Columbia, Missouri--VOTE PASSES!

[jethro]

US MO: Pot Advocates Hope Third Try Proves Charm
by Dave Moore, of the Tribune's staff, (23 Oct 2004) Columbia Daily Tribune Missouri

Two Marijuana Issues on Columbia Ballot

Penny and Joseph Brotherton live next door to Tina Edholm in a west Columbia neighborhood, but they're miles apart over two initiatives on the Nov. 2 ballot to reduce penalties for marijuana possession in the city.

Edholm will vote against the ballot initiatives for the following reason: "After working with individuals who have had substantial marijuana use, I've seen how it can destroy their lives. They lack initiative and concern for their personal well-being."

The Brothertons say that the ballot issues would have police treat marijuana as what it is: a natural drug safer than alcohol.

Proposition 1 would allow seriously ill people to use marijuana with the permission of their doctors. If arrested, the highest fine they would have to pay is $50.

Proposition 2 would make all misdemeanor marijuana arrests civil matters in municipal court that would net at the most a $250 fine and result in no criminal record.

The group that placed both issues on the ballot, Columbia Alliance for Patients and Education, or CAPE, promotes Proposition 2 as a means for students to keep their government grants even if they are arrested for having small amounts of marijuana. Both proposals involve marijuana weighing up to 1 1/4 ounces.

Several prospective voters questioned by the Tribune were unaware of details of either proposal.

CAPE claims several reasons to be optimistic. The ballot issues have:

. Won endorsements from the board of directors of the Columbia League of Women Voters.

. Attracted a $50,000 campaign contribution from the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, which publicizes initiatives to reduce or eliminate penalties for marijuana possession.

. The potential to benefit from young voters casting ballots in the presidential election.

. No organized opposition. That's a contrast with last year, when a similar proposition on the city ballot drew opposition from local, state and federal officials. That ballot issue failed 58 percent to 42 percent; a 1985 marijuana proposition in the city failed 57 percent to 43 percent.

Columbia attorney Dan Viets, a leader of CAPE, argues that voting for the measure only codifies existing Columbia police policy.

Police Chief Randy Boehm, however, said both propositions differ from his policies. Boehm adopted a rule in April 2003, directing practically all cases involving just first-time misdemeanor marijuana possession to municipal court, where violators are subject to fines but not criminal records.

Boehm said Columbia police sometimes send second- or third-time offenders to state court. They also combine marijuana charges with other charges that are sent to state courts, and they automatically send marijuana cases to state court if they're connected with search warrants.

The incongruity between the marijuana initiatives and Boehm's policy is just one example of many hurdles that proponents face in getting their issues passed.

That's why Viets is working with University of Missouri-Columbia students to spread the word at forums in Columbia.

He and others are also are rallying support from patients and students, who arguably stand the most to gain if the initiatives should pass. Among them is Christy Welliver, who suffers from multiple sclerosis.

Welliver told the Tribune she has friends with MS who moved to Columbia from California and learned they could no longer legally purchase marijuana to treat muscle spasms related to the disease.

In California, patients older than 18 in several cities can receive medical marijuana cards allowing them to buy marijuana at authorized outlets. Ten states have legalized the medicinal use of marijuana, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML.

While Welliver said she doesn't use marijuana, she said her legs recently started to suffer from spasms, making it difficult to bend them to conform to her wheelchair in the daytime and difficult to straighten her legs so she can sleep at night.

Welliver and others also argue in favor of Proposition 2, saying the penalty of having a state or federal criminal record outweighs the seriousness of being caught with a little bit of marijuana. They contend that pulling grants from students can force them out of college.

Proposition proponents readily cite research to argue that reducing penalties for its possession wouldn't make marijuana use more common and that marijuana is less addictive than nicotine and alcohol.

Despite the absence of a counterpunch to CAPE, one local opponent believes the measure will fail again because core beliefs in Columbia aren't consistent with either proposition.

"I don't see much sense in decriminalizing it," said Kim Dude, who is director of the MU Wellness Resource Center but offered a personal opinion. Marijuana use "has an effect on short-term memory and has an effect on motivation, and both of those would be harmful to the college students."

[Lilli]

[jethro]

MARIJUANA MEASURES PASS HANDILY

Columbia voters did a dramatic about-face on marijuana yesterday, approving two measures that forbid police from arresting people for possessing small amounts of the drug.

Two ballot measures, which mirror a similar measure that failed 10,461-7,629 in April 2003, easily passed during yesterday's voting deluge.

Proposition 1, which allows seriously ill adults to use marijuana with permission from their physicians, passed with 32,945, or 69 percent, of the votes, compared with 14,541 votes against. Proposition 2, which limits all small-quantity marijuana arrests to a maximum $250 fine in municipal court with no criminal record, passed with 61 percent of the vote, 28,723-18,544.

"I have some cases in court tomorrow where this could apply," said Dan Viets, a Columbia lawyer and member of Columbia Alliance for Patients and Education, or CAPE, which obtained the 2,275 valid signatures needed to place the issue on yesterday's ballot.

Viets spoke at about 10 p.m., with about 60 percent of the vote in, to CAPE members gathered at The Old Heidelberg last night.

The measures deal with possession of up to 1 ounces of marijuana and call on city prosecutors to direct offenders to drug education classes or community service rather than issue fines.

Promoters of the propositions pushed to place the issues on yesterday's ballot because of the heavy voter turnout general elections bring. Earlier marijuana votes occurred during off-season elections. In addition to the April 2003 measure, a similar proposal lost in 1985 by 828 votes - 57 percent to 43 percent.

