ELECTION RESULTS - WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN FOR REFORM? By Bill Piper for the Drug Policy Alliance Network http://www.drugpolicy.org/about/ As you probably know by now, Democrats have taken control of the U.S. House for the first time in 12 years, picking up at least 27 House seats from Republicans. And Democrats picked up at least five Senate seats and may win the other seat they need to take control of the Senate (Virginia is still undecided). Ten local marijuana law reform initiatives also won big yesterday. But voters rejected three important statewide marijuana initiatives, and approved a measure in Arizona that will undercut the state's successful treatment-instead-of-incarceration law. What does all this mean for drug policy reform? Ballot Measures Statewide measures to legalize small amounts of marijuana failed in Colorado (40% to 60%) and Nevada (44% to 56%). South Dakota voters narrowly defeated a medical marijuana initiative (48% to 52%). The South Dakota defeat is especially disappointing because it marks the first time that medical marijuana has lost at the ballot box. (Voters have approved medical marijuana in eight other states). None of these losses can be described as a total surprise. Polling all year long showed that support for the initiatives was much lower than support for successful reform measures in previous years. The voters just were not ready for them. In California, voters in Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, and Santa Monica approved local measures making marijuana possession the lowest law enforcement priority in their cities. Voters in Missoula, Montana and Eureka Springs, Arkansas approved similar measures. In Massachusetts, voters in two legislative districts approved non-binding resolutions in support of making possession of up to one ounce of marijuana a civil violation subject only to a $100 fine. And in two other Massachusetts legislative districts, voters approved non-binding resolutions in support of legalizing marijuana for medical use. Voters in Albany, California approved an initiative allowing a medical marijuana dispensary to open in the city. Overall, it's clear that the tide is turning in favor of reforming marijuana laws--but we wish it were turning faster. In Arizona, state legislators put a measure on the ballot that will undercut Proposition 200, a treatment-instead-of-incarceration law that voters approved in 1996. (Prop. 200 served as a model for Proposition 36, which California voters approved four years later). Arizona voters approved the measure, 58% to 42%. The new law allows judges to exclude people arrested for methamphetamine possession from the state's successful treatment program. DPAN is deeply concerned that other states will view this new law as a model. But we're happy to have beaten back a similar attack on treatment in the California legislature earlier this year. Congress The Democratic takeover of the U.S. House (and possible takeover of the Senate) provides DPAN with some exciting opportunities next year. Democrats at the federal level are far more sympathetic to reform than Republicans (this stands in contrast to state-level politics where Republicans are some of the strongest champions of reform in key states). For instance, 144 House Democrats voted earlier this year to prohibit the U.S. Justice Department from undermining state medical marijuana laws. Only 18 Republicans supported the measure. 169 Democrats voted last year to cut funding to the Andean Counterdrug Initiative (more commonly known as "Plan Colombia"), but only 19 Republicans voted to do so. Since almost all of the Republicans who were defeated yesterday were bad on both of these issues, we look forward to significantly more support next year. (Only one of the defeated Republicans supported medical marijuana, and only three voted to cut funding to the Andean Counterdrug Initiative). Our federal political action committee (DPAC) helped several good state legislators get elected to Congress--most notably Steve Cohen (D-TN), who backed medical marijuana and sentencing reform in the Tennessee legislature, and Chris Murphy (D-CT), who supported DPAN's medical marijuana and crack/powder cocaine sentencing reform bills in the Connecticut legislature. Many members of Congress DPAN works with were re-elected, including Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA). Senator Bob Menendez (D) was re-elected in New Jersey and Rep. Ben Cardin (D) was elected to the Senate for the first time in Maryland. Both voted for medical marijuana in the House, making them the only two U.S. Senators to have voted for medical marijuana in the past. This puts DPAN in a good position to advance this issue in the Senate. The most important change will come early next year when Republican Committee chairs like Rep. James Sensenbrenner (WI) and Rep. Mark Souder (IN) are replaced by solid drug policy reformers. Instead of playing defense trying to stop bad bills like Sensenbrenner's horrible "snitch" bill, DPAN will be able to devote more resources to moving good bills forward. The Democrats who will be leaders in the new Congress are better on drug policy reform than Democrats were in the 1990s under Clinton, and much better than Democrats were in the 1980s under Reagan. For instance, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who will most likely be Speaker of the House next year, is a strong supporter of medical marijuana and sentencing reform. Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), who will chair the House Judiciary Committee next year, is a member of the Drug Policy Alliance's advisory board. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), who will chair the Government Reform Committee, is a strong supporter of syringe exchange programs and other harm reduction measures. Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) are strong supporters of drug sentencing reform. All three will likely control key Congressional committees next year. We're excited. It's very possible that DPAN can pass the Hinchey-Rohrabacher medical marijuana amendment and other reforms next year. At a time when the Bush Administration is increasing federal prosecution of medical marijuana patients and their providers, we have the capability of pushing back--hard. State Races Here are some brief updates on some of the states DPAN is very active in: In California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) was re-elected. Generally speaking, he has been better on drug policy issues than his predecessor, Gray Davis (D), but he has still vetoed several of the reforms DPAN passed through the legislature. Schwarzenegger worked to defeat a "three strikes" reform initiative DPAN backed in 2004, and has severely underfunded Prop 36, our successful treatment-instead-of-incarceration law that California voters approved in 2000. But he has signed a number of reform bills that his predecessor vetoed, most notably DPAN's syringe access bill that will do more to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS in California than any other piece of legislation. In Connecticut, Gov. Jodi Rell (R) was re-elected. She vetoed the first crack/powder sentencing reform bill that DPAN passed in the state, but signed the second one into law. Cliff Thorton, a drug policy reformer who heads the Connecticut-based reform group Efficacy, took 1% of the vote in his Green Party bid to unseat her. While votes are still being counted, it looks like Democrats will pick up enough seats in the Connecticut legislature to override the governor's vetoes. This puts us in a good position for next year, where DPAN will advance bills to legalize medical marijuana and reform draconian drug sentences. We are excited that a state legislator who supported our bills in the legislature, Chris Murphy (D), beat Congressman Nancy Johnson (R) and will be going to Congress. In Maryland, Gov. Bob Ehrlich (R) lost. He supported medical marijuana, treatment-instead-of-incarceration and sentencing reform. We're hoping the new governor, Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley (D), will be even better. We're especially hoping that O'Malley will appoint Peter Beilenson as the state's Health Commissioner. (Peter Beilenson is the former Baltimore Health Commissioner. He's a strong supporter of drug policy reform, and an ally of DPAN. We backed his effort to win a Congressional seat, but he narrowly lost in the primary). Rep. Ben Cardin (D), who supported medical marijuana in the U.S. House, won his race to become a U.S. Senator. Kevin Zeese, who co-founded the Drug Policy Foundation (which merged in 2000 with the Lindesmith Center to become the Drug Policy Alliance) took 2% of the vote in his Green-Libertarian-third-party fusion bid to beat Cardin and his Republican opponent. In New Mexico, Governor Bill Richardson (D) was re-elected. The director of DPA's New Mexico office, Reena Szczepanski, co-chairs his methamphetamine taskforce. He also supported DPAN's medical marijuana bill last year and has promised to support it again in 2007. His Republican opponent, John Dendahl, has also supported medical marijuana and other reform issues. Our federal political action committee (DPAC) contributed money to Attorney General Patricia Madrid (D) for her campaign to defeat Congresswoman Heather Wilson (R), who has voted against medical marijuana three times in the U.S. House. Votes are still being counted in this very close race. The New Mexico House of Representatives was up for re-election this year, and results are positive for drug policy reformers. Two medical marijuana opponents were defeated--House Minority Whip Rep. Terry Marquardt, R-53, Alamogordo, and Rep. Don Whitaker, D-61, Eunice. House Majority Leader Ted Hobbs' retirement coupled with Marquardt's loss also