Pro-pot Backers Aim High

[Jim Finnel]

Activists who want joints sold over the counter like cigarettes are bankrolling a Bay State pot referendum backers claim will simply clear the air of piddling marijuana cases choking the court system.

The Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy, which placed Question 2 on the November ballot, collected from the Marijuana Policy Project $200,000, about 30 percent of its total. Indeed, about 90 percent of the $635,000 the committee has raised comes from people who live out of state.

On its Web site, the marijuana project’s mission statement states clearly: “Adults who use marijuana should be able to obtain it from legally regulated establishments and not from illegal drug dealers.”

Woody Kaplan, a Hub real estate developer and self-styled “provocateur” who donated $10,000 to the state ballot initiative, also backs the call for legal pot sales.

“I believe taxing and regulating is a much better way than what the ballot question proposes,” said Kaplan, who held a $250-a-head fundraiser for the Marijuana Policy Prject earlier this month.

“This is government making a choice that something that is clearly destructive - alcohol - is OK, but somebody smoking marijuana isn’t,” Kaplan told the Herald.

Daniel R. Lewis, 62, of Coral Gables, Fla. - the scion of the Progressive Insurance fortune and a self-confessed former toker - also would like to see grass legalized and regulated.

“I think it’s a relatively harmless drug, as compared to alcohol,” said Lewis, who gave $5,000 to the pot project.

The group also counts among its backers actor Jack Black, talk show host Bill Maher and former wrestler and Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, and uses Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Mansion for its lavish fund-raisers.

If passed, the ballot initiative would make having an ounce or less of marijuana a civil offense punishable by a $100 fine. Minors’ parents would be notified, and the kids would have to complete a drug awareness program.

Middlesex County District Attorney Gerard Leone slammed the pot activists as out of touch and predicted the measure would be a gateway to weaker drug laws.

“Question 2 will allow a foot in the door to people with a misguided, radical agenda,” Leone said.

Whitney Taylor, campaign manager, pointed to a Suffolk University poll that showed 72 percent of voters support the ballot question.

“They are not out of the mainstream,” Taylor said. “They are the mainstream.”

Kaplan, a 66-year-old board member of the Godless America PAC, which “mobilizes nonbelievers for political activism,” said he’s heard it all before.

“Same-sex opponents said if you allow same-sex marriage, people would marry dogs,” Kaplan said. “Yeh, right. It’s just fear tactics, and it’s absurd.”


News Hawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: BostonHerald.com
Author: Edward Mason
Copyright: 2008 the Boston Herald and Herald Media.
Contact: Contact Us - BostonHerald.com
Website: Pro-pot backers aim high - BostonHerald.com

 

[arachnoiditis]

ive been saying it for years, the government should step in and grow it and sell it them selves in different grades, low medium and high grades. then use that money to get us out of debt! on top of that it would also stop the millions of pounds being brought into the country, and take the hundreds of billions of dollars out of foriegn hands and bring it home to all of us. no one would want to buy it from a street dealer if they can get it at the local liquer store or gas station. if they dont think it would work, just tell them to read up on their history and look at alcohol. gangsters like al capone were making millions during the great depression, while everybody else was broke. the government stepped in and boom by by gangsters and hello proffit for the farmers and the nice tax emposed on it. all i can say anymore is WAKE UP BEFORE YOU TAKE US ALL DOWN WITH YOU! dont be so stubborn because you may not like to smoke it, or you grew up believeing all the made up horror stories about how it turns people into crazed maniacs. ive seen those old black and white public service announcements the gov. used to feed to the people to make them believe that marijuana is an evil drug. if they are so smart and graduated from ivy leage schools then they should be smart enough to realize when they are being lied too. and ive seen hundreds of people smoke it and never once saw anyone of them do anything crazy, especially compared to the god awfull stupid things a drunk person does. ive seen more people get into fights, wreck their cars , murder others even loved ones, even commit suicide. so please wake up and quit perpetuating old lies told by old or even dead people by now and accept the facts that marijuana is not as harmfull as alcohol or cigaretts. and if the government continues to lie to its people and not legalize it then everybody will just keep thinking that our government is not for us but for them. and then more people will not trust a word they say. sorry for the long rant, but im getting tired of waiting

 

[Weed420]

I do not want the government growing ANYTHING for me. They can't even balance a checkbook. How are they going to grow MJ? No thanks. MJ really shoulsdn't be regulated anymore than tomatoes. They should be required to be safely grown without any disease so they are safe for public consumption and thats it. Of course I'm dreaming, but its nice to dream of living in a free society where what you do in private is nobody's business.

 

[Jim Finnel]

i don't want government pot. i don't much want government. i want freedom.

 

[arachnoiditis]

i agree that it should be legal , and that everyone should have the right to grow it for themselves, i was just trying to make suggestions on ways to get it legalized and help out the economy, and also it might help the government regain trust from its citizens. and again this was merely a idea. also in my idea it would be legal for people to grow their own if they wanted, but so many people i know dont have the space or knowlege to do so. i also want freedom, but i also want a government, there is a way to have both and for them to work together, that was the main goal of our country's founding fathers.