Up in Smoke
By Tom Forbes at July 2nd, 2010.Bummer, man. There’s no hope for dope. Jerry (Garcia)’s kids will have to wait until at least 2012 to celebrate 420 legally:
Initiative 1068 organizers say they won’t have enough signatures to qualify their measure for the ballot.
The proposal would have removed state civil and criminal penalties for persons 18 years or older who cultivate, possess, transport, sell, or use marijuana.
Ballot measures need at least 241,153 valid signatures of registered Washington voters to make the ballot and the Secretary of State recommends at least 300,000 as a buffer.
Philip Dawdy, campaign director for the initiative, blamed the cold and rainy spring. “We ran into a lot of problems with the mechanics just because of the weather,” he said.
The weather?? Anyways, Dwight Pelz and the leadership of the Washington State Democratic Party must be breathing a sigh of relief. I-1068 was endorsed from the floor by Democrats at last weekend’s state convention in Vancouver. Pelz had previously stated that maijuana legalization was not a “high priority issue” (no pun intended I’m sure) for Democrats. No doubt. Regardless of research concerning increased voter turnout for progressive candidates with both an income tax and pot legalization initiatives on the ballot this November, I wouldn’t want to be an incumbent Democrat running in this year with that kind of baggage.
Tags: Dwight Pelz, I-1068, Marijuana, Washington State Democratic Party
Tom Forbes
Tom lives in Pullman and is managing editor of the Washington conservative political blog Palousitics (www.palousitics.net)
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One need not travel to China to find indigenous cultures lacking human rights. America leads the world in percentile behind bars, thanks to the ongoing open season on hippies, commies, and non-whites in the war on drugs. Cops get good performance reviews for shooting Phish-fans in a barrel. If we’re all about spreading liberty abroad, then why mix the message at home? Peace on the home front would enhance global credibility.
The drug czar’s Rx for prison fodder costs dearly, as lives are flushed down expensive tubes. My shaman’s second opinion is that psychoactive plants are God’s gift. Behold, it’s all good. When Eve ate the apple, she knew a good apple, and an evil prohibition. Canadian Marc Emery was extradited to prison for helping American farmers reduce U. S. demand for Mexican pot.
The CSA (Controlled Substances Act of 1970) reincarnates Al Capone, endangers homeland security, and throws good money after bad. Fiscal policy burns tax dollars to root out the number-one cash crop in the land, instead of taxing sales. Society rejected the plague of prohibition, but it mutated. Apparently, SWAT teams don’t need no stinking amendment.
Nixon passed the CSA on the false assurance that the Schafer Commission would later justify criminalizing his enemies, but he underestimated Schafer’s integrity. No amendments can assure due process under an anti-science law without due process itself. Psychology hailed the breakthrough potential of LSD, until the CSA shut down research, and pronounced that marijuana has no medical use.
The RFRA (Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993) allows Native American Church members to eat peyote, which functions like LSD. Americans shouldn’t need a specific church membership or an act of Congress to obtain their birthright freedom of religion. God’s children’s free exercise of religious liberty may include entheogen sacraments to mediate communion with Him.
Freedom of speech presupposes freedom of thought. The Constitution doesn’t enumerate any governmental power to embargo diverse states of mind. How and when did government usurp this power to coerce conformity? The Mayflower sailed to escape coerced conformity. Legislators who would limit cognitive liberty lack jurisdiction.
Common-law holds that adults are the legal owners of their own bodies. The Founding Fathers undersigned that the right to the pursuit of happiness is inalienable. Socrates said to know your self. Mortal lawmakers should not presume to thwart the intelligent design that molecular keys unlock spiritual doors. Persons who appreciate their own free choice of path in life should tolerate seekers’ self-exploration. Liberty is prerequisite for tracking drug-use intentions and outcomes.