means entirely new leadership for the House Republicans in 2007. DPA NM's projected House votes look promising for both treatment-instead-of-incarceration initatives and legal access to medical marijuana. The New Mexico Senate's membership, which voted 34-6 last year in favor of medical marijuana, remains the same for 2007-2008. In New Jersey, nothing changed with state-level races because those are up in odd years in the state. But our federal political action committee (DPAC) backed Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D) in her effort to unseat Congressman Michael Ferguson (R). She came very close (48% - 50%) in an excellent campaign to unseat someone who was considered unbeatable. She will continue to be a good ally in the legislature, where she supports DPAN's legislation to make sterile syringes more available. DPAC also supported Senator Menendez (D), who supports medical marijuana and other drug policy reforms. In New York, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer (D) will replace George Pataki (R) as governor. It is too early to tell where Spitzer will be on all the issues, but we know he will be a stronger supporter of reforming New York's draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws than Pataki. We're a little concerned that District Attorney Michael Arcuri (D) won his Congressional race. Arcuri has cruelly prosecuted people under the Rockefeller Drug Laws and opposed reform efforts. We hope his victory in a state that overwhelmingly supports reform will change his mind. In Washington, Roger Goodman was elected to the Washington Senate. Goodman runs the King Country Bar Association's Drug Policy Project. He has moved drug policy reform forward in the state and will be a major ally in the legislature. Our state political action committee contributed to his campaign. Conclusion Over the coming weeks you will get e-mails from us laying out our 2006 legislative strategy, which includes prohibiting the Justice Department from undermining state medical marijuana laws, eliminating the crack/powder cocaine sentencing disparity, and cutting wasteful drug war spending. We really appreciate your on-going support. We couldn't do any of our work without you! ********************************************************************* 3 Out of 3 State Marijuana Initiatives Fail; 10 Out of 10 Local Initiatives Pass By Rob Kampia, Executive Director, Marijuana Policy Project http://www.mpp.org The Marijuana Policy Project's initiative to tax and regulate marijuana in Nevada was defeated last night by a 44% to 56% margin. While this is a huge disappointment to all of us, more than four in 10 Nevada voters actually voted to end marijuana prohibition entirely. This is huge progress since the 39% to 61% defeat of a similar ballot measure in Nevada four years ago. This year's attempt in Nevada was only the sixth time that anyone has attempted to pass a statewide ballot initiative to end marijuana prohibition in a state; the other attempts were in California in the early 1970s, Oregon in 1986, Alaska in 2000 and 2004, and Nevada in 2002. Although we didn't win yesterday, the results demonstrate the voters' increasing willingness to reconsider our nation's marijuana laws. And we achieved this strong finish despite intense campaigning by the White House drug czar's office and the entire law enforcement establishment in Nevada. The fact that we came close to victory while up against such powerful opposition is remarkable. And we're not giving up: We'll be back in Nevada to try again with another marijuana initiative in November 2008 or, more likely, in November 2010. The drug czar will keep trying to frighten people with lies, and we'll keep telling the truth, and eventually the truth will win. In other election news, voters in 10 out of 10 communities in Arkansas, California, Massachusetts, and Montana passed a series of local marijuana ballot initiatives by wide majorities. Unfortunately, voters in South Dakota narrowly defeated an initiative to protect medical marijuana patients from arrest and jail by a 48% to 52% margin. In addition, Colorado voters defeated by a 40% to 60% margin a statewide initiative that sought to remove all penalties for the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana by adults aged 21 and older. Notably, last night's change in leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives means that House leaders who have consistently opposed medical marijuana legislation will lose their committee chairmanships in January, and a strong supporter of protecting medical marijuana patients - Nancy Pelosi - will soon be House Speaker and choose the new slate of Democratic committee chairs. This will provide the most favorable conditions in Congress to pass federal medical marijuana legislation since I co-founded MPP in January 1995 (which was immediately after the "Republican Revolution" of November 