initiatives appeared   
   on city or legislative district ballots, and 16 passed. These included a   
   medical marijuana proposal in Ann Arbor, Mich., and two measures in   
   Columbia, Mo. -- one to permit medical use and another to end the threat of   
   arrest and jail for any misdemeanor marijuana possession charge.   
      
   All racked up overwhelming margins, with the Ann Arbor measure passing   
   3-to-1.   
      
   Perhaps the most telling results of all came from Vermont, where medical   
   marijuana advocates ousted three openly hostile state representatives and   
   protected all three supportive incumbents who were in tight races. The   
   opponents had nearly blocked passage of Vermont's medical marijuana law last   
   spring and led efforts to weaken it. Their defeat flipped the Vermont House   
   of Representatives from Republican to Democratic control, sending a strong   
   message to politicians in Vermont and elsewhere that opposing medical   
   marijuana legislation is bad for their political health.   
      
   Of course, there were disappointments. Besides the Alaska loss, Oregon   
   voters defeated an initiative to strengthen and expand the state's existing   
   medical marijuana law.   
      
   Nevertheless, Nov. 2 was a good day for anyone who supports marijuana laws   
   based on reason, science and compassion. We hope President Bush is paying   
   close attention to our numerous victories -- especially in Montana, where   
   Bush won 59 percent of the vote, but medical marijuana won 62 percent.   
      
   The president's strongest supporters also support protecting medical   
   marijuana patients, and they don't want the federal government telling their   
   doctors how to practice medicine. It's time for the president to finally   
   keep his 2000 campaign pledge to let states decide the medical marijuana   
   issue "as they so choose," without fear of federal agents raiding and   
   arresting the seriously ill.   
      
   Robert Kampia is executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana   
   Policy Project, which sponsored Montana's medical marijuana initiative and   
   supported marijuana reform initiatives nationwide.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)