Prop. 19: More Than a Nickel Bag of Opinions
http://www.ocweekly.com/2010-10-21/news/proposition-19-medical-marjuana-legalization
Six leading OC medical-marijuana and pot-legalization advocates leave
no turn unstoned in examining the ballot initiative
By NICK SCHOU
Oct 21 2010
About the only thing anyone can agree on when it comes to Proposition
19 is that it would allow any California resident 21 years and older
to possess up to an ounce of marijuana for recreational purposes. Of
course, that's not all the ballot initiative would do, assuming its
myriad other provisionslike the one saying people can only grow 5
square feet of pot plants or the one providing stiff jail terms to
people who knowingly sell weed to kidswithstand post-electoral
legislative amendments and court challenges. Depending on whom you
ask, Prop. 19 would either send a powerful message to both Sacramento
and Capitol Hill that the seemingly never-ending war on drugs has
been an abject failure, or it would open the floodgates to a massive
epidemic of marijuana use, with stoned teenagers dozing off in class
and high-as-a-kite motorists creating carnage on freeways from Eureka
to San Diego.
Leaving the doomsayers aside, the more interesting and important
debate over Prop. 19 pits advocates of marijuana legalization and
drug-war reform against folks who have a vested interest in the 1996
Compassionate Use Act (also known as Proposition 215), which famously
opened the door to what's now a burgeoning industry providing medical
marijuana to anyone with a valid doctor's recommendation. With that
divide in mind, we talked to a half-dozen local legalization
advocates and medical-marijuana experts to find out what they make of
Prop. 19 and how they'll vote come Nov. 2.
--
Kandice Hawes,
President of OCNORML
Few people are more passionately in favor of Prop. 19 than Hawes. The
president of the Orange County chapter of NORML (National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Law) first became an
activist when she was arrested in 2003 and charged with felony pot
possession during a road trip to Las Vegas. The bust ended the
then-Cal State Fullerton student's government-funded college
scholarship. Since then, Hawes has tirelessly worked to end the
government's campaign against marijuana, a crusade she says she's
willing to continue for the rest of her life if necessary.
I think Prop. 19 is the most important issue on this ballot. We
haven't had an initiative like this since 1972and it was also called
Prop. 19, coincidentally. If this doesn't pass, we won't have a
chance like this for 20 years. We don't have the fund-raising ability
to do it again. We have this chance now. Governor [Arnold]
Schwarzenegger recently signed a bill making possession of an ounce
just an infraction. He did that so people won't vote for Prop. 19.
It's a political move. Even the Democrats are starting to watch this
movement and see how it is mobilizing young people to vote, people
who are possible Democrats, and they are seeing movement to do this
in other states. This will keep people out of jail and save money for
our state. And people in the medical-marijuana community are starting
to come around and support Prop. 19. They're worried people won't
want to get recommendations, but people will want to have more than 1
ounce, so the medical-marijuana industry will survive. It's important
for everyone to be open-minded and vote yes on Prop 19.
--
Chadd McKeen,
Owner of OtherSide Farms
McKeen, who was the subject of a Weekly cover story earlier this year
(see Matt Coker's "Growing Pains," May 21) is one of the most
opinionated voices in the medical-marijuana community. He and his
wife, Alysha, both of whom are medical-marijuana patients, intended
to open a dispensary in Costa Mesa; the city, however, banned such
businesses. They opted instead to open a farm inside a former jewelry
store, where they teach other patients how to grow their own medicine
rather than pay for it, something that hasn't exactly pleased folks
who own and operate dispensaries or medical-marijuana-delivery services.
At first, I was very much for Prop. 19, and then I found out things
about how it was written. There needs to be clarification on how it
will affect medical marijuana. Then again, it doesn't matter what
happens in California because it's still illegal under federal law,
and that's why you can only get a doctor's recommendation because you
can't prescribe a Schedule 1 drug. If you go on the [Drug Enforcement
Administration] website, marijuana is up there with heroin. Schedule
2 is crack cocaine, speed, ice, and I don't care where you come from,
but I think you can all agree crack and speed are not safer than
marijuana. Did you know you can write a prescription for crack
cocaine? Well, according to the DEA, you can. We need to remove
marijuana from Schedule 1. If you can write a prescription, you can
go fill it, and then marijuana can be sold legally.