1994). The momentum is with us, but major social change never comes easily. We know we won't win every battle, but we win most of our battles. ******************************************************************* 2006 Mid-Term Election Results Offer Mixed Bag for Marijuana Law Reform By The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws http://www.norml.org The 2006 mid-term elections offered mixed results for marijuana law reformers, with voters rejecting three statewide liberalization efforts, but approving numerous local measures to 'deprioritize' pot law enforcement. Voters in Colorado, Nevada, and South Dakota turned back efforts to amend state penalties on the use and possession of cannabis. Colorado's Amendment 44, which gained 40 percent of the vote, sought to eliminate civil penalties on the possession and use of up to one ounce of marijuana by adults. Question 7 in Nevada, which won 44 percent of the vote, sought to remove all civil penalties for the private possession and use of small quantities of cannabis, and directed state officials to create a statewide system for the taxation, legal cultivation, distribution, and sale of marijuana to adults by licensed vendors. South Dakota's Initiated Measure 4, which gained 48 percent of the vote, sought to allow the physician-authorized use of cannabis for medicinal purposes. Regarding the three failed statewide initiative efforts, NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre stated: "These outcomes, while disappointing, were not unexpected. Despite these results, adults in both Colorado and Nevada continue to live under state laws that authorize the medical use of marijuana and allow adults to possess and use small amounts of pot without the threat of incarceration or a criminal record. South Dakota's result, while disheartening, does nothing to change the fact that according to national polls, nearly eight out of ten Americans support the physician-approved use of medicinal cannabis." Local cannabis reform initiatives won overwhelmingly in yesterday's election. In Eureka Springs, Arkansas, 64 percent of voters approved a citywide ordinance directing local law enforcement to issue a summons in lieu of a criminal arrest for adults found to be in possession of up to one ounce of cannabis and/or marijuana paraphernalia. The measure, sponsored by the Fayetteville/University of Arkansas chapter of NORML, is the first pot 'depenalization' measure ever approved in the state. In California, local voters approved a trio of pot 'deprioritization' measures. In Santa Barbara, 65 percent of voters backed Measure P, which directs municipal police to make all law enforcement activities related to the investigation, citation, and/or arrest of adult cannabis users their lowest priority, and also appoints a community oversight committee to monitor police activity as it pertains to marijuana law enforcement. Santa Cruz and Santa Monica voters approved similar measures (Measure K and Measure Y) each by votes of 63 percent. A separate pot deprioritization measure (Initiative 2) also passed in Missoula, Montana, with 53 percent of the vote. Finally, in Massachusetts, voters in eight State House districts and nine Senate Districts approved public policy questions concerning the decriminalization of cannabis for personal use and the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes. Since 2002, more than 420,000 Massachusetts voters in 110 communities have approved similar non-binding resolutions. NORML's St. Pierre said that the strong showing in local races demonstrates Americans' overwhelming support for more responsible pot policies. "What these results tell us is that citizens strongly support reforming America's marijuana laws, but that they prefer to do so incrementally," he said. "These successes on the municipal level, once again, affirm that a majority of US citizens don't want adults who use marijuana responsibly to face arrest or jail, and they do not want their tax dollars spent on policies that prioritize targeting and prosecuting marijuana offenders." St. Pierre added that this year's election results also have potential federal ramifications, noting that California Democrat Nancy Pelosi, who now stands to be House Speaker, is a longtime supporter and former co-sponsor of medical marijuana legislation. "It is our hope that with new Democratic leadership in the US House of Representatives we will finally be able to move forward with legislation and hearings on both the physician-approved medical use of marijuana as well as the decriminalization of cannabis for responsible adults," he said. ******************************************************************** Additional information about local initiatives and efforts, past and present, may be found at the Community Audits and Initiatives Project webpages http://www.drugsense.org/caip If you are aware of other local efforts which may be appