Homeless in Arizona

New Times isn't taking a position on which legalization initiative is better

I wonder if the New Times has a financial motive for supporting the MPP initiative?

Will the MPP initiative generate more advertizing ads in the New Times with a small cartel of 160 or less businesses who have a government monopoly on growing and selling recreational marijuana in Arizona??? That's opposed to the 1,600 retail marijuana stores the AZfmr initiative will allow.

I wonder why the New Times doesn't do a side by side comparison of the the AZfmr initiative to the MPP initiative?

When you compare the MPP initiative side by side with the AZfmr initiative the AZfmr initiative kicks the living sh*t out of the MPP initiative.

If the New Times did a side by side comparison, I suspect a lot of people would be asking that theirs signatures be removed from the MPP initiative they signed, under the false impression that it fully legalizes marijuana.

Also I suspect if the New Times did a side by side comparison of the MPP vs the AZfmr initiative we would have a lot of people going out of their way to sign the AZfmr initiative. And volunteering to help AZfrm defeat the MPP initiative.

Just my highly biased opinion on the issue.

Source

21 Reasons AZFMR Supporters Should Vote for Marijuana Policy Project Initiative

Monday, March 28, 2016 at 4 a.m.

By Ray Stern

Supporters of Arizonans for Fair Minded Regulation have fought the good fight, but chances look slim that their cannabis-legalization measure will make November's ballot.

Even if the group has gathered 100,000 signatures, it has to collect another 100,000 in five months to ensure a ballot spot.

The enthusiastic volunteers and their leader, Jason Medar, threaten to vote “no” on I-08, the legalization initiative backed by the national Marijuana Policy Project and local medical-marijuana dispensaries.

New Times isn't taking a position on which legalization initiative is better, or which one voters should choose if both initiatives happen to appear on the ballot. But if the only choice voters have this year to change marijuana laws is the MPP's Campaign to Regulate and Legalize Marijuana Like Alcohol in Arizona initiative, here are 21 reasons why AZFMR supporters should vote for it:

21. Arizona would overturn one of the country's worst anti-cannabis laws, in which the slightest speck of pot constitutes a Class 6 felony. AZFMR supporters are more likely than most to use, possess, and grow marijuana. [Even if the phoney baloney MPP initiative passes Arizona will have some of the worst laws against marijuana in the nation. Marijuana defense lawyer Tom Dean thinks it will make things worse, like Prop 203 or Arizona's Medical Marijuana act did.]

20. For amounts of less than five grams, the measure would override Arizona's draconian "narcotic" designation of cannabis concentrates like tincture, hash oil, shatter, and wax — products that, for non-medical-cardholders, now are considered a Class 4 felony. [Yea, but under the law more then 5 grams is still a felony, same for more then 2.5 ounces of weed, or more the 6 plants.]

19. Ten people a day in metro Phoenix, including AZFMR supporters, would not be jailed and charged for simple cannabis possession.

Doing this in public now will get you hauled off to jail — but doing it in 2017, if Arizona passes a legalization law, would merit no more than a $300 fine. [Yea, but over 5 grans of marijuana concentrates is still a felony, over 2.5 ounces of marijuana is still a felony, and over 6 plants for a single person or 12 plants for a household is still a felony]

18. Even Arizona cannabis consumers of modest means would no longer need to smoke the schwag still being imported by the ton from Mexico. [Wrong, because a monopoly of a maximum of 160 recreational marijuana stores will be created, the cartels will still smuggle marijuana into Arizona, like like they did after Prop 203 legalized medical marijuana. The cartels still exist in Washington, Oregon and Colorado where recreational marijuana is legal]

17. Over time, it would eliminate the need for most medicinal users of cannabis to obtain a medical card, an annual process that requires several hours of time and about $300. Police arrest about 10 people a day in Maricopa County for nothing but simple marijuana possession. [Sadly the MPP law will allow the owners of the dispensaries to gut Prop 203 or Arizona's Medical Marijuana Act]

16. Under one provision of I-08, the state would be stopped from unjust child-protective actions against people for merely possessing or using cannabis.

15. Arizona could remain a national leader on at least one progressive issue. [Wrong, even with the phoney baloney MPP law to legalize marijuana, Arizona will still have some of the most draconian marijuana laws in the nation]

14. If you want to really piss off Republicans and so-called conservatives who support prohibition, this is your chance. AZFMR's initiative may be the better bill — but if it doesn't make the ballot, what are you going to do? [Wait till 2018!!!!!]

