Open Forum With The Marijuana Policy Project Of Arizona

Tuesday night was a banner evening for the marijuana advocates here in Arizona and across our great country. For a number of reasons…

While a large group of folks sat down to have their own face to face meeting with Arizona’s chosen representative from the Marijuana Policy Project…the 2014 Mid-term elections were coming to a conclusion. Washington D.C. was the first to cross the finish line, with Oregon followed by Alaska and a whole bunch of us celebrating.

There were a lot of new faces in the crowd, and I mean brand new faces. Many of you, when asked about voting, had already done so. This turn out was indicative of what we want from the marijuana community here in Arizona. A diversity of opinions with passion…all in the dug-out, suiting up and ready to play ball.

A big thanks goes to Ryan Hurley for standing in that hot seat and bearing the burden of understanding, with the goal as a patient…to not make the mistakes of the past. That message, from you the marijuana community was received loud and clear. The MPP knows that you are seeking an initiative that is well thought out, that absolutely addresses the criminal code. No one wants to add further gray area making it easy for people to end up in jail over the plant. Grow rights, zoning, business licensing…all of these considerations…were discussed last night. This was the first of what I envision, to be a number of discussions over the next 2 years.

Your passion in the room last night was palpable. Your love of the plant and the cause…was also very palpable. You are all very eager to see this move forward, especially after seeing all of the states seeking legalization (along with the District)…hitting that goal. Everyone is eager. I ask for your patience. I ask for your continued respect of the process. I ask for you to be patient with each other. This is a difficult task. I am confident that “WE” can do it.

Our friends at Safer Arizona (Dennis Bohlke) posted on Facebook earlier today the numbers needed for our upcoming initiative. Believe it or not, due to a lower voter turn out, the number of signatures required would be substantively less than the number needed for Safer’s Initiative for 2014:

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To change a law referendum 114,948 signatures required.

For a constitutional amendment 172,423 signatures required.

 For those of you in adjacent states that have reached out and asked us during some of our marketing efforts…about your own status with legalization. I would take to heart the spirit of what is written here. There are many viewpoints on legalization and decriminalization. Getting to that goal is important for your state, our state and this country. If we can become a bit unselfish in our views and remove the narrow scope from our field of view. What we see will be greatly widened. The support we can be, to each other and this cause…will be huge.