Retired Milwaukie officer supports Measure 80

Portland Tribune and Community Newspapers

A couple of years ago, I retired after more than 25 years as a police officer. Much of that time was spent with a metropolitan police department, but I also spent the early part of my career with a couple of departments in rural Oregon. Over the years, I have met many, many people. I have seen people under the influence of a lot of things—alcohol, prescription pills, hard drugs like meth and heroin. But, at no point in my quarter-century as a cop did I think that marijuana use posed a serious threat to the community.

I’ve never smoked marijuana, and when it does become legal, I don’t plan to start. I have never had any interest. But I know a lot of adults who do choose to consume marijuana. I don’t call them criminals—I call them my friends, my family members, my neighbors. Almost everyone I know who chooses to use marijuana does so because they enjoy it. In the way I enjoy a good craft beer, the people I know who consume marijuana do so responsibly.

Less than a week away. Have you Voted YES on 80?

Revealing the Lies

Earlier this week in a debate centering on Measure 80, the Clatsop County District Attorney said that marijuana in Oregon wasn't really an issue, that Oregon doesn't waste money and resources on marijuana prohibition.

Today we get proof that he is a lying sack of shit!

Tigard medical marijuana dispensary raided by Washington County police | OregonLive.com:

Attorney Leland Berger, an advocate for medical marijuana, said after the Human Collective raid that it was "disappointing that the Washington County Sheriff's Office would choose to interrupt the supply of medicine to patients."

You can dispense it, but you can't sell it.

People can have it but they can't buy it.

Stop wasting tax dollars and resources on this farce. End the ambiguity. Vote YES on 80!

Small Money Campaign

Marijuana legalization effort draws big donors | colorado, campaign, marijuana - SUNRISE - Colorado Springs Gazette, CO:

Pro-marijuana donors with deep pockets are pouring millions into legalization measures on the ballot in Colorado, but they appear to be bypassing a similar pot campaign in Oregon.

Marijuana legalization advocates connected with billionaire donors George Soros and Peter Lewis say the Oregon measure doesn't appear as politically attractive as it is in Colorado and Washington, the Oregonian reported (http://is.gd/TAnlzv ).

While living in Minnesota in 1998, people said Jesse Ventura would never be elected because he wasn't raising nearly enough money and wasn't polling well. Let's remind these nay sayers what a small money, common sense campaign can do!

Vote YES on 80!

Morgan Freeman: Marijuana Prohibition 'Stupidest Law Possible'

Morgan Freeman On Marijuana:

"Marijuana! Heavens, oh yeah. It’s just the stupidest law possible, given history. You don’t stop people from doing what they want to do, so forget about making it unlawful. You’re just making criminals out of people who aren’t engaged in criminal activity. And we’re spending zillions of dollars trying to fight a war we can’t win! We could make zillions, just legalize it and tax it like we do liquor. It’s stupid."

I agree. Do you? If so, tell people and Vote YES on 80!

Presidential Candidate Jill Stein says YES on 80!

Reagan Appointee Calls For Marijuana Legalization

Federal Judge Calls For Marijuana Legalization:

"The notion of using the criminal law as the primary means of dealing with a problem of addiction, of misuse, of ingesting dangerous drugs -- I don't think that's sensible at all," Posner said.

According to Posner, drug laws are "responsible for a high percentage of our prisoners. And these punishments are often very, very severe. It's all very expensive."

While I disagree with the notion that marijuana should be classified as a dangerous drug, I still appreciate the simultaneously rational and compassionate opinion of Judge Posner.

End the expensive drug war in Oregon. Vote YES on 80!

Support Measure 80!

Oregon Marijuana Initiative Trailing Slightly in Poll | StoptheDrugWar.org:

The campaign behind an initiative that would legalize marijuana in Oregon has an uphill battle ahead, according to a new SurveyUSA poll. That poll has the initiative, known as Measure 80 on the ballot, trailing by a margin of 41% to 37%.

 The poll has a +/-4% with 22% undecided.

Don't be scared. Raise your voice and let people know that you support Measure 80 and they should too!

Measure 80 Extravaganza!

