Once upon a time – 36 years ago, to be exact, when Gov. Tom McCall signed a bill making Oregon the first state to decriminalize possession of small amounts of pot – our state was a forerunner in the fight for sensible marijuana policies. Since then we’ve fallen behind, but we may have a chance to play catch-up next year.
As reported in Willamette Week, a group of pot activists is hoping to put an initiative called the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act on the ballot in 2010. If it passes, the act will create something called the Oregon Cannabis Control Commission, which would sell grass to buyers 21 and over. Ninety percent of the profits would go to the state’s general fund and 10% would be earmarked for drug treatment. Supporters say the act could generate upwards of $200 million a year.
“Activists last put a legalization measure on the ballot in 1986,” Willy Week writes. “It got just 26 percent support. But after decades fighting to legalize pot in Oregon, they believe the public has come around. National polls consistently track more than 40 percent support for legalization, and recent Oregon polls have shown the same.”
Willamette Week took the trouble to interview some prominent Oregon politicians about pot legalization, and got some surprising responses.
One came from state Rep. Jeff Barker, who as “an ex-Portland cop and a recovering alcoholic [and] a 65-year-old conservative Democrat who represents suburban Aloha” is one of the last people you’d expect to back legalization. But he says he’d have no problem with it. “I don’t mind spending money to lock up violent people, but marijuana just ain’t even close,” he said.
Less surprising was the reply of state Attorney General John Kroger, who according to WW is “firmly” against legalization. If marijuana becomes legal, he predicted, “It’s going to be everywhere, literally. You’re going to have people dropping by Whole Foods to buy the really expensive organic stuff.”
To which The Eye’s immediate response is: “So?”
In an interview with Source reporters and editors yesterday, Kroger reiterated his stand against legalization – but he didn’t sound quite as adamant as he did in the Willamette Week story.
Kroger drew a sharp line between pot and truly destructive drugs such as heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine, saying he’s “less passionate” about cracking down on the former. “It’s just a different animal,” he said.
While emphasizing again that he’d prefer not to see Oregon awash in pungent pot smoke, he remarked that if the legalization initiative passes “we’ll live with it,” even adding: “I think you can make a serious argument for [legalizing] marijuana.”
Obviously, unless the social and political climate in Oregon changes drastically in the next year or so, it would be political suicide for any attorney general to support legalization of marijuana. But there’s a big difference between an AG expressing mild opposition and one who mounts a full-bore campaign against it. And the impression we get is that Kroger is not prepared to go to the mattresses on this one.
Which, after all, makes sense, and John Kroger is nothing if not a sensible man. He sees as well as anybody – in fact, probably better than most – the colossal waste of time, effort and money involved in investigating, arresting, prosecuting and incarcerating people for possessing a substance that’s far more benign than tobacco or booze, much less heroin, coke or meth.
This article appears in Jul 16-22, 2009.
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Just think how much it costs to track down and jail citizens for use of a natural herb that is non addictive, and causes no violence.No more jail beds police free to find the really bad guys. no more problem with organizations that base their income on illegal pot, and a tax revenue base.
Don’t feed me the bull about harming the children. I live in Mexico, in a Mexican neighborhood, none of the children and few of the adults use any drugs. Better home environments and education is the key to having drug free children.
I think if “guest” has an opinion on the legalization of pot he or she should be willing to put their name to it. I’ve been a pot smoker for many years and have acheived two different college degrees. I have many friends who are in law enforcement and are non-pot smokers and they all agree with my as to the legalization of marijuana as a good thing. Huge waste of tax payer dollars to incarcerate drug dealers. Free health care, free housing, free food, free education to name a few of the things that we provide drug dealers while they are in jail, all on our dime. I’m tired of marijuana carrying the stigma that it has for so many years. Little history note, the constitution of the USA is written on hemp paper.
Look I drank alcohal for about 10 yrs only thing it did for me was cause me problmes I got angry and broke things got into fights all the time. I got gout authritis and kept drinking only to find the pain was so bad it cripled me. So a friend turned me onto a joint. pot after that my anger went away no more fights and wow and could kick the alcohal all together no more pain no more fights no more anger If everyone tried just two hits of pot they would see its not the gate way drug to other more harmfull drugs but could be the worlds solution to vilience and hatered. And if its so bad then why have the gov. of calif. and last 3 Presidents of United States have taken of the firbiden fruit. No one seems to have a problem with that. Stop the waste its gone on to long throwing good money after bad money dosnt make sence leagle the hurb save money and lives
leagle bud would not only generate 1.4 billion in sales but save 3.4 billion in Jails over crowded, this is the real batle Keeping the lobist for Jails profit margins, Police unions for Jobs, leagle bud less cops on the street less drug money being wasted saves saves saves money no brainer. One thing I didnt see on this site was that from the seeds of marijuana you can produce cheeper and more green energy for america, so we win again pluss if not mistaken pot plants produce more oxygen than most tree
Spence
The ‘War On Drugs’ has been a colossal waste of money, energy and resources. It is hard to justify in any way what has gone on over the last forty years as anything other than a failure.
