When Oregonians voted up legal cannabis in 2014, they were
\nendorsing a broader vision of social freedom for users and producers than state
\nauthorities have actually delivered in the ensuing years. So say a group of
\npetitioners who last week filed a ballot measure at the state capitol in Salem,
\nand are seeking enough signatures to place it before voters in 2020. <\/p>\n
A new group called the Oregon Justice League asserts that because cannabis legalization in the Beaver State has failed to live up to its promise, they\u2019ve prepared a remedy to place before the voters in the form of a new ballot initiative, the Legalization Justice Act<\/a>.<\/p>\n Portland-based writer Angela Bacca is a board member of Oregon NORML<\/a> (and former editor of Cannabis Now) and one of the chief petitioners who submitted<\/a> the ballot proposal. She is also a medicinal user, who is living with Crohn\u2019s disease. <\/p>\n \u201cWe decided to go big or go home,\u201d Bacca tells The key drafter of the Legalization Justice Act, Bacca says: Bacca portrays an atmosphere still unacceptably restrictive \u201cI\u2019m a patient with Crohn\u2019s disease, but I\u2019m She also protests the high costs of participating in the Granted, the fee is lower for veterans and those on The initiative also would add physicians\u2019 assistants, nurse The text of the Legalization Justice Act has five key The first concerns tax revenues from legal cannabis, calling for their redistribution to advance \u201cthe social justice goals of cannabis legalization.\u201d The LJA would designate 25 percent of such revenues to funding community development and micro-lending initiatives for small businesses in the communities that have been disproportionately impacted by prohibition and \u201cthe failed War on Drugs.\u201d An additional 25 percent would be dedicated to subsidize cannabis purchases for low-income patients with qualifying conditions under the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program, or OMMP<\/a>. <\/p>\n The text also includes changes to increasingly moribund<\/a> OMMP such as the \u201clifetime card\u201d provision, a growing demand<\/a> of medical users nationwide.<\/p>\n It would also allow \u201csocial consumption spaces\u201d The LJA also includes employment protection provisions, to \u201cprevent discriminatory and conceptually flawed drug testing\u201d \u2014 another question that is emerging as a focus of concern<\/a> for the cannabis community nationwide.<\/p>\n Finally, it would seek to protect Oregon\u2019s \u201ccraft cannabis community,\u201d directing the state to petition the federal government to allow export of product across state lines<\/a>.<\/p>\n The text of the LJA is still being tweaked, and a new draft One is Madeline Martinez, the executive director of Oregon NORML, who also happens to be the only Latina member of NORML\u2019s national board. She won headlines in 2009, when she opened the World Famous Cannabis Cafe<\/a> in Portland \u2014 a \u201cconsumption lounge\u201d for medical users. In another case of social space for cannabis actually contracting as a paradoxical result of legalization, the cafe was forced to close<\/a> when the state Indoor Clean Air Act was amended to include cannabis in 2016. <\/p>\n The other is Leia Flynn, a legal assistant at a firm that works with cannabis businesses and the owner of Flight Lounge<\/a>, a members-only private cafe that still operates under the city of Portland\u2019s \u201csocial consumption guidelines<\/a>.\u201d As a private club with no volunteers or employees, it is not in violation of the Indoor Clean Air Act.<\/p>\n Speaking to Cannabis Now, Flynn emphasizes that strictures Bacca believes the LJA could be a \u201cmodel for rest of country,\u201d as Capitol Hill lawmakers start to take up the cannabis legalization question<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are putting into writing what we feel is wrong with The Oregon Justice League is calling upon the state\u2019s And the cannabis community has a growing political weight \u201cThe state has taken in $160 million in cannabis taxes TELL US<\/strong>, what\u2019s The post Oregon Ballot Initiative Calls for Justice with Legalization<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
When Oregonians voted up legal cannabis in 2014, they were endorsing a broader vision of social freedom for users and producers than state authorities have actually delivered in the ensuing years. So say a group of petitioners who last week filed a ballot measure at the state capitol in Salem,Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9519,50,4327,90,65,9520,9521,9522,139,185,319],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33978"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33978"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33979,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33978\/revisions\/33979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Democratizing the Benefits of Legalization<\/h4>\n
\nCannabis Now. \u201cThe spoils of legalization are going to those who were
\nreaping benefits of prohibition, and this is our effort to fix that.\u201d <\/p>\n
\n\u201cWe took a lot of language from bills that are pending in the legislature
\nbut not moving.\u201d She attributes this lack of motion in part to pressure
\nfrom forces such as the \u201cpublic health lobby\u201d \u2014 health authorities
\nfrom conservative jurisdictions around the state and the economic interests
\naligned with them.<\/p>\n
\nfor cannabis users. <\/p>\n
\ntechnically not allowed to possess cannabis in my home, because I signed
\nsomething in the lease saying I would follow federal law,\u201d she notes.
\n\u201cSo even though I have two thirds of my colon left and have a disease that
\ncan be treated with cannabis, I can\u2019t possess in my own home \u2014 or smoke in the
\nstreet, because of the ban on public use.\u201d <\/p>\n
\nstate medical marijuana program. \u201cIt costs $200 to get approved medical by
\na doctor for the program \u2014 that\u2019s the going rate. And then another [$200] must
\nbe paid to the Oregon Health Authority.\u201d<\/p>\n
\ndisability or social security. But the Legalization Justice Act would go much
\nfurther. \u201cThere is a provision for lifetime cards in the initiative for
\nchronic and incurable illness like the one I have,\u201d Bacca says. \u201cI
\nshouldn\u2019t have to prove each year that I still haven\u2019t cured an incurable
\ndisease.\u201d<\/p>\n
\npractitioners and naturopaths to the list of those qualified to recommend
\ncannabis.<\/p>\nFive Key Provisions<\/h4>\n
\nprovisions. <\/p>\n
\nsuch as cannabis cafes and amend the Oregon Indoor Clean Air Act to allow
\nindoor smoking and vaping of cannabis. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission
\nwould be charged with regulating these spaces.<\/p>\nA National Model<\/h4>\n
\nis likely to be resubmitted in Salem this week. Bacca has two principal
\nco-petitioners in the effort who are also vanguard figures in Oregon\u2019s cannabis
\ncommunity.<\/p>\n
\non both indoor and outdoor smoking disproportionately impact people of color.
\n\u201cHomeowners are mostly white,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s other folk who
\ncan\u2019t smoke at home, and they can\u2019t smoke on the street. People choose to get a
\ncitation rather than losing their home. So we really need public spaces where
\npeople can use cannabis.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nlegalization as we go into this new federal paradigm,\u201d Bacca says.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve made strides but haven\u2019t achieved social justice goals of
\nlegalization. And we can\u2019t forget that, especially now that we\u2019re reaching
\ncritical mass on the question nationally.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\ndispensaries to collect signatures to help get the 120,000 needed for ballot
\nplacement, and Bacca is optimistic. \u201cWe now have an entire consumer network
\nwhere users interact with people from the industry every day,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
\nthat she believes will inevitably at some point counterbalance the power of
\nconservative lobbyists. <\/p>\n
\nsince legalization,\u201d Bacca concludes. \u201cYet the legislators keep
\nbowing down to the public health lobby. At what point is our money worth
\nit?\u201d<\/p>\n
\nin your ideal your version a legalization justice initiative? <\/p>\n
\n
\nRead More: Oregon Ballot Initiative Calls for Justice with Legalization<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"