I am quite proud to have had my letter to the editor regarding a Portland Trib piece, Marijuana Legalization is a Lot of Smoke, printed along side so many fantastic rebuttal of that horrid piece of trype.

Portland Tribune and Community Newspapers - Measure 80 lets police fight real crime:

And employers can maintain their drug-free workplace policy. There are tests available that can determine if a person is currently under the influence of marijuana. That is all that is needed to maintain compliance.

 Also this week, Measure 80 received two big endorsements.

Drug Reform: Measure 80 (2012) | ACLU of Oregon:

The ACLU has long advocated for the decriminalization of the use, possession, cultivation, manufacture and distribution of drugs, including marijuana. Criminal laws against marijuana impose arbitrary, often harsh, and cruel penalties for private conduct for which no criminal penalty is appropriate. These laws are selectively enforced and, when enforced, often rely on entrapment, illegal searches, or other means that violate civil liberties. They divert scarce law enforcement resources from serious crimes and true public safety threats.

Consistent with this policy, we see Measure 80 as a step in the right direction for Oregon.

Former Oregon Secretary Of State Bill Bradbury Endorses Measure 80 | The Weed Blog:

“Our nation’s war on drugs has really been, for decades now, a war on Americans of color and our poorest, most vulnerable citizens, and the ban on agricultural hemp has been the collateral damage” said Bradbury, who served for 14 years in the Oregon Legislature before serving two terms as Oregon’s Secretary of State. “I urge my fellow Oregonians to vote yes on Measure 80, which is an historic opportunity to show our fellow Americans a way to end the failed drug war, begin a new, sensible approach to marijuana, and restore hemp to our farmers and hi-tech entrepreneurs for biofuel, textiles, and advanced manufacturing.”

Rationality is winning out over the hype. Now is the time to tell everyone you know to vote YES on 80!

Another Pot Legalization Endorsement

House Co-Chair Peter Buckley Endorses Marijuana Ballot:

It makes absolutely no sense to me that we continue to waste millions of dollars every year to prohibit adults from making the choice of whether to consume marijuana, especially when we could be regulating and taxing that market and funding the programs we've been cutting session after session. Oregon is a pioneer state, and I for one want us to make history this November by ending prohibition and regulating marijuana just like we regulate liquor.

We did it with alcohol, we can do it with marijuana.

Vote YES on 80!

Regulate and Tax says Portland City Comissioner

Portland City Commissioner Randy Leonard officially endorses Measure 80 Pot Legalization:

"As a career Portland firefighter, a State Legislator and a Portland City Council member, I have always fought for funding for our first responders and resources for our social safety net," Leonard said. "Regulating and taxing marijuana for adults is just common sense, because it allows us to get pot out of kids' hands, focus our public-safety resources on dangerous drugs, creates jobs and provide a new revenue stream to fund much-needed social services."

I agree with the former firfighter. Let's turn this tax burden into a tax boon.

Vote YES on 80!

What we talk about when we talk about race.

Too frequently I will hear white people say that African Americans need to, 'get over it' in reference to American slave policies. It's too soon for that.

The Civil War wasn't that long ago. The last Civil War Widow, Maudie Hopkins, died in 2008.

The last one that was legally eligible to draw a widow's pension and produced offspring with their soldier/husband, Alberta Martin, died in 2004. She loved attending Civil War re-enactments and drew her pension as a widow of a Confederate soldier.

The last Yankee widow was Gertrude Janeway. She passed on in 2003.

When white folks talk about 'moving on' they are being completely unreasonable. It was only 4 years ago that the living history of those events passed away.

For all we know it was seeing a black man as the Democratic Presidential nominee that sent Ms. Hopkins to her grave! After all, she was married to a man who fought for State's Rights. Those rights being the right to own slaves and the right to withdraw from the Union when it appeared that they might not be able to own slaves indefinitely.

And "separate but equal" was still around in the 1960's. There are plenty of people alive and well who grew up in a part of the country where it was legal to treat blacks like inferiors as long as you didn't deny them a drink of water from a separate, dirtier drinking fountain.

I say this as someone who at one time thought that African Americans needed to just get over it and move on. I was wrong! We have a long way to go as a country before we can consider this all water under the bridge. I seriously doubt we can reach that state in my lifetime.

