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April 10, 2012–The Regulate Marijuana Like Wine Act of 2012 (Tracking Number 1516), a ballot initiative sponsored by Judge James P. Gray, William McPike, Stephen Collett, Steve Kubby, and the Regulate Marijuana Like Wine Committee failed to collect enough valid signatures to be placed on California’s November 2012 ballot.
Four other California marijuana legalization initiatives, however, are still collecting signatures:
- The Marijuana Penalties Act of 2012 (Tracking Number 1518)
- The Repeal Cannabis Prohibition Act of 2012 (Tracking Number 1524)
- The Cannabis Hemp and Health Initiative 2012 (Tracking Number 1544), and
- The Medical Marijuana Regulation, Control, and Taxation Act (Tracking Number 1571), which legalizes the production, distribution, and sale of medical marijuana and prohibits state and local law enforcement agencies from helping federal agencies enforce the Controlled Substances Act and other federal laws.
Two years ago, California voters turned down Proposition 19, which would have legalized marijuana for recreational use. It lost by a slim margin (54/46). Ironically, voters in two other states may beat California legalization advocates at their game. The Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act of 2012 has made it to Colorado’s 2012 ballot, as has The Washington State Initiative Measure 502. Both will legalize the production, distribution, and retail sale of marijuana for recreational use if voters approve them and both establish state executive branch agencies to regulate the commercial marijuana business that will emerge.
Colorado citizens concerned about protecting young people from being targeted by a commercial marijuana industry if the drug is legalized should ask the Colorado State Department of Revenue executive director Barbara Brohl (303.866.5610) to incorporate our 12 Provisions into the marijuana regulations it develops.
Washington citizens should contact Sharon Foster, Board Chair, (360-664-1600) Washington State Liquor Control Board with the same request if Measure 502 passes.
March 14, 2012–A collaboration of Colorado media groups reports that suspensions for drug violations at the state’s public schools increased 45 percent over the past four years, expulsions for drug violations increased 35 percent, and referrals to police increased 17 percent, while all other violations declined. Highlights of their findings, published in Education News Colorado, are:
In Denver, referrals of school drug violations to law enforcement increased a whopping 71 percent over the same four years. Denver police began keeping separate records for schools in 2010, recording 179 arrests for marijuana possession or sale at 43 Denver public schools during the 2010-2011 school year. One third of those arrests occurred at elementary and middle schools.
Some 53 medical marijuana dispensaries are within 1,000 feet of Colorado schools, while 95 elementary schools, 27 middle schools, and 23 high schools are within a half mile of a dispensary. School officials say the vast majority of the drug violations involve marijuana and the dispensaries are driving the increase. Colorado legalized medical marijuana in 2000 and dispensaries have proliferated.
Students say they stand outside the dispensaries and ask approaching customers to buy marijuana for them. They call this “shoulder tapping.” Others say they ask friends with medical marijuana cards to buy it for them. Statewide, 41 minors have obtained cards.
One boy, 16, says he thinks the large number of dispensaries makes the drug more attractive. “It’s like Starbucks. You think what’s so good about Starbucks? And you’re going to go try some.” he said.
Five dispensaries are within a three-block radius of the campus of Denver’s East High School, regarded by many as the city’s premiere high school. Its former principal says he asked both city council members and state legislators about the impact dispensaries would have on youth. “They told me, ‘It’s not something we thought about,’” he says. “I’m disappointed that young people weren’t considered when our government decided to implement a law and make medical marijuana legal.”
Today’s question. If Colorado legalizes marijuana for recreational use in November, what kinds of provisions can be put into regulations governing the retail sale of the drug to avoid this problem?
Our thanks to Monte Stiles, executive director of the Prevention Idaho Foundation, for sending us this article and to Education News Colorado, Solutions, and the I-News Network for conducting this investigation.
March 7, 2012—To date, marijuana legalization initiatives have made it to the ballot in two states, Colorado and Washington.
