Hemp Initiative 2008 - by Richard M. Davis

There is a new marijuana initiative circulating in the state which would put on the ballot for voter's approval the California Cannabis Hemp & Health Initiative 2008. Right now I want to talk about the title and summary that is prepared by Attorney General Jerry Brown. This summary is what is read by those signing onto the initiative on the street:

INITIATIVE MEASURE TO BE SUBMITTED DIRECTLY TO THE VOTERS

The Attorney General of California has prepared the following title and summary of the chief purposes and points of the proposed measure:

MARIJUANA. REPEAL OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL PENALTIES. RELEASE FROM JAIL. STATUTE.

Decriminalizes possession, cultivation, transportation, distribution, and use of marijuana or hemp. Provides persons convicted or serving time for non-violent offenses involving marijuana be immediately released from prison, jail, parole, or probation, and be eligible to have their convictions erased. Provides no permit, license, or tax be required for non-commercial cultivation, transportation, distribution, or consumption of marijuana. Allows doctors to prescribe or recommend marijuana to patients, regardless of age. Prohibits testing fro marijuana for employment or insurance purposes. Bars state from aiding enforcement of certain federal marijuana laws. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Savings in the several tens of millions of dollars annually to state and local government, which would no longer incur the costs of incarcerating and supervising certain marijuana offenders. A potential increase of a few million dollars annually in the cost of the state's Drug Medi-Cal substance abuse treatment program. (Initiative 07-0064.)

I went through this before in 1994 with the hemp initiative then. This summary totally misrepresents the initiative. In 1994 we sued the AG to have the age limit put back in the summary. The words of the summary are limited when something is added, something must be deleted, etc. What is important to the AG went into the title and summary, not what is important to the people.

The people's title is CA CANNABIS HEMP & HEALTH INITIATIVE 2008. The AG's is MARIJUANA. REPEAL OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL PENALTIES. RELEASE FROM JAIL. STATUTE.

I recommend an immediate suit be filed against the AG for misrepresenting the chief purposes and points of the proposed initiative. In 1994, Chris Conrad and myself filed suit in Sacramento, to change the wording. The summary was changed, but it cost the signature drive two weeks to reprint the new summary and initiative. Still what was I learned in 1994 was that volunteers didn't collect enough signatures and paid collection pro's get the job done fast. Just off the top of my stoned head I would like to propose a more friendly title and summary:

CANNABIS HEMP AND MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION STATUTE OF 2008. Decriminalizes use of marijuana and hemp. Ends marijuana prohibition. Legal Cannabis hemp products for paper, medicine, fuel, food, textiles, recreation, and thousands more uses have a potential of tens of billions of dollars for the California economy. Legal hemp can help with Global Warming. Releases non-violent marijuana offenders from incarceration and erases convictions. Bars state from aiding enforcement of certain federal marijuana laws. Prohibits testing for marijuana for employment or insurance purposes. Allows reasonable state license and taxing standards. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Savings in the several tens of millions of dollars annually to state and local governments in incarceration and supervision costs. Act is pursuant to the Ninth and Tenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Use of Cannabis hemp products for religious or spiritual purposes is made an inalienable right. "All provisions of this Act shall be liberally construed for the accomplishment of these purposes: to respect human rights, to promote tolerance, and to end cannabis hemp prohibition."

I don't doubt that a better summary could be drawn. The CCHHI offers California a way to take the lead in hemp research in the U.S. There is a saying, "as California goes, so goes the nation." We need the U.S. to grow hemp for global warming. This shows the country and the world that we can end the prohibition and free the plant resource. This initiative does the job. No halfway measures here. Legal Cannabis hemp for California. Can North Dakota or Hawaii be far behind?