You are just plain wrong about one thing:
http://www.usconstitution.net/constfaq_a8.html
“Q145. “What kind of paper was the Constitution written on?”
A. Urban legend is that the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Bill of Rights were written on hemp paper, hemp being the industrial name for the fiber of the marijuana plant. For some reason, this “fact” is touted by those who seek to legalize marijuana for recreational use. First, it is not clear why the use of hemp as a fiber should mean it should be legalized for recreational use. Second, the “fact” is not a fact.
The Declaration, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights are currently housed in the National Archives. All three are written on parchment, not hemp paper. Parchment is treated animal skin, typically sheepskin. The Declaration was inked with iron gall ink. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory was commissioned to create a system to monitor the physical status of all three. The Charters of Freedom Monitoring System took digital photos of each sheet of parchment in 1987, each document divided into one-inch squares. Over time, the photos are retaken and compared to the original to look for signs of deterioration. Before the charters were recently reencased for display, a small tear in the Declaration was repaired by adding Japanese paper to the gap. This is the only paper in any of the documents. This is not to say that a copy of any of the documents was never written on hemp paper – just not the copies we see in the Archives Rotunda.”
The claims of the hemp crowd are always to be taken with a grain of salt. That, too, is a little bit of history.
“The Declaration, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights are currently housed in the National Archives. All three are written on parchment, not hemp paper.”
Well, maybe they wrote the rough drafts on hemp paper. ;^)
Anyway, it’s true that hemp was widely grown for fiber in early America. George Washington grew it at Mount Vernon, as plantation records show. Most men wore shirts made out of hemp cloth. (Rich ones wore linen.) In fact, hemp cultivation didn’t become illegal here until the 1930s, amidst the idiotic “reefer madness” hysteria.
ps: Sorry pot hasn’t done anything to help your spelling. (Just kidding.)
But seriously, I’m glad you kicked the booze. It’s a terribly destructive addiction. It’s literally killed several relatives of mine (not close ones, fortunately). I don’t know of anybody who’s been killed by pot.
As for me, I like a drink or two but don’t like the feeling of being drunk and really hate being hung over, so I’m a pretty moderate drinker. I haven’t smoked pot since the days of bell bottoms and Paisley shirts, but it never did much for me then — just made me giggle and act stupid.
I guess the folks at the History Channel are wrong or the folks at the National Archives are trying to keep what the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence were written on under wraps. Would seem a bit ironic that these documents of our freedom would be written on something that is prohibited by the government for which these documents helped to provide.
“If everyone tried just two hits of pot they would see its not the gate way drug to other more harmfull drugs”
Passing through Sandy the other day en route to Portland I saw a big billboard saying “Marijuana: Gateway Drug to Meth.” What a load of shit. This statement no doubt is predicated on the fact that many people who have smoked marijuana later used meth. By the same “logic” one could claim that coffee is a gateway drug to meth. Or chewing gum. Or water.
I grew up on a farm in Iowa and the remnants of hemp horticulture were still there. You could smoke it til your lungs coughed out and all you got was a headache. Still, that didn’t stop us from selling maps of roadside patches to California hippies who didn’t know better. But…
If you waited until they were budding, picked the buds and soaked them in in denatured alcohol, then kind of mashed them up and dumped the liquid into trays, it evaporated leaving a brown film in the tray that was a fair hash when scraped off with a razor blade–at least so I’m told.
There was even a song: “I owe a lot to Iowa Pot”
In my personal experience I have found that those who are most opposed to marijuana are the ones who have never been around it and have never tried it. I’d rather smoke or eat pot than take legally-prescribed narcotics. Pills have side effects that marijuana does not have. Pain pills cause constipation, nausea when taken on an empty stomach, itchy skin, irritability, and mental and physical addiction. Marijuana causes you to relax, drink more water, and maybe have a snack. You cannot OD on marijuana, but it’s very easy to OD on other drugs, including completely legal ones. We need to move away from ignorance controlling our society.