The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol collected enough signatures to place Initiative 30 on the November 2012 ballot as Amendment 64: The Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act of 2012. If voters pass the initiative, among other things it will:
- legalize the production, distribution, and retail sale of marijuana,
- prohibit sales to anyone under age 21,
- designate the Colorado State Department of Revenue as the agency responsible for regulating marijuana commerce.
New Approach Washington also collected enough signatures to place Measure 502 on that state’s November ballot. If approved, Measure 502 will also:
- legalize the production, distribution, and retail sale of marijuana,
- prohibit sales to anyone under age 21,
- designate the Washington State Liquor Control Board as the regulatory agency.
February 28, 2012–The video above (click image to start) records the Hash Bar World Cup Championship sponsored at the Medical Kush Beach Club in Venice Beach, California, by the club’s owner, Sean Kush (ne Cardillo). The club, pictured below, was a medical marijuana dispensary located between a head shop on the left and the Medical Kush Doctor on the right, where people were urged to “Stop by the Medical Kush Doctor to get your rec. [recommendation]. Then go upstairs to get your meds.” Operating since 2006, the state medical board and law enforcement agencies shut down all three shops last year. If California voters legalize marijuana for recreational use, what kinds of regulations can be written to prohibit this sort of marketing effort, especially to underage young people? We’ve proposed some; we’d like to hear your suggestions.
February 21, 2012–Pictured here is a Dutch shop where one can buy bulbs to grow tulips — or Starter Kits to grow cannabis, just one example of the kinds of products a commercial marijuana industry produces. If certain states in the US legalize marijuana this fall, we can learn from the Dutch experience ways to regulate a marijuana industry that will protect children.
Although marijuana is not legal in Holland, its government began tolerating marijuana use years ago, giving rise to Nederwiet, locally grown marijuana, sold in coffee shops. Then, the levels of THC, marijuana’s major psychoactive component, in Nederweit were about 8 percent, some four times US marijuana levels. Over time, enterprising Dutch growers learned to cultivate marijuana with even higher THC levels, some as high as 30 percent.
About 80 percent of Nederweit sold in Dutch coffee shops until recently had THC levels of 15 to 18 percent. The Dutch mental health agency, the Trimbos Institute, says these levels increase the risk of addiction and psychotic disorders, especially if use begins at young ages. So last fall, the Dutch government reclassified high THC-level marijuana and banned it from being sold in coffee shops (shops can still sell marijuana with THC levels “lower” than 15 percent).
The average THC content in US marijuana in 1972 was 1.5 percent. (Notably, most information about marijuana effects has come from studies using government-grown marijuana with 2 percent THC.) Today’s average THC levels are higher, ranging from 6 percent to 11 percent. So if marijuana is legalized here, one provision needed is specific THC limits on commercial marijuana.
Other questions the Dutch are struggling with, years after the fact, include 1) how close to schools can coffee shops be located and 2) how can the government discourage tourists from buying marijuana to take back home where it is illegal. We don’t have to wait for these kinds of problems to surface afterwards as the Dutch have done. Instead, we can anticipate such questions beforehand, learning from the Dutch and other nations that have relaxed their drug laws, and be ready with provisions to protect children if marijuana is legalized in the US.
February 15, 2012 – The Medical Marijuana Regulation, Control, and Taxation Act establishes a new state government agency to regulate medical marijuana cultivation, manufacture, distribution, testing, and sale. Although its provisions apply to medical marijuana, they establish a commercial system to produce and sell the drug at medical marijuana dispensaries throughout the state on the basis of at least one dispensary for every 50,000 citizens. Because doctors can recommend medical marijuana for use by children, no age limits prohibit possession, use, or sale to children and adolescents in this initiative, which also reduces penalties for possession and use of nonmedical marijuana for all ages. Young people under age 18 who possess an ounce or less of nonmedical marijuana on school grounds only are subject to a fine of up to $250 for the first offense, and for a second and all subsequent offenses, a fine of up to $500 and/or up to 10 days in a juvenile facility. Presumably, young people with medical marijuana on school grounds face no restrictions. The California Secretary of State cleared the initiative for circulation yesterday. Proponents have until July 13 to collect slightly more than 500,000 signatures to get the initiative on the state’s 2012 ballot. Click here for summaries and full text of this and all active legalization initiatives pending in seven states.