13. With California and Nevada poised to make cannabis legal this year, failing to approve a legalization initiative in 2016 could leave Arizona surrounded by recreational-friendly states — which would not only look ass-backwards but would no doubt cause the state to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in commerce. California, Vermont and Nevada are also poised to legalize cannabis this year. [And that will give Arizona marijuana users an incentive to legalize marijuana the right way in 2018]

12. Even if some cities try to restrict home-growing, those restrictions would be a vast improvement over the current law, which makes any attempt to cultivate cannabis a felony. The MPP measure would allow adults 21 and older to grow six plants, for a maximum of 12 plants per household. [Wrong if the cities in the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas pass laws making it illegal to grow marijuana, not many people will be able to legally grow marijuana in Arizona]

11. AZFMR supporters succeeded in forcing the MPP to include cultivation rights in its initiative – and in November, they can reap the rewards of that effort. [Wrong, city governments can and probably will make it illegal to cultivate marijuana]

10. Buying marijuana would no longer require plastic baggies, frantic phone messages, and a feeling of wrongdoing. (It would, however, still require cash — until changes are made in federal banking rules.) [Bullsh*t. As long as the new marijuana cartel prices marijuana at $300 an ounce, a black market will exist for marijuana, and marijuana will continue to be sold in plastic bags]

9. Voting against I-08 because it doesn't go far enough would be like voting against Arizona's initiative for women's suffrage in 1912 because it didn't include Native Americans, who achieved voting rights in the state in 1948. [That's a bad comparison. Sadly the phoney baloney MPP initiative leaves most of the felony marijuana charges in place. Not to protect you from marijuana users, but to protect the recreational marijuana stores from people that cut into their profits]

8. Some AZFMR leaders have claimed that cannabis users would be worse under the MPP's measure than under Arizona's current law, but that's not true: No provision of the initiative creates a crime or penalty that would be worse than the current everything's-a-felony statutes. [Another bad comparison. True the MPP law only creates ONE new felony charges. But the MPP law leaves almost all of the EXISTING felony charges in place]

7. AZFMR leaders have called the CRMLA's retail-store scheme a “monopoly,” but the plan actually allows for healthy competition – not only among the state's 90 dispensary businesses but among another 70 or so non-dispensary-affiliated retail stores that would be allowed. [The MPP law allows a max of 160 retail marijuana stores. That is NOT healthy competition. the AZfmr law allows 1,600 retail marijuana store. That is healthy competition. Technically the MPP doesn't create a monopoly, it creates an oligopoly, but that's just semantics. For most people an oligopoly of 160 recreational stores is the same as a monopoly of 16o recreational stores. And those 160 stores will rip us off with $300+ an ounce marijuana prices]

6. The limit on the number of retail cannabis shops, which at about 160 under I-08 is one-tenth of what would be allowed under the AZFMR initiative, can be expanded starting in 2021. The CRMLA allows for about 160 retail marijuana stores initially, while the AZFMR bill would allow about 1,600. [So we have to wait 5 years for any meaningful competition. That's BS!!! And remember if AZfmr doesn't get on the ballot in 2016 we will be back in 2018!!!]

5. Instead of being carted off to a filthy, unsafe jail, threatened with a felony, and forced to attend six months of TASC treatment, adults caught smoking pot in public would face only a $300 fine.

4. The unregulated selling any amount of marijuana would remain a felony – but no worse than the felony it is now. Operating an unregulated cannabis retail or cultivation business from an apartment was never going to work as a career, anyway. [That's an over simplification. If I buy and ounce of weed, smoke half of it and sell you the remaining half ounce it will be a FELONY. That's BULLSH*T]

3. AZFMR leaders say I-08 would cause an increase in black-market sales and cultivation – but that's not what's happened in Colorado, where authorities say that more than half of the state's cannabis demand is now met with regulated, legal sources. [Rubbish, the black market still thrives in Washington, Oregon and Colorado because of the $300+ an ounce prices the companies with marijuana monopolies are charging. And until marijuana is treated like tomatoes or potatoes the marijuana black market will continue to thrive]

2. Arizona schools would receive an estimated $72 million a year or more in revenue from taxed, legal cannabis sales that they will not receive if AZFMR supporters help shoot down the initiative.

1. If the well-funded, MPP-backed measure goes down this year, Arizona cannabis supporters better hope for federal changes, because it'll probably be years before voters see another legalization initiative on the ballot.

Here are Ray Sterns comments to my comments on his article.

Source

Ray Stern What's worse – being booked into jail for a joint, or enjoying the joint without hassle from anyone? That's literally your choice this November.

