FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 23, 2014
July 23, 2014
MARIJUANA
LEGALIZATION INITIATIVE QUALIFIES FOR OREGON BALLOT
Will
Oregon and Alaska Become the Third and Fourth States to Legalize and Regulate
Marijuana?
SALEM–Election officials revealed Tuesday that New
Approach Oregon, a group seeking to regulate and control marijuana, had
garnered enough signatures (about 88,500) for the measure to qualify for the November
ballot. That initiative, which would wrest control of the marijuana market from
the street gangs and cartels that now oversee it and place it in the hands of the
Oregon Liquor Control Commission, would make marijuana legal to grow,
distribute, buy and sell to adults over 21 in limited quantities.
“As a man who spent more than thirty years in law
enforcement, I think this measure will be tremendously beneficial to the state
of Oregon,” said Major Neill Franklin (Ret.), executive director of Law Enforcement
Against Prohibition, a group of law enforcement officials who support the
legalization, regulation and control of marijuana for reasons of public safety.
“Lower crime, greater tax revenue, millions poured into local economies–it happened
in Colorado, and it can happen here.”
If successful, the initiative will allow adults to
possess up to eight ounces of marijuana, and to grow up to four plants for
personal use. The state would reap $35 in taxes from each ounce sold, and the revenue
would go to schools, law enforcement, mental
health programs and drug treatment
programs.
A similar initiative qualified for
the ballot in Alaska in February.
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition is a group of
law enforcement officials who, after fighting in the front lines of the war on
drugs, now advocate for its end.
For interviews, please
contact Darby Beck at darby.beck@leap.cc (415.823.5496).
###
No comments:
Post a Comment