I don't agree with Robert Robb on everything in this editorial but he does make some good points.
Personally I think Prop 205 failed because the voters figured out that it wasn't about legalizing marijuana and was all about making billionaires out of the greedy medical marijuana dispensary owners who wanted a monopoly on selling us $300 an ounce, $4,800 a pound marijuana. Of course Kathy Inman gives us the line of BS that the votes don't understand marijuana. That's rubbish. The voters understand marijuana and want it legalized. The voters just don't want to give the 85 or so medical marijuana dispensaries a monopoly on selling marijuana at $300+ an ounce rip off prices. As far as the "Voter Protection Act", it's needed. Mainly because the legislators don't work for us, the people. They work for the special interest groups that shovel them one. And one of the biggest special interest groups is the police unions, who want to keep the "War on Drugs" running at full speed. That's because the "War on Drugs" is a full employment jobs programs for cops and a government welfare program police departments.
Robb: No on Proposition 205 is the best campaign of 2016 Robert Robb , The Republic | azcentral.com 6:06 a.m. MST November 11, 2016 Legalizing recreational marijuana has been racking up win after win. Except here in Arizona, where it lost. I’m not sure of all the reasons for that. But I will say this: The no on Proposition 205 forces conducted one of the most effective ballot measure campaigns I’ve seen in a long time. It was the classic death by a thousand cuts: the parade of horribles and unfulfilled promises in Colorado; questions about the ability to maintain a drug-free workforce or prosecute marijuana-impaired drivers; the self-dealing in the initiative, giving existing medical marijuana dispensaries an oligopoly in the recreational market; the inability of the Legislature to fix it if there is something wrong in the initiative, unlike in other states. All of these points were conveyed to voters effectively and impactfully. They stuck with you. The relentlessness of these attacks seemed to have wrong-footed the yes campaign. They spent the campaign answering attacks rather than making the case for the legalization of marijuana. And, regardless of what their polling might have said, legalizing weed to help schools was never going to be a compelling argument. Irony: Why lawmakers couldn't fix Prop. 205 There’s more than a little irony in the legalization of recreational marijuana being tripped up, in part, because of the inability of the Legislature to fix any problems that might be in the initiative. That restriction, the Voter Protection Act, came about because of the Legislature gutting an initiative legalizing medical marijuana that voters approved in the 1990s. The legalization forces came back with two ballot measures: one reapproving medical marijuana, the other restricting the ability of the Legislature to mess with it or any other voter-approved measure. Under the Voter Protection Act, the Legislature can only amend a voter-approved measure by a three-quarters vote of both chambers and only if the amendment “furthers the purposes of such measure.” As a practical matter, that renders initiatives untouchable by the Legislature. This is now an argument being made against any complex ballot initiative, with increasing effectiveness. People know that any large, complex law is going to have to be tweaked or adjusted over time. If the Legislature is unable to fix them, voters will be more reluctant to pass them. Now that we’ve come full circle on marijuana initiatives, perhaps the political karma is in place to revisit the Voter Protection Act. The Legislature gutting a successful medical marijuana initiative was arrogant and stupid. But the Voter Protection Act was an overreaction. Reach Robb at robert.robb@arizonarepublic.com.
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