Last night, Viets expressed surprise that both measures passed by such wide margins. But the political landscape differed dramatically from earlier elections. In spring 2003, both the federal government and the federally funded Missouri Association of Community Task Forces lined up to attack the proposition, which would have eased marijuana laws in a similar fashion to Proposition 1 and Proposition 2.

CAPE, meanwhile, attracted $50,000 in donations from the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project and used the money to advertise the two propositions.

Also, drives to encourage people to vote attracted voters who helped pass the initiatives, said Amanda Broz, treasurer of CAPE. She said the issue attracted several crossover Republicans who voted for Bush-Cheney on the presidential ticket.

"It's an issue of privacy rights," Broz said. "A person should be able to put into their body what they want to, as long as it doesn't harm somebody else."

Columbia Police Chief Randy Boehm spoke against the ballot initiatives, saying their passage would send a signal that it's OK to smoke marijuana, but he didn't actively campaign against the measure.

"I'm disappointed, but our job is to enforce the law as it is," Boehm said. "The community has spoken, so that's what we're going to do. I've spoken to both the city law department and the prosecuting attorney, and there will be a meeting in the next few days regarding how the misdemeanor marijuana cases will be handled."

A precinct-by-precinct review shows nearly a complete reversal of the community's position on marijuana. In April 2003, the marijuana proposition lost in 29 of 44 Columbia precincts; it was soundly defeated in every precinct in the Second and Fifth wards.

This year, the medical marijuana proposition won in every precinct, and Proposition 2 lost by narrow margins in only eight precincts. Both measures gained strong support in the Third Ward at Memorial Baptist Church on Paris Road, where the April 2003 measure narrowly won.



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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake

[Mystic Power]

I have to agree with Chief Boehm.

[Mystic Power]

I have to agree with Chief Boehm.

[Lilli]

:


_________________

I pass to you the torch that Christ once passed to me.
Others are still in the dark and need
the light to see.
"I AM"
"Gathering the fragments so that
none are lost"
His Shepherdess
http://missouri.thcministry.org/

[jethro]

Both Pot Propositions Pass by a Large Margin
by Luke DiStefano, (03 Nov 2004) Columbia Missourian Missouri

With a Doctor's Consent, Chronically Ill Patients Can Legally Use Marijuana.

With the passage of two marijuana-related initiatives Tuesday, Columbia voters have placed the city on the progressive edge of drug-law reform in the United States.

With more than half the ballots tallied, voters were approving Proposition 1 69 percent to 31 percent as of press time. The measure makes it legal for chronically ill patients to possess and use marijuana with a doctor's consent. Physicians who prescribe marijuana to patients will no longer face arrest and prosecution.

Supporters of the measure were elated with the results, which represent a landmark in Missouri.

"This result shows that these issues aren't partisan; people recognize that these laws affect all of us," said Amber Langston, campaign manager for the Columbia Alliance for Patients and Education, one of the initiative's sponsors.

The ordinance that will now go into effect, however, does not include a way for patients to lawfully acquire marijuana, meaning they will still be forced to purchase the drug on the street. Proponents are hoping to introduce a bill in the General Assembly that would allow patients who have been prescribed marijuana by a doctor to obtain the drug legally.

"Hopefully, a statewide medical initiative would be the next step," said Jim Bob Schell, a member of the MU chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "It's nice that people in Columbia want this, but we need to keep it going."

Proponents were optimistic that legislators would be supportive.

"I'm hopeful that people are compassionate to the seriously ill," said the organization's president, Amanda Broz.

Proposition 2, a decriminalization initiative stipulating that misdemeanor marijuana cases be tried in Municipal Court and punishable by a maximum fine of $250, was passing 60 percent to 40 percent.

Schell hailed its passage as a victory in the war against what some see as unfair drug laws.

"What ( its passage ) says is that people of Columbia believe possession shouldn't be a jailable offense," Schell said. "And it certainly shouldn't minimize somebody's ability to go to college."

Proposition 2 was drafted in response to the Higher Education Act, a 1998 law that revokes federal education funding for anyone convicted of a drug-related charge.

Voters turned out in droves to support the medical initiative. Guy Marsh brought a uniquely personal angle to the polls.

"I used to have to sneak my mother some pot when she was in chemotherapy to help with her nausea," he said after casting a "yes" vote for Proposition 1.

Wes Wingate, who voted for both of the initiatives, was one of those affectedby the Higher Education Act.

"I actually lost my financial aid, and that was a big part of it for me," Wingate said. "Columbia can be the first to have more reasonable laws. That says a lot about our town."

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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake

[jethro]

Ya movin' to Columbia, Lilli??

[Lilli]

I told a friend Property just went up in Columbia ... It will be a mecca for the ill. Watch that city grow. lol.
_________________

I pass to you the torch that Christ once passed to me.
Others are still in the dark and need
the light to see.
"I AM"
"Gathering the fragments so that
none are lost"
His Shepherdess
http://missouri.thcministry.org/

[Rev. Chazman]

Now is the time to use the example of the good folks of Columbia as a template to spread the goodness to the rest of the state.

Peace
_________________
I praise good thoughts, good words, and good deeds and those that are to be thought, spoken, and done. I do accept all good thoughts, good words, and good deeds. I do renounce all evil thoughts, evil words, and evil deeds. ---Avesta: Yasna
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Future Servant of Cannatopia ©2004 - ∞ Rev. Chazman all rights reserved

[jethro]

It will be interesting to see how they implement the medical mj laws and caregivers. Also, if the Feds will intervene.

[Lilli]