Medical Marijuana Celebrate Victory In Attorney General

[Sir X]

Medical Marijuana Advocates Celebrate Victory In Race For Oregon Attorney General
Posted: 05/16/2012 2:19 pm


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FOLLOW: Elections 2012, Elections 2012, Video, 2012 Primaries, Democratic Primaries, Drug Policy Action, Dwight Holton, Election 2012, Ellen Rosenblum, Gov. John Kitzhaber, John Kitzhaber, Reed College, Attorney General, Democratic Primaries 2012, Election 2012, Medical Marijuana Legalization, Medical-Marijuana-Oregon, Oregon Attorney General, Oregon Primary Elections, Pot Advocates, Politics News


Pro-pot groups have reason to celebrate: Ellen Rosenblum, a retired appellate court judge who's been vocal in her support for Oregon's medical marijuana law, beat out former federal prosecutor Dwight Holton in the race for Oregon's attorney general in a landslide victory on Tuesday night.

Rosenblum's easy victory on Tuesday -- she captured 63 percent of the vote to Holton's 36 percent -- highlights the power of the pot lobby as well as the political sway of Oregon's 55,000 registered medical marijuana users.

On her campaign website Rosenblum had promised, "As attorney general, I will make marijuana enforcement a low priority, and protect the rights of medical marijuana patients," winning her the support of drug policy activists statewide.

Drug Policy Action, a driving force behind the passage of Oregon's 1998 medical marijuana law, had thrown its weight behind her campaign, contributing $100,000 to the campaign and to Oregon group Citizens for Sensible Law Enforcement in the final stretches of the campaign. Drug Policy Action ally John Sperling also contributed $100,000 of his personal funds to Rosenblum and CSLE, according to a press release.

“Dwight Holton’s defeat in the Oregon attorney general’s race should be taken as a clear and unambiguous message to U.S. attorneys around the country and to the national Democratic leadership that attacking state-approved medical marijuana programs is not a smart political move," said Jill Harris, managing director of strategic initiatives for Drug Policy Action and Oregon native, in a statement Tuesday night. "Medical marijuana has overwhelming public support ... and organizations like Drug Policy Action will be there to defend patients’ rights to safely access the medicine they need.”

Nearly three-quarters of Americans and more than two-thirds of Republicans believe federal officials should respect state laws on medical marijuana, according to new Mason-Dixon survey of 1,000 likely 2012 general election voters.

Holton -- who served as an interim U.S. attorney from 2010 to 2011, authorizing a handful of controversial raids on pot farms in southern Oregon last fall -- had positioned himself as the law-and-order candidate, receiving support from Oregon district attorneys and county sheriffs as well as many public employee's unions.


If Rosenblum wins in the general election in November as expected -- no Republicans sought the party's nomination -- Rosenblum will become the state's first woman elected attorney general.

She may inherit the seat even before November, as Democratic incumbent John Kroger is leaving to become president of Reed College. Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) will appoint his interim successor, who is required to be a Democrat.

[Sir X]

Marijuana Legalization Advocate Wins Texas Congressional Primary

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by Phillip Smith, May 30, 2012, 02:41am, (Issue #736)
Posted in: Congress Electoral Politics Marijuana -- Personal Use Marijuana Industry Marijuana Legalization Supporters Mexican Drug War News Brief
Former El Paso city councilman Beto O'Rourke has defeated US Rep. Silvestre Reyes in the battle for the Democratic Party nomination for the seat Reyes has held since 1996. According to election results from the Texas Secretary of State's office early Wednesday morning, O'Rourke had picked up 51.3% of the vote to Reyes' 41.3%, meaning O'Rourke also avoids the need for a run-off election.


Beto O'Rourke (betoforcongress.com)
O'Rourke is a vocal drug policy reformer who has specifically called for marijuana legalization, while Reyes, a former Border Patrol official, has built a career on tough on the border and tough on drugs politics.

O'Rourke garnered national attention in 2009, when he championed a council resolution calling for a national conversation on legalizing and regulating drugs as a possible solution to the drug cartel violence just over El Paso's border in Mexico. The mayor vetoed the unanimously-passed resolution and the council was set to override the veto until Congressman Reyes threatened that the city would lose federal funding if it insisted on pushing the legalization conversation. The override vote failed, but O'Rourke has managed to use the issue as a launching pad for his campaign against what had been a heavily-favored incumbent.