February 10, 2012–Drivers who consume cannabis within three hours of driving are nearly twice as likely to cause a vehicle collision as those who are not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, finds a new study published in the British Medical Journal. We are indebted to Join Together for bringing this study to the attention of its readers.
These findings make it all the more important for But What about the Children’s Provision Number 8 to be included in any law that legalizes marijuana for recreational use. The provision calls for a ban on driving with marijuana in the systems of drivers or passengers.
January 30, 2012—A review of alcohol and drug use surveys in states where voters may legalize marijuana this November shows young people’s alcohol use is about double their marijuana use. Why? Alcohol is legal, widely distributed, and widely sold. Marijuana is not. Worse, the number of young people who initiate use at age 14 or younger is two to three times greater for alcohol than marijuana. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health finds that children who begin using marijuana at such young ages are six times more likely to become addicted to marijuana than those who start in their 20s.
Most of the proposed legalization initiatives are designed to regulate marijuana like alcohol. But data clearly show an age limit will not prevent underage marijuana use any more that the drinking age prevents underage alcohol use. Most initiatives charge legislators with developing regulations to govern the production and sale of legalized marijuana. It will be up to them to find ways to prevent a commercial marijuana industry from targeting children and adolescents as customers, like the alcohol industry does. National Families in Action (NFIA) has proposed 12 provisions to achieve this goal. Most are designed to force producers, distributors, and retail stores to self-regulate by imposing industry-wide penalties if any one of them gives or sells marijuana to young people.
Proponents insist that legalization will make it harder for kids to get pot. Those who understand economics say otherwise. RAND, for example, estimates that if California legalizes marijuana its price will fall by 80 percent and use will double. RAND estimates that if marijuana were regulated like alcohol, California would have 8,000 marijuana retail outlets—four times the number of Starbuck’s in the state.
Legalization initiatives are working their way to the 2012 ballots in California, Colorado, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Oregon, and Washington. Citizens who care about children should insist that state legislators include NFIA’s provisions in any regulations they write to govern legal pot. Nine months remain to carry this message to legislators.
January 19, 2012
Nebraska
Nebraska Proposition 19
Status: Currently collecting signatures
Click here to read information about proponents and summaries and full text of each initiative.
January 17, 2012–Proponents in the following states have filed ballot initiatives with officials to ask voters to legalize marijuana for recreational use in the 2012 election. No initiative has yet reached the ballot. Proponents of Colorado’s Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act and Washington’s Measure 502 have turned in more signatures than required and await their verification. These two measures will almost certainly reach the 2012 ballot; the others may or may not. Click here to read information about proponents and summaries and full text of each initiative.
The Cannabis Hemp and Health Initiative 2012
Status: Currently collecting signatures
The Repeal Cannabis Prohibition Act of 2012
Status: Currently collecting signatures
The Marijuana Penalties Act of 21012
Status: Currently collecting signatures
The Regulate Marijuana Like Wine Act of 2012
Status: Currently collecting signatures
The Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act of 2012
Status: Awaiting verification of 160,000 signatures
Michigan Ballot Initiative to End Marijuana Prohibition
Status: Awaiting approval of initiative language and preparing to collect signatures
Constitutional Amendment to Article IV
Status: Cleared for Circulation
The Oregon Cannabis Tax Act of 2012
Status: Currently collecting signatures
Washington State Initiative Measure 502
Status: Awaiting verification of 354,607 signatures
Washington State Safe Cannabis Act of 2012
Status: Submitted 01/06/12
Washington State Initiative Measure No. 492
Status: Currently collecting signatures
Washington State Initiative Measure 505
Status: Currently collecting signatures
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Uncategorized | National Families in Action April 10, 2012 | 
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