Besides, Governor Schwarzenegger just decriminalized marijuana by
making it just a ticket for under an ounce, so what's the point?
[Orange County Superior Court Judge] Jim Gray told me, "Chad, the
bottom line is, it's a step in the right direction; we can make
changes later on." I agree with that, but I am fearful that if it
does pass, it will get completely out of control. Everyone will want
to buy or grow marijuana. It won't hurt my business; everyone will be
in my class. Kids will be growing it. What works well now is that
there is still a taboo on marijuana, so it is kept down low, down in
your pocket. Now, people will want to smoke out, like walk out of a
bar and smoke half a joint, and then throw it on the ground, and
little Bobby or Jimmy will walk up and take it. People will be
stealing it, jumping over fences and ripping off plants. I'm not sure
which way I'm going to vote. It could come down to the wire.
--
Sean Breen,
Medical-Marijuana Doctor
Based in Irvine, Breen is a former Navy Corpsman who saw combat
during the Iraq war. A New York native, he moved to California
specifically to establish a practice specializing in writing
recommendations for medical marijuana. When he was first contacted by
the Weekly to participate in this survey, he expressed strong
opposition to Prop. 19.
Is it going to be the worst thing in the world if marijuana is
legalized in California? No, but if Prop. 19 didn't leave it up to
the individual cities to decide whether to allow it, it would be much
better. But from a pure medical-marijuana perspective, I think you
will see a lot of dispensaries and doctors go away. About 65 percent
of medical-marijuana users are really recreational users anyway. From
a purely selfish standpoint, I'd want to keep it illegal to have
people keep going to clinics, but that's selfish.
I called the Yes on 19 campaign yesterday and asked, "If marijuana
goes legal, will medical-marijuana collectives be able to sell to
anyone, or will they still require people to have doctor's
recommendations?" They couldn't answer the question because they said
it will be up to the cities to decide what to do. Is Irvine going to
allow this? I see this debate going on forever until they actually
have concrete laws on this. If it's legal to drive 55 mph in
California, it's legal in the whole state; you can't have this be
legal in Oakland and illegal in Irvine.
I'll probably vote for it, even though up until now I've been against
it, but only because it is kind of ridiculous that you can't come
home and take a couple of hits off a pipe and go to sleep legally.
But that'll probably do our clinics in. But here's where I am right
now: I don't care either way. I don't smoke pot, so it doesn't affect
me. If it goes legal and clinics can't survive, I'll do something else.
Everybody wants marijuana to be legalized. There are no people
working in dispensaries who want people arrested, but they want to
feed their kids; they have spent the past five years building a
medical-marijuana clientele. That's the only reason they want to keep
it the way it is. Any other reason is just bullshit.
--
Chris Glew,
Attorney
When he isn't appearing in court on behalf of marijuana growers or
smokers who've been arrested for possessing too much marijuana, Glew
is usually there arguing on behalf of dispensary owners fighting
lawsuits filed by cities seeking to ban their businesses. In his free
time, he fields emergency phone calls from growers and dispensary
owners being raided by police. Glew, who doesn't smoke pot, works out
of his law office in Santa Ana, Glew & Kim, and credits his busy
schedule to the vagueness of current medical-marijuana laws, a
problem he says may only be exacerbated by the passage of Prop. 19.
I think Prop. 19 represents an opportunity for people to express
their feelings about marijuana being illegal, and it's a good outlet
for people to come out and say they are opposed to the prohibition on
marijuana. I'm a tweener; I'm standing on the fence. Prop. 19 creates
a lot of problems because it is another ambiguous law that will
create a lot of legal controversy. The biggest issue I have is it is
only legalizing possession of 1 ounce, which is now only a $100 fine,
and that is a far cry from legalization. It's a feeble attempt in the
overall effort.
Right now, only medical-marijuana patients are allowed to possess a
"reasonable" quantity of marijuana. Under the new law, there is a
1-ounce-possession limit that will be for recreational use only. But
you often find when setting standards for amounts of marijuana
possession that people will start to cite new standards, and now,
conservative prosecutors and judges might start to reference 1 ounce
as the limit for everyone. I'm not saying you should vote no just
because it says 1 ounce, but I am leery about how it would affect
medical-marijuana patients.