What–a conspiracy to conceal the true nature of the material that the founding documents are written on? The History Channel is fun to watch, but as a reference source, the venue for Ice Truckers, MonsterQuest and UFO Hunters, I would take it with a serious grain of salt.
This is to the first comment titled (Guest) Please tell us and back up your brainwashed controlled religious facts. You also probaly think Pitbulls are uncontrolable,mean vicious attack dogs. I have grown up with Norwegian Elk Hounds(wolf)=Loyal,loving family dog makes a great pillow. Scottish Terriers=the most vicious annoying barking rodent dogs along with other yappers.(small penis dogs) And now a Red Nose Pitbull=better than the Elk Hound loves love hates violence If a dog could smoke Ganja or represent a smoker the Queen would cry with the death of Pitbulls if a miss-informed nieve bigit like you made decisions for the world. Stop and let the Earth be peaceful. It would help marrages, people that are high strung with anxiety,and less road rage.
Going along with BAH and HBM comments,alcohol and pills though legal, are far more dangerous and bad for you. My brother in law, 27yrs old, died 5 months ago. He was very religious,owned a local business, and did not do drugs. He was a Mason fell off a ladder building a fireplace on a new house. Doctor gave him Vicodin or Percocite he was taking the recomended dose it killed his liver. It failed 8 months ago he became paralized and incoherent and in so much pain I or anyone would not want to bear. He was strong and lived past their expectations. “Marijuana” is a natural pain reducer and the best Anti-Inflammatory with no bad side effects just a smile and bliss. To get the same benefit from OTC meds(Asprin/Tylenol)or Vicodin/Percocite would result in: Acid indigestion,Stomach bleeding or ulcers,and liver scaring, in some cases liver failure! If doctors didn’t have money dangled in their faces and had your health in their best interest they would tell you to go outside and pick a Bud(flower)dry it half weight and smoke it or eat it in a salad. They don’t want this because their would be less money in their pocket because you wouldn’t have to spend $100+(if you don’t have insurance) then pay for the bottle of poison they prescribe you(if that one doesn’t work) they would be more than happy to have you come in again $100+ on top of that they love the money the DRUG Companies give them pushing their drugs!!! It’s your body, I chose to take care of it not kill it. Ganja= Anti-Inflammatory,Anti-Oxident,Fiber, good calories, Omaga oils. My brother-in-law would be alive and healthy w/o dependecies or addictions! I am PRO-LIFE how about you?
Thanks Center Oregon, you successfully pissed on my dream! You and your bull hypocrisy, and your lying dog in the dirt politicians. Is it any wonder Oregon has almost no natural resources left and vapid unemployment? Ya right, Kroger is an environmental lawyer, just another shill for the fascist right ring pigs, willing to send your children to die in a illegal war for what? You cut down your forests to pad the pockets of a few, so you could have the Amerikan dream? Hell you could of had a sustainable resource if you had retained your alienable rights, but no you lost them to a Friday night tart, whom was actually your sister, pimped by your father for a gallon of cheap, shitty wine.
Your schools are filled with incompetent, pedophilia teachers, whom you adore with gusto. No wonder you have the lowest academic scores in the nation! Only West Virginia is your equal, at least they can play the banjo!
I am sure I am not the only one but I have to ask. Winchelenator, are you a terrorist? Hopefully Not! No we are not banjo playing inbreds nor do I think those in West Virginia are. Get out of your cave and see that life is beautiful and you get what you make out of it. Those of us that are average, middle class citizens, are bothered by the corperate greed and political curruptions. But we don’t dwell on it. You create your own idea of happiness and you live it. Whether it is a simple hobby,taking pride in your land(property),gardening,sitting on the porch with your family playing the banjo(Oregon uses a guitar) camping,fishing,hunting for food,four-wheeling or having a licence to your own business and working your butt off often more than you see your own family to provide nessicary needs along with some recreational needs so that you don’t get burnt out. Yes, things would be less stressful if things were not over priced and you didn’t have to work 40-60+ Hours to be average. My wife and I make under $50,000/year with both of us combined. I would be more relaxed if we made a extra $20,000, or If things were more affordible(morgage,car,food,movie tickets) let me make this simpler everything 50% off!!! The population is huge. Even if things were half of what they are now the companies would still be able to run. The CEO’s might have to take a pay cut, but I am sure they will be well off with their couple million a year. Seperate yourself from the Al-Quida and live life with love. Peace