Tag Archives: Signatures
California activists submit 16,000 signatures to overturn pot ban in Santa Ana
Last Wednesday, medical marijuana activists seeking to overturn Santa Ana’s ban on medical marijuana collectives showed up at city hall with 16,000 signatures of city residents who want the pot clubs back in business. The group, which formed in August 2012 and calls itself the Committee to Support Medical Marijuana Ballot Initiative, hopes to let voters decide whether to set up a registration process that would allow no less than 22 cannabis clubs to operate, or roughly one per every 15,000 residents.
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North Dakota Medical Marijuana Campaign Turns In Signatures
The first-ever ballot initiative dealing with medical marijuana in North Dakota has taken a step forward. On Monday, more than 20,000 signatures were delivered to North Dakota Secretary of State Al Jaeger by North Dakotans for Compassionate Care — well above the 13,500 required to qualify the initiative for November’s ballot. Jaeger will have approximately one month to review the signatures and certify the initiative for the ballot.
The proposed law would allow patients to grow and possess limited amounts of marijuana. Qualifying medical conditions would include cancer, glaucoma, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other serious illnesses. Marijuana dispensaries would also be licensed and subject to regulation by the North Dakota Health Department.
While neighboring Montana currently allows medicinal marijuana under the 2009 Medical Marijuana Act, South Dakota voters rejected similar ballot initiatives in recent years, with 52 percent opposed in 2006 and 63 percent voting against it in 2010.
Dave Schwartz, campaign director for the advocacy group, commented however that attitudes have shifted recently in favor of medical marijuana as many people have had personal contact with someone who has or could have benefited from marijuana’s pain-relieving and anti-nausea effects. “[One] of the myths that we often hear is that this is only for people to just go ahead and get high, and that’s not the case,” Schwartz said. “This is about medical patients who would benefit greatly from it.”
Michigan Marijuana Legalization Runs Low On Signatures, Time
It appears increasingly unlikely that a proposal to legalize marijuana in Michigan will make the ballot in November, but organizers say they haven’t given up.
The effort to collect signatures is continuing, according to Committee for a Safer Michigan organizer Matt Abel. He said he hopes volunteers working on the campaign will submit thousands of signatures in the next few weeks and gain new momentum for the push.
“Unless things change, it looks like we won’t make it,” Abel said Wednesdayd. “Realistically, we have an uphill battle.”
Supporters of the campaign had hoped to build on the momentum of 2008′s ballot proposal which legalized medical marijuana in Michigan. That one was very popular, passing with 63 percent of the vote statewide. It carried every county in the state.
Frustration about court rulings and the unfriendliness of law enforcement to the medical marijuana law and patients were part of what motivated the campaign to legalize cannabis more broadly, according to Abel.
If the ballot proposal falls short this year, there will be continued efforts to make the ballot at a later time, according to Abel.
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Cannabis and LGBT Activists Submit Signatures for Safe Access
Fifteen percent of registered voters in Imperial Beach, California have signed the initiative to overturn the city’s current ban on safe access to medical cannabis and replace it with reasonable regulations.
The Safe Access Ordinance of Imperial Beach, a collaborative effort between Canvass for a Cause, a San Diego based LGBT non-profit, San Diego Americans for Safe Access, and concerned citizens, launched the first ever initiative to regulate safe access to medical cannabis in Imperial Beach. If passed, the measure would repeal the city’s current ban and replace it with strict zoning regulations and operational requirements for medical cannabis dispensing collectives and cooperatives.
Friday at 11 a.m. representatives from the Safe Access IB campaign submitted more than 1500 valid signatures to the Imperial Beach City Clerk, enough to qualify the initiative for a special election.
“Our goal is to qualify enough signatures to put this ordinance on the November 2012 ballot,” said Rachel Scoma, attorney and treasurer for Safe Access of IB. “To ensure this happens, we are submitting enough signatures to qualify for a Special Election — this means, if officials from Imperial Beach drag their feet qualifying the initiative, they will have to spend thousands of dollars for a Special Election sometime next year.
