Models to Re-legalization of Cannabis (Marijuana)
Fingerprints or Freedom?
Increasingly, it's not a question of if
cannabis will be re-legalized,
but how cannabis will be re-legalized.
There are two models to cannabis relegalization: the True Legalization
Model (freedom-based) and the Law Enforcement Model (fear-based).
True Legalization Model (freedom-based): Legalize2012.com
favors the True Legalization Model, where any adult needs to show
only their driver’s license to purchase cannabis. This model
assumes cannabis is one of the safest substances known to man and
that only minimal restrictions on time, manner and place of cannabis
production and use are necessary. This model allows responsible
adult use. Cannabis is regulated equally or less-restrictively than
alcohol and is subject to the same sales tax as any other retail
product.
Features:
- No unreasonable limits on personal possession, cultivation and
use of cannabis, just like alcohol.
- Adult needs to show only their driver’s license to purchase
cannabis (no fingerprints or government tracking.)
- Raises revenue by requiring sales tax to be paid on cannabis
purchases. Sin taxes promoted in the Law Enforcement Model are
designed to discourage use and are not part of the True Legalization
Model.
Examples:
Law Enforcement Model (fear-based): This model assumes that
cannabis is dangerous and must be regulated more strictly than any
other substance. It feeds off the Reefer Madness campaign, started
in 1937, that cannabis is a danger to society. Its hallmarks are
over-regulation and excessive taxes.
Features:
- Regulates cannabis stricter than alcohol or any other substance.
- Allows excessive government regulations, including surveillance,
tracking and privacy violations
- Creates new crimes, new prohibitions and new penalties
- Creates and funds new branch of law enforcement dedicated to
marijuana crimes
- Allows prohibitive sin taxes on cannabis (in addition to sales
tax)
- Often does not allow personal cannabis cultivation
Examples:
- Amendment
64: This gives broad authority directly to the Department
of Revenue's law enforcement division to police marijuana users.
As we've seen with Medical Marijuana in Colorado, the DOR now
has a new branch of law enforcement dedicated to marijuana, funded
by applications from medical marijuana centers. In the 2.5 years
since it accepted over 1600 applications, over half of the medical
marijuana dispensaries have gone out of business. The DOR has
granted only about 250 licenses and the other 250 medical marijuana
dispensaries are still waiting. Their regulatory scheme is designed
so that only extremely wealthy businesses will have to opportunity
to compete. The MMCED is intent on tracking every gram of cannabis
in Colorado from "seed-to-sale",
endangering the privacy of cannabis consumers. This type of market
system that favors the few has been called an
oligopoly model.
- HB1284:
Colorado's new medical marijuana statute, created in 2010.
Colorado’s poorly-written medical marijuana initiative was
based on the Law Enforcement Model. This resulted in a new branch
of law enforcement dedicated to fingerprinting & videotaping
patients and tracking every gram of cannabis from "seed to
sale."
- Colorado
Initiative 47: Marijuana for adult use. Proposed for Colorado
ballot in 2010 by SAFER but never circulated and now has reportedly
been abandoned by SAFER as a model: Allows a $50 or 200% additional
tax
- Colorado's
Medical Marijuana Initiative (Amendment 20): Supported by
MPP and George Soros. Failed to set up a distribution system and
adequately protect patient privacy. Passed by voters in 2000.
Resulted in the legislature setting up a new branch of law enforcement
to investigate and prosecute medical marijuana patients and providers.
- Proposition
19: Marijuana for adult use. Lost in California Nov. 2, 2010
ballot. Restricts cultivation size, plant amounts.
- Arizona
Medical Marijuana ballot initiative, sponsored by MPP and
funded by George Soros, that doesn't allow a patient to grow their
own cannabis if they live within 25 miles of a dispensary.
- Nevada
Legalization Initiative
Background on Legalization Models
Law Enforcement Model Proponents and Funders
- George
Soros, globalist and currency manipulator
- Drug
Policy Alliance (Ethan Nadelmann)
- Marijuana
Policy Project (Rob Kampia, executive director)
Articles and Essays
Legalizing
Marijuana – A post-election analysis by Steve Kubby, co-author
of Prop. 215
November 5th, 2010
Can
we win the war without the troops? An Analysis of the Americans
for Medical Rights
Medical Marijuana Ballot Initiative Strategies in the 1998 General
Election
How
the Marijuana Re-Legalization Movement Has Been Betrayed by Soros,
Nadleman (DPA) and Kampia (MPP) by Bruce W. Cain, Editor, New
Age Citizen
Re-Legalize
Marijuana: But Don't Tax or Regulate Personal Cultivation by
Bruce W. Cain, Editor, New Age Citizen
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