Marijuana rolls into center of Oregon Attorney General race

Ellen Rosenblum would be a much better Attorney General for Oregon than Dwight Holton, not least because of her respect for our state's voter-approved medical marijuana act, which Holton almost certainly would continue to undermine -- notwithstanding politically-inspired attempts to downplay his previous attacks against the act.

I hope she wins tomorrow in the Democratic primary. Rosenblum is the choice of progressives, while a poll showed that Holton is favored only by the most conservative Democrats.

A few days ago I got an email from a US News and World Report editor who wrote a story analyzing the impact marijuana is having on the Attorney General race (Republicans aren't running a candidate, so likely whoever wins the Dem primary will be the next AG).

Hey Brian,

I just read your blog post endorsing Ellen Rosenblum for AG. I just completed a long feature piece for US News & World Report about the race, focusing partially on its national implications for marijuana activists: 

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/05/10/why-the-oregon-attorney-general-race-has-national-implications-for-marijuana-laws

Thought you and your readers would find it interesting.

Take care,
Simon Owens
Assistant Managing Editor
US News & World Report

Well, I'm pleased to publicize your story on my blog, Simon. Glad to suck up to you. Just keep me in mind next time you need a quote on an Oregon-related story.

Here's some excerpts from Owens' piece.

Oregon has a long and storied history with marijuana. In 1973, the legislature voted to make possession of less than an ounce of pot an infraction with a maximum fine of $100. The legislature then tried to reclassify simple possession as a misdemeanor in 1997, only for voters to reject it in a 1998 ballot initiative.

That same year, a majority of voters approved another ballot initiative to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes, making Oregon one of the first states to do so (this initiative became what is now called the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act). Unlike some states—California, for instance—Oregon does not allow the sale of medical marijuana, but rather allows those granted permission to either grow pot for themselves or designate others to grow it for them.

...If Holton loses on Tuesday, it won't be the first time marijuana activists will claim they were able to tip the scales of an election. In 2010, activists ran ads against Steve Cooley, a Los Angeles District Attorney they considered hostile to medical marijuana dispensaries, when he ran for attorney general of California. He lost by a slim margin, and activists think it was their ads that cost him the election.

Lurking in the background of the Attorney General race is the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act 2012, which would allow personal use/cultivation of marijiuana, and regulate commercial cultivation/sale. It looks like backers of the citizen initiative are on track to get it on the November ballot.

Rosenblum would be a much better fit for Oregon than Holton if the Cannabis Tax Act is passed by voters. Here's what's cited as the best reason for progressives to vote for Rosenblum:

Progressives' top-rated reasons for supporting Ellen Rosenblum:

"A few weeks ago, at the Eugene City Club debate, Dwight Holton, candidate for Oregon Attorney General, picked a fight with medical marijuana patients when he called the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act a “train wreck.” Holton went on to say he would work with Republican legislators who in 2011 introduced legislation that would have effectively gut the 1998 voter-approved law. Holton is the same former US Attorney who authorized raids on Southern Oregon medical marijuana providers last fall, depriving over 200 patients access to their legal medicine. Holton hails from Virginia and only joined the Oregon State Bar in 2009. He has never tried a case in an Oregon State Court. Judge Rosenblum has been a lawyer, prosecutor and Judge in Oregon for 36 years."

"Ellen Rosenblum is Oregon. She knows most facets of the job and has new ideas of improving communication between the Governor, the state agencies and her constituents. She's well-balanced and will be able to work with the Legislature and the Courts better than her opponent. Former AGs Dave Frohnmayer and Hardy Myers endorse her and they both know what it takes to make not just a good AG but a wonderful AG. Vote for Ellen."

Comments

[Willie R]

Good ol' Mary J. Warner. What a "bone" of contention, eh? Law enforcement people who have even the slightest sympathy for weed are in for a troubled career.

Marijuana is a Schedule 1 drug and the DEA hastens to warn all and sundry that possession and/or use of the stuff is a violation of Federal law, whether it is for state-sanctioned medical use or recreation. In essence, the fifteen states that have medical marijuana statutes are giving certain individuals permission to ignore Federal law. The Feds will prosecute an individual who is using marijuana for medicinal purposes if even the slightest deviation from state statutes is observed. And you can be completely assured that users will be monitored.

I gave up smoking marijuana as a full-time habit more than 30 years ago, and I haven't smoked a joint in 20 years. Even with the benefit of hindsight, I remain ambivalent about the whole issue. Fot the sake of some semblance of social order, it is probably better that marijuana remains illegal.

[tucson]

I have observed that MJ agrees with some people and many others not, including me, although I have smoked a bunch mostly in the 60's but also a number of times in recent years. I just don't see the point in making my lungs feel like lead and muddling up the view.

I would guess that even if they were giving away for free handfulls of the finest bud on every street corner of the country every day, many people, probably the majority, would not want it.

For this reason I do not fear legalization of weed. There will still be sufficient ambition to keep the world running. Weed smokers tend not to be violent or destructive and they drive better than drunks for the most part.

If it does so happen that more people are lying around stoned, that could be a good thing. After all we are looking for a solution to the consumer paradigm that is polluting the planet. With more people lying around too stoned to earn, produce and therefore have money to buy and consume...it could save the world! ;)

[Brian Hines]

tucson, I'd argue with you about stoned people lacking ambition, but I don't have the energy... whatever, dude...