Homeless in Arizona

Articles on Legalizing Marijuana

Thomas Dean - Marijuana Attorney - Tom Dean - Marijuana Lawyer

Here are some of the things that Tom Dean, Thomas Dean who is the marijuana lawyer, marijuana attorney, cannabis lawyer, or cannabis attorney did to water down the Safer Arizona 2018 initiative to legalize marijuana when I was working on it with him. Initially we copied this from the RAD initiative to the Safer Arizona initiative.

10. Any government employee, police officer or prosecutor that interferes with a persons marijuana rights defined in this initiative shall be personally and civilly liable to each person for each incident for a minimum of $1 million in damages or 10 times the actual amount of damages which ever is greater. There shall be no immunity to police offices or prosecutors who claim to be "acting in good faith" or other reasons.

First Tom Dean got us to reduce the amount from $1 million to $100,000.

Second Tom Dean got us to delete the clause altogether.

Why? I don't know. I guess you could speculate that defense lawyers love crooked cops, because crooked cops create business for them. But that's just speculation.

Tom Dean say the people wouldn't pass it, but I don't buy that. The people are sick of crooked cops who literally get away with murder.

I think the public would have passed it.

Like the RAD initiative the initial Safer Arizona initiative we wrote gave free, automatic pardons to anyone convicted of a victimless marijuana crime. That also included people who accepted plea bargain for lesser charges to get out of a marijuana arrest.

Here is the blurb from the RAD initiative:

7. Any person arrested or convicted of any marijuana offense in the past shall automatically have their criminal record cleared for those charges and automatically receive a full pardon for those charges.
8. Any person arrested for any marijuana offense in the past who accepted a plea bargain for reduced charges shall automatically have their criminal record cleared for those reduced charges and automatically receive a full pardon for those reduced charges.

Tom Dean got us to change this from automatic pardons to where the person had to file motion or ask for the pardon in court.

Tom Dean also get us to allow the court to charge up to $50 for this pardon.

Why? I don't know. Why the fee of up to $50.

Again I don't know. I can speculate that if the court charges $50, that would make the lawyer's fee to file the motion and be in court look like it was a reasonable expense.

Tom Dean got us to change this to only allow something like 44 plants, or 99 plants without getting a license.

He gave us what sounded like a line of BS that you had to have a number to draw a line between a hobbyist and professional growers.

Why? I don't know. I guess you could speculate that defense lawyers love laws which create crimes because that gives them clients to charge money. So I guess anybody that got popped for having over 44 or 99 plants would have to hire a lawyer and shovel them some money. But that's just speculation.

Those guys also wanted to require the growers to get a marijuana license.

And remember while under the Safer Arizona initiative it would be legal to grow marijuana in Arizona. But under Federal law it would still be a FELONY to grow marijuana in Arizona.

And I suspect that by just getting the "marijuana license" it would give the Feds evidence to convict you in a Federal court of growing marijuana or conspiracy to grow marijuana.

Why a criminal defense lawyer can write a law that required a person to file a document that the government can use to convict you of a crime is beyond me.

Is Tom Dean that stupid? I doubt it.

Did Tom Dean want to create business for himself? I don't know?

I thought this was complete BS and almost dropped out over it.

Tom Dean claimed we needed a "marijuana commission" or "marijuana department" to stop the Feds from micro-managing Arizona marijuana users. He even wrote the blurb to give himself a job. That got shot down when we all decided we don't want a stinking marijuana department.

I thought this was really STUPID. And the other people also thought it was really stupid.

Was Tom Dean trying to create a job for himself? Did Tom Dean have one too many drinks while we were writing it? I don't know.

In the RAD initiative I knew that government tyrants can and do use zoning laws to shut down businesses they don't like.

Because of that the RAD initiative doesn't let the government create zoning laws for marijuana businesses.

I know damn well that if we allowed zoning laws for marijuana businesses many cities would pass zoning laws that made it impossible for marijuana businesses to open. Either by simply banning them. Or by making the zoning requirements outrageously expensive. Or by taxing the krap out of businesses with super high fees for marijuana businesses.

Again Tom Dean did add a blurb to the initiative that allowed local businesses to pass zoning laws.

Why? I don't know.

I can speculate that if we allowed zoning laws it would generate lots of work for marijuana lawyers. But again I'm just speculating.