And judging by the behavior of the Grand Old Party, there are still plenty of people who miss, "The Good Old Days."

Sex and Drugs

Grabbed a book from my collection by my favorite author and self proclaimed standup philosopher, Robert Anton Wilson.

As Oregon ponders Measure 80, here is something for people to think about.

Better, longer sex.

Vote YES on 80!

Drug Free Workplace Problem SOLVED!

A big complaint from businesses regarding Oregon's Measure 80 is that it could put them in violation of drug free work place standards for federal contracts.

Drug test - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 

Saliva / oral fluid-based drug tests can generally detect use during the previous few hours to 1–2 days. THC may only be detectable for less than 12.0 hours in most cases. On site drug tests are allowed per the Department of Labor.

Problem solved with one quick Google search.

Vote YES on 80!

Yes on Measure 80: Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

Yes on Measure 80: Regulating marijuana would increase public safety | OregonLive.com:

But how much good would ending marijuana prohibition in Oregon do if it remains illegal in the rest of the country? A lot. First, it closes down a market to the cartels that may seem small compared with the rest of the United States but actually represents millions of dollars. More important, though, it will kick-start a nationwide movement for change. There are currently two other states, Washington and Colorado, with initiatives to legalize marijuana on the ballot. If any of these efforts succeed, it will send a powerful message to our political leaders that the country is ready to reform our failed marijuana laws. Once the statutes are enacted and the world doesn't end (just as it didn't end when Oregon became the first state to decriminalize possession of marijuana in 1973), it will show that we've developed a sustainable model that can be implemented elsewhere.

A great piece by a former Oregon correction counselor. Lots of pride and even more sense.

Vote YES on 80!

Free Marijuana!

As in liberate the plant.

I strongly endorse the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act 2012 also known as Measure 80.

At the age of 15, having never smoked pot or even to my knowledge ever having any exposure to it, I decided that legalization made sense. While I have never wavered from that position, my understanding of the issue has continued to grow. Yesterday my support for the end of marijuana prohibition got stronger than I thought possible.

Yesterday I received my first ever random workplace drug screening. I have had many pre-employment drug screenings. This was my first random.

I made a few jokes. When my supervisor told me I had to go to HR for this I shook his hand and said, "It's been great working with you." He was not very amused which makes it funnier. When the HR staffer told me I had been selected at random and handed me some paperwork to fill out I raised my hands in the air and said, "I won! I won!" After the incident I go back to work, supervisor says he's glad to see me still around. "It's amazing what people will do when you slip them a $20," I said.

But it's not funny.

As anyone who has worked someplace that drug tests knows, there is always the question of how random the random drug screens really are. Certain individuals seem to get them more often while others seem to never get tested. This raised the question for me, was I a random pick or targeted?

Being in a position where I had to ponder that question has had a profound effect on me. Drug testing can be used as a harassment tool! I had felt this way previously. Now I could really feel it first hand. Even if they didn't mean to use it as such, that's how I experienced it.

Random workplace drug screens should be made illegal. They create a hostile work environment. A great step towards ending this harassment is available to Oregonians this fall.

Vote YES on 80!

And you'll be hearing a lot more on this topic from here on out. Work's actions have moved me from supporter to activist mode.

#vote80 #OCTA2012

I Will Throw My Vote Away!

Here is why I pledge to 'throw my vote away' and vote Jake.

I am not one of those people who claims that there is no difference between the two parties. Major differences exist. I do not wish to see Romney in the White House. He and Ryan are at best habitual liars.

I believe that the President of the United States is a representative of the nation.

Obama 'ended' the war in Iraq like promised. He also escalated the war in Afghanistan like he promised. If I murdered 10 people instead of 20 I would still be a murderer. As long as American troops under his command are killing civilians* I can not vote for Obama as my representative. Romney would probably get us engaged elsewhere with an even higher death count. That does not sway me towards accepting a man who supports a war that I do not.

There are other reasons, but that one alone is enough for me. I will not volunteer to be represented by such a man.

Will you support someone who doesn't represent you?

* Which they are. Some might be 'collateral damage' but others are documented as unwarranted massacres.

Infectious

The two party system is like choosing between Herpes and HIV.