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Voter petition drives kickoff California Cities Campaign |
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Written by Mikki Norris
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Thursday, 30 March 2006 |
Petition drives have begun in four California cities to place citizen
initiatives on local ballots that make adult marijuana offenses law
enforcement’s lowest priority. Volunteers are needed in each city to
reach the required number of signatures in time.
Inspired by Oakland’s Measure Z ballot victory in 2004 and Seattle’s
I-75 in 2003, activists have formed committees to run initiatives in
Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, West Hollywood, and Santa Monica.
 Ethan Kravitz, Heather Poet and Lauren Vasquez led an enthusiastic group discussion in Santa Barbara. Photo by Chris Conrad
This is a strategy of “think globally: act locally.” Each city is part
of a larger effort to gain support and build momentum around the state,
with an eye towards getting reform legislation or even a statewide
voter initiative in 2008 or soon thereafter.
Sensible Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara is vital to the effort, as a city that is relatively
conservative; a victory there would signal a mandate to reform state
marijuana laws. Sensible Santa Barbara (SSB) is the committee running
an initiative in that city. It held a very successful kickoff on Feb.
26 at the downtown Library. The event introduced the initiative and
bought in volunteers to help collect petition signatures for the drive.
Over 50 people attended; many enthusiastically signed up to help gather
signatures to qualify the initiative for the November 2006 ballot.
Ethan Krawitz, SSB chair and UCSB NORML co-chair, facilitated and was
joined on a panel by SSB committee members Heather Poet and Lauren
Vasquez.
They gave background on the initiative process and explained that the
initiative calls for Santa Barbara city law enforcement to officially
treat marijuana possession and use by adults as a less serious offense
than all other crimes. It creates a community oversight committee to
ensure speedy implementation and track police arrests, prosecutions,
incarcerations and property seizures. It requires the city clerk to
transmit notification to state and federal representatives that the
city has de-prioritized marijuana and wants other governmental bodies
to make similar changes.
Santa Cruz Citizens
 Andrea Tischler explained how to register a new voter to sign a city ballot petition in Santa Cruz.
Santa Cruz Citizens for Sensible Marijuana Policy held its volunteer
kickoff event March 11 at the Louden Nelson Community Center. Interest
has been generated around the initiative effort following an article on
the Bay City News Wire, a news outlet servicing more than 150 radio,
television and newspaper subscribers. Santa Cruz Citizens chair Andrea
Tishcler, owner of the medical-cannabis friendly Compassion Flower Inn,
has been inundated with media requests and interviews.
"There is great opposition to the way the Drug War is being done,"
Tischler said. "Many believe the drug war is a failure and those who
use marijuana should not be criminalized. The money they spend
investigating marijuana crimes is money misspent," she said. Initiative
proponent and campaign spokesperson Theodora Kerry added, “If police
work is about making the public safer, we really feel whether or not
adults are using marijuana privately in their homes does not affect
public safety.”
A large student population resides at UC Santa Cruz, and a volunteer
coordinator came out to the kickoff to work on generating signatures on
campus. With the turnover in student housing every year, student voters
need to fill out a new registration form to keep their status current.
 Mikki Norris speaks at the Santa Cruz kickoff.
The petitioning firm of Ken Masterton is also collecting signatures for the various local efforts.
Updates on the West Hollywood and Santa Monica kickoff events will
appear in the next issue of the Oaksterdam News. The West Hollywood
City Council has also unanimously voted to direct City Attorney Mike
Jenkins to draft an ordinance that makes marijuana enforcement low
priority.
For more information on the California Cities Campaigns initiatives and local efforts, please check the web sites: www.taxandregulate.org and www.sensiblesantabarbara.com
Volunteers: Please contact the local committees to get involved and collect signatures:
Sensible Santa Barbara: 805-698-5822. Contact: Ethan Krawitz, email:
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Santa Cruz Citizens for Sensible Marijuana Policy: 831-466-0420. Contact: Andrea Tischler. Email:
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West Hollywood Civil Liberties Alliance: 213-804-6121. Contact: Ngaoi Bealum. Email:
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Santa Monicans for Sensible Marijuana Policy: Contact: Kelsey Nunez. Email:
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* Mikki Norris is a board member of Oakland Civil
Liberties Alliance and a consultant to the California Cities Campaign,
www.taxandregulate.org.
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Mikki Norris |
| About the author: |
| Mikki Norris has been an activist for drug policy reform since 1989 when she formed the American Hemp Council along with her husband Chris Conrad. In subsequent years, they took several cross-country trips to educate the public on the many uses of hemp, and to network and strategize with activists and businesspeople on how to advance the movement. In 1993, she and Chris moved to Amsterdam to design exhibits for and curate the Hash Marijuana Hemp Museum, which they updated in 2000. As community action co-coordinator for Californians for Medical Rights, she helped organize petitioners to qualify the medical marijuana initiative (Prop. 215) for the 1996 ballot. |
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