March 22, 1998

By Gail Kinsey Hill

Note: The article has sidebar included before the main article text, and two photos, one of Paul Loney, attorney of OCTA, the other of Rick Bayer, M.D. of AMR.

MARIJUANA INITIIATIVES GROW LIKE WEEDS

MARIJUANA AND THE BALLOT

In the months ahead, Oregon voters might be asked to sign as many as five initiative petitions involving marijuana, and they already face one referendum on the subject in the Nov. 3 election.

REFERENDUM

This measure was approved by the 1997 Legislature but hasn’t gone into effect because it was sent to the ballot through the referendum process:

*RECRIMINALIZATION: Asks voters whether they want to make possession of less than an ounce of marijuana a Class C misdemeanor, with a maximum sentence of 30 days in jail and a $1,000 fine, and allow a six-month suspension of driving privileges of first-time offenders who don’t complete diversion. Chief petitioners: Michael E. Rose and Todd D. Olson, Portland.

INITIATIVES

Constitutional amendments need 97,681 approved signatures to qualify for the ballot; statutory proposals need 73,261. The secretary of state has approved these petitions for circulation:

*STATE-CONTROLLED SALES: Would permit the sale of marijuana to adults through state liquor stores and replace marijuana laws except DUII. Would have the OLCC license marijuana cultivation by qualified people, buy the crop, and sell it at cost to pharmacies and medical researchers and for profit to qualified adults. Statutory. Chief petitioners: Paul Loney and Douglas P. Stanford, Portland (campaign will pay people to gather signatures).

*ADULT POSSESSION: Would allow the state to regulate but not prohibit adult possession and cultivation of controlled substances. Would require repeal of criminal laws inconsistent with the measure. Would release some inmates or parolees for conduct made legal by the measure. Constitutional amendment. Chief petitioners: Floyd F. Landrath, Portland; Arthur H. Livermore Sr., Arch Cape (will not pay people to gather signatures).

*PRIVATE USE: Would permit people 21 and older to manufacture, possess and consume cannabis, including marijuana, in private. Would not affect laws prohibiting delivery of marijuana. Constitutional amendment. Chief petitioner: Carla B. Newbree, Eugene (will not pay people to gather signatures).

PROPOSALS

These proposals have not been approved:

PRESCRIPTIONS: Would make it legal for medical practitioners to prescribe or provide any herbs, seed-bearing plants and marijuana. Constitutional amendment. Chief petitioner: Stephen M. Sedlacko, Eugene (will not pay petitioners).

*MEDICAL USE: Would allow limited exceptions to laws that prohibit engaging or assisting in medical use of marijuana. Would require that use be necessary to mitigate symptoms or effects of debilitating medical conditions. Statutory. Chief petitioner: Richard Bayer, Portland (will pay people to gather signatures)

This initiative season, Oregonians might decide to inhale.

They certainly will have the opportunity. Petitioners will be pushing as many as five marijuana-related initiatives in the coming months. Three are in circulation. Two more are on the way.

Not in recent history - if ever - has Oregon seen such a potluck of marijuana measures. And not since 1986 has a marijuana initiative qualified for the ballot.

"There are a lot of people in the nation who think Oregon is a hot spot as far as legalization is concerned," said Darin Campbell, a spokesman for the Oregon Association Chiefs of Police, which opposes loosening of drug laws.

The association has set up a campaign committee, Oregonians Against Dangerous Drugs, to battle the initiatives.

Sponsors of the initiatives are optimistic about qualifying their proposals for the Nov. 3 ballot. Signatures must be submitted to the secretary of state by July 2.

Why the effervescence? Sponsors say people have become less patient with ineffective drug laws and more understanding of marijuana’s possible benefits.

"I think the public is becoming more aware," said Floyd Landrath, a Portland resident who is the director of the American Anti-Prohibition League. "They’re paying more attention to drug-related issues."

"We want to reform all drug laws," Landrath said. "We don’t believe prohibition works. The marijuana movement is only a half-step."

Two years ago, Landrath worked on an initiative that dealt exclusively with marijuana. The proposal, sponsored by Portland political activist D. Paul Stanford, would have allowed the sale of marijuana through state liquor stores.

Stanford has been trying since the mid-1980s to put a marijuana initiative on the ballot. He was the petition coordinator of the 1986 measure that would have allowed adults to grow and possess marijuana for personal use. It was overwhelmingly defeated.

Since 1992, Stanford has been pushing the liquor-store version, a statutory, not constitutional change. He claims he has gathered 20,000 of the 73,261 signatures needed.

Stanford said that as more people try marijuana, more understand the need for reform. "They realize that to keep it illegal just isn’t logical," he said.

Initiatives aren’t Stanford’s only political venue. A Democrat, he is running for the Oregon House seat being vacated by Rep. George Eighmey, D-Portland.

Stanford plans to pay people to gather signatures, an increasingly common enterprise.

Landrath said he will rely on volunteers. "We’re going to plug away as best we can," he said. "We don’t have a lot of financial resources to drop."

Neither does Stephen Sedlacko, a driving force behind two other marijuana-related initiatives. He is the sponsor of one that would make it legal for doctors to prescribe marijuana and other seed-bearing plants, and he is the petition coordinator for one that would allow the private use of marijuana.

"For us, it’s a question of individual choice," said Sedlacko, who lives in Eugene.

Perhaps the initiative most likely to reach the ballot is one not in circulation. Filed March 3 by Portland doctor Rick Bayer, it would allow patients with certain illnesses, such as glaucoma, cancer and AIDS, to use marijuana with a doctor’s approval.

Bayer is allied with Americans for Medical Rights, the Santa Monica, Calif., group that backed the medical marijuana initiative approved by California voters in 1996. The group, which counts international financier George Soros among its benefactors, has promised the Oregon campaign money and expertise, Bayer said.

Bayer said he doesn’t approve of the more expansive initiatives, such as the one that would allow sales in liquor stores. "I really don’t want to see marijuana to become the next Budweiser."

Campbell said a survey by the police chiefs association found that among drug-related proposals filed, the medical marijuana initiative is most likely to make the ballot.