“Through our own internal verification process we know these are all registered, Imperial Beach residents,” Scoma said. “We don’t want to, but we are ready to take legal action in defending the signatures.”
Since the start of the campaign, activists have gathered more than 2,600 signatures from individuals living in Imperial Beach, 600 more than originally planned and have spent less then $ 5,000 on the signature gathering effort.
“The support in Imperial Beach was overwhelming. Residents from both sides of the aisle are concerned about patients having safe access to their medication. This initiative will give an opportunity for voters in Imperial Beach to decide whether they want regulations that bring safe access for patients as well as create a safe community or allow city council to continue to criminalize the most vulnerable members of our community through an unconstitutional ban,” said Eugene Davidovich, chair of San Diego Americans for Safe Access.
For more information, you can visit the Safe Access IB campaign website or contact the campaign directly at safeaccessib@gmail.com, telephone 619-755-2093.
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Oregon Cannabis Tax Act Makes Early Turn-In Of Signatures
The Oregon Cannabis Tax Act 2012 initiative petition on Friday turned in 27,401 signatures from the month of April, exceeding the minimum number of signatures for a statutory ballot measure by more than 2,000 signatures.
“We are continuing our petition drive,” said initiative sponsor Paul Stanford of OCTA 2012. “We estimate that, on Monday, May 14th, another 10,000 signatures to be turned in to our office by petitioners that are gathered this week, and at least 10,000 more in each subsequent week.”
“OCTA 2012′s signature drive momentum is building,” Stanford said. “We will turn in more than 150,000 signatures by July 6th to exceed the 87,213 valid registered Oregon voters’ signatures needed and ensure qualification for the Oregon ballot in November 2012.”
Here is the ballot title, question and summary that, should it qualify, will appear on Oregon ballots on November 6, 2012:
Allows personal marijuana, hemp cultivation/use without license; commission to regulate commercial marijuana cultivation/sale
Result of a “Yes” Vote: ”Yes” vote allows commercial marijuana (cannabis) cultivation/sale to adults through state-licensed stores; allows unlicensed adult personal cultivation/use; prohibits restrictions on hemp (defined).
Result of a “No” Vote: ”No” vote retains existing civil and criminal laws prohibiting cultivation, possession and delivery of marijuana; retains current statutes that permit regulated medical use of marijuana.
Summary: Currently, marijuana cultivation, possession and delivery are prohibited; regulated medical marijuana use is permitted. Measure replaces state, local marijuana laws except medical marijuana and driving under the influence laws; distinguishes “hemp” from “marijuana”; prohibits regulation of hemp. Creates commission to license marijuana cultivation by qualified persons and to purchase entire crop. Commission sells marijuana at cost to pharmacies, medical research facilities, and to qualified adults for profit through state-licensed stores. Ninety percent of net goes to state general fund, remainder to drug education, treatment, hemp promotion. Bans sales to, possession by minors. Bans public consumption except where signs permit, minors barred. Commission regulates use, sets prices, other duties; Attorney General to defend against federal challenges/prosecutions. Provides penalties.Effective January 1, 2013; other provisions.
OCTA 2012 will set aside two percent of the profits from the sale of cannabis in adult-only stores for two new state committees that will promote Oregon industrial hemp biodiesel, fiber and food.
It will also legalize the sale, possession and personal private cultivation of marijuana. People who want to cultivate and sell marijuana, or process commercial psychoactive cannabis, would be required to obtain a license from the state.
Adults could grow their own marijuana and the sale of all cannabis strains’ seeds and starter plants would be legalized with no license, fee nor registration. “The profits from the sale of cannabis to adults will add hundreds of millions of dollars into the state general fund, as well as drug treatment and education,” Stanford said.
“This versatile plant, cannabis, can be put to use as fuel, fiber, medicine, delicious and nutritious food and thousands of other products,” Stanford said. “It will resolve many needs and put Oregon on a path to lead the way toward economic and environmental sustainability.
“Legalizing hemp and cannabis will create tens of thousands of new jobs, revitalize our farming communities, boost tourism, and create millions of dollars in revenue for the state,” Stanford said.
