Oregon 2014 Marijuana Legalization Initiative Likely

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #798)

Oregon activists organized as New Approach Oregon will try to put a marijuana legalization initiative on the November 2014 ballot, the leader of the group told the Willamette Week this week. The move comes after an effort in the legislature to put the issue before voters didn't bear fruit.

[image:1 align:right]"Our coalition is moving forward with a legalization measure to end cannabis prohibition in Oregon in the 2014 election," said New Approach Oregon director Anthony Johnson.

Johnson said the Oregonians were working with Drug Policy Alliance(DPA), a move that should help with funding. Fundraising was a key shortcoming of the failed 2012 marijuana legalization Measure 80 initiative campaign headed by Paul Stanford.

Stanford filed two new initiatives in June, but it's not clear if he's going to move forward with them.

"DPA will help us draft the measure that we'll move forward in 2014," Johnson said.

The move comes after New Approach Oregon, DPA and a group of Oregon political insiders were unable to move House Bill 3371. Lawmakers could have referred that marijuana legalization bill to the voters, but declined to do so.

Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

Comments

TrebleBass (not verified)

washinton 2012, oregon in 2014, and then the big one, california, in 2016. the entire west coast, and by then it's possible british columbia will have legalized too. it would be cool if baja california did it too. and in fact, alaska will probably legalize soon as well. that would be the entire west coast from alaska to baja california (i checked a map, the yukon doesn't really have any coastline). and then the three countries could have a nafta-type agreement where, just for marijuana, federally illegal drugs are allowed to cross the border but only between those states that have legalized it. then, they could turn a blind eye to the exportation from those states to the rest of the states in each of the three countries and you could have one giant block of free trade in marijuana from all three countries sourcing the rest all three countries. The prices would drop dramatically in all three, even if most of the states of all three still have prohibition. And crime would go down along with the price. 

Thu, 08/29/2013 - 8:25pm Permalink

Add new comment


Source URL: https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2013/aug/28/oregon_2014_marijuana_legalizati