However, it's hard to criticize any positive momentum, and one can
only hope and pray that all legal issues from the passage or
non-passage of 19 are determined in our favor. But I'm a pessimist
because I've seen how the Compassionate Use Act has been
conservatively construed in California by judges. I represent a broad
spectrum of clients from collectives and growers to cancer patients
and everyone in between. Ninety percent of people who ask me about
the bill say it will legalize marijuana, and I say no, it will
legalize just an ounce. The unfortunate consequence of that
restriction is that a lot of people will find themselves out with a
pound and will think they are complying with the lawto their own detriment.
--
Jim Gray,
Retired OC Superior Court Judge
Perhaps the most famous drug-legalization advocate in the country who
comes from a law-enforcement background, Gray spent years as a judge
presiding over drug-related offenses before he came to the conclusion
the war on drugs was an unqualified disaster. A former Republican,
Gray ran on the Libertarian ticket for the U.S. Senate in 2004,
losing to Barbara Boxer. Not surprisingly, he supports Prop. 19.
Passing Prop. 19 would send the message that we are going to regulate
and control marijuana and take revenue and control away from juvenile
gangs and Mexican cartels and give that power to municipalities,
which will make marijuana less available to children than it is
today. You can ask anyone under the age of 21, and they will tell you
it's easier for them to get marijuana than alcohol because people who
sell marijuana don't ask for identification. We will make marijuana
less available.
This race is going to be close, and we're going to need every vote we
can get. I believe it is one of the most important elections of my
lifetime. It will sweep the country when it passes in California and
will lead to the repeal of marijuana prohibition, which has been such
a complete failure. I have heard from the opposition that this will
be a disaster for medical marijuana, but that's a separate issue and
has nothing to do with Prop 19. That has to do with Prop. 215.
People vote for their own economic self-interest, and people in the
dispensary business know full well they will lose their business.
That's fine, but it's not a reason for others to vote against it. The
key question I have not been able to answer if Prop. 19 passes is
whether my two stepsons will be out of business. Why? Because they
sell medical marijuana.
--
Jeff Byrne,
Marijuana Grower, President of the Orange County Director's Alliance
Byrne's OCDA is a group of Costa Mesa dispensary owners, which
includes recent Weekly cover-story subject and City Council candidate
Sue Lester (see "The Cannabis Candidate," Oct. 1). Earlier this year,
the group filed a lawsuit against the city, which prohibits the
operation of dispensaries, demanding Costa Mesa cease
code-enforcement actions against its members. Unlike many
medical-marijuana providers, Byrne says he plans to vote in favor of Prop. 19.
I know the recreational user is hiding in the closet. When they get
in the voting booth, they will come out of the closet. I think it's a
poorly written law, and it's just going to bring on the lawsuits, and
we will sort it out in court. We'll just have to plug forward. It
doesn't really change anybody's way of doing business except for law
enforcement and the way the state pulls in taxes. It won't change my
business or the way I am serving my patients, but it will put the
cities in the position of having to do something to make sure it's
happening properly. I try not to worry about it because I have no
control over it.
The only people who are against Prop. 19 are in the medical-marijuana
industry and are scared of Philip Morris taking over. That's the most
foolish, myopic argument, and I hear it every day. If Philip Morris
wanted cannabis to be legal, they'd make it legal. They sell poison
that kills people and have no problem with that. They don't care;
they are too busy making millions of dollars on poison. It doesn't
make any sense to think Philip Morris wants in on this business.
Currently, my distribution is a closed-circuit deal of patients. Now,
all of a sudden, will I be able to give it to anyone over 21 if I
just swipe their driver's license? That's the kind of stuff we will
sort out in court. But anybody who already wants cannabis can get
cannabis today, right now, within half an hour. So it's really about
community control. This law puts it back on the cities to decide how
the production and distribution of cannabis will be handled. Will it
be a black market, or will it be regulated? Who knows?
In my gut, I think it's going to be a landslide in favor of Prop. 19.
I am going to vote yes and let it get sorted out in court. Let's just
push forward. It's going to be a big messand a great windfall for
the attorneys out there.
--
[email protected]
--
This article appeared in print as "The Pot Prop: Local pro-marijuana
advocates remain divided on Proposition 19."
.
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