20. Both the MPP law and AZFMR put limits on how much people can possess, with consequences for going over those limits. If you think it's horrible for over 5 grams to be a felony, then you have to vote yes on either the MPP or the AZFMR bill because it's even more horrible to let it remain the way it is now, where anything under 5 grams is a felony. [Most minor violations of the MPP law are FELONIES, while almost all the violations of the AZfmr law are petty misdemeanors with only a $300 fine]

19. Any intelligent person who isn't slinging unregulated under the table should have zero problem staying under those limits. And if they can't stay under the MPP limits, they won't be able to stay under the AZFMR limits, either. [Again most minor violations of the MPP law are FELONIES, while almost all the violations of the AZfmr law are petty misdemeanors with only a $300 fine]

18. Mickey, the fact is, the cartel-weed industry will continue to decline under legalization – even MPP's version. One thing you can be sure of: The cartel doesn't want to see either AZFMR or MPP pass. [Well actually legalizing marijuana and giving the rights to grow and sell marijuana to a very small number of businesses has helped the cartels. Legal marijuana costs around $300 at the medical marijuana dispensaries while it can be purchased illegally on the black market for for as low as $50 an ounce. If anything the legalize, but heavily regulated marijuana market is helping the cartels by driving UP the black market prices. When marijuana is really legalized, a pound of marijuana shouldn't cost any more then a pound of tomatoes or potatoes and that will put the cartels out of business.]

17. Interesting prediction and maybe it'll come true. But since legal marijuana prices are destined to fall over time due to the laws of economics, medical-marijuana patients will benefit in the long term from outright legalization. [No Ray you are wrong on that. The MPP initiative allows the the new Arizona government marijuana agency to modify Prop 203. And half of the board members on the agency will be associated with the medical marijuana dispensaries, i.e. the owners. Read the law.]

16.

15. Not really. Being able to walk into a store and buy pot legally still will be a fantasy for the residents of most states.

14. Bull. If they raised 100 times the cash they've raised in two years, that will only be half the money MPP has raised. And good luck getting people to give their hard-earned cash for a legalization bill in 2018 when $1 million was blown in 2016 for a failed bill. As my article says, 2016 might be Arizona's only chance for many years to have legal marijuana due to the realities of politics and money. [It's not about $$$ MONEY $$$, it's about right and wrong. The laws that jail people for victimless marijuana crimes are morally wrong and need to be overturned.]

13. “The right way” for AZFMR means 1,600 retail shops, misdemeanor charges for unregulated cannabis dealers growers of up to 99 plants, which is sort of radical for the rather-conservative state of Arizona. So if Arizonans don't go for that in 2018, assuming against the odds AZFMR can get on the ballot in 2018, people against felony possession should just wait until 2020, right? Or maybe 2040?

12. Even if Phoenix and Tucson defy the wishes of voters and prohibit growing pot completely, (even Tom Dean says he doesn't think they'll be able to ban home-grow completely, by the way,) that's no reason to vote for continued felonies for any cultivation no matter what. Personally, I think it's absurd to think that after voters legalize home cultivation, the more-liberal city officials in Phoenix and Tucson will deny the voters that right.

11. Tom Dean says they likely couldn't prohibit it outright under that “nuisance” provision. But since AZFMR forced MPP to include cultivation and MPP did, doesn't that mean AZFMR should vote for it now? Or was that effort just for grins?

10. The price of marijuana will come down in the future due to economic laws. It's artificially high now because of prohibition. [As long as there is a monopoly of 160 businesses that ONLY have the right to grow and sell recreational marijuana, marijuana prices will remain artificially high. And those artificially high prices will allow the cartels to continue to exist]

9. AZFMR leaves felony provisions in place, too, and establishes a system of commercial businesses. If the MPP bill passes and Arizonans want to get rid of all the felonies and make it more like AZFMR, they can do that later. If the MPP bill fails and AZFMR's not on the ballot, you're screwed.

8. Since that will be the only cannabis-reform law on the ballot and the current laws are far worse for the average cannabis user, your point here is moot.

7. AZFMR and its 1,600 stores will not be option for Arizonans, therefore your point here, too, is moot.

6. If MPP's bill passes, it doesn't stop AZFMR from being “back in 2018.” But if the MPP bill doesn't pass, about 8,000 people in Maricopa County will be arrested and booked into jail between 2016 and 2018 who would not be hassled at all if the MPP bill passes.

5.

4. It's a felony now. But your scenario is unrealistic – if you drink half of your gallon of milk, do your friends buy the other half from you or go to the store and buy their own? Plus, if the MPP bill passes, you can lobby for a more permissive law later.

3.Irrelevant, because the consequences of legalization have been positive for the vast majority of cannabis users in those states. You're complaining about the price of an ounce when the real issue in Arizona is going to jail or not going to jail.