O'Rourke has spoken eloquently of the violence in Mexico and its roots in drug prohibition, including at Drug Policy Alliance conferences, and is the coauthor, along with fellow El Paso city council member Susie Byrd, of Dealing Death and Drugs: The Big Business of Dope in the US and Mexico, which calls explicitly for marijuana legalization.

"O'Rourke's victory demonstrates that support for drug policy reform, and even for legalizing marijuana, is no detriment to electoral success - in fact it was a key asset in his triumph," said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of Drug Policy Action, the Alliance's campaign and lobbying arm.. "Reyes' surprising defeat, meanwhile, shows that kneejerk support for persisting with failed drug war tactics can hurt politicians at the ballot box."

Earlier this month, the Democratic primary for Attorney General in Oregon featured a similar dynamic. Ellen Rosenblum won a surprising victory over favorite Dwight Holton, in a race in which medical marijuana became a major issue. Rosenblum is supportive of patients' right to safe and legal access to medical marijuana, while her opponent, former Interim U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton, is sharply critical of the program. Although Holton was heavily favored early in the race, he was targeted for defeat by supporters of medical marijuana after actively trying to undermine responsible state regulation. With no Republican filing for the office, Rosenblum is all but certain to be the state's next attorney general.

"Beto O'Rourke's congressional victory in Texas, coming on the heels of Ellen Roseblum's victory in Oregon's attorney general race, shows that drug policy reform is no longer a third rail in American politics," said Jill Harris, managing director of strategic initiatives for Drug Policy Action. "In both of those races, the candidates' views on marijuana reform were used against them in attacks by their opponents - and in both cases, the voters supported the pro-reform candidate. A majority of Americans now favor treating marijuana like alcohol, and strong majorities of both Democrats and Republicans say the federal government should not interfere with state medical marijuana laws. From blue states like Oregon to red states like Texas, it's a new day for the politics of drug policy reform."
Having won the Democratic primary, O'Rourke is well placed for a victory in November in this solidly Democratic district that has sent Reyes to Washington eight times. But now, it's a drug reformer El Paso is likely to send to Congress, not a drug warrior.

(This article was published by StoptheDrugWar.org's lobbying arm, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also shares the cost of maintaining this web site. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)

El Paso, TX
United States

[Sir X]

I guess they are smoking too much air , or chewing too much bubble gum.Scientic fact that too much air damages the brain and chewing too much gum wares the teeth down , both lead to neurological problems if abused.

[Sir X]

I said it here 1st , America is going to legalise ganja patent it and sell it back to us.....MEMBA X TELL YUH!

[Jangle]

I am with you on this one X.

[Sir X]

Bloomberg Backs Plan to Limit Arrests for Marijuana
By THOMAS KAPLAN
Published: June 4, 2012 117 Comments
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Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said on Monday that he would support a proposal by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to significantly curb the number of people who could be arrested for marijuana possession as a result of police stops.
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Mr. Cuomo plans to urge lawmakers to change state law to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana in public view, an offense that critics say leads to unfair charges against thousands of people who are ordered to empty their pockets during police stops that have proliferated under the Bloomberg administration's stop-and-frisk practice.

Mr. Bloomberg, whose administration had previously defended low-level marijuana arrests as a way to deter more serious crime, said in a statement that the governor’s proposal “strikes the right balance” in part because it would still allow the police to arrest people who were smoking marijuana in public.

Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, plans to hold a news conference at the Capitol on Monday to announce his plans to seek the change in state law. Administration officials said the governor would seek to downgrade the possession of 25 grams or less of marijuana in public view from a misdemeanor to a violation, with a maximum fine of $100 for first-time offenders.

Mr. Bloomberg said his police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, would attend the governor’s news conference “to show our support for his proposal.”

“We look forward to working with legislative leaders to help pass a bill before the end of session,” the mayor said, referring to this year’s legislative session in Albany, which is scheduled to conclude in three weeks.

In his statement, the mayor noted that last September, Mr. Kelly issued a memorandum to officers clarifying that they were not to arrest people who take small amounts of marijuana out of their pockets after being stopped by the police.

Mr. Bloomberg said that the governor’s proposal was “consistent with the commissioner’s directive.”

“Thanks to the N.Y.P.D., our city has come a long way from the days when marijuana was routinely sold and smoked on our streets without repercussions,” the mayor said.

Critics of the Police Department’s marijuana-arrest policies have complained that Mr. Kelly’s memorandum has had little effect, citing data that showed only a modest decrease in low-level marijuana arrests after it was issued.

[Gamma]

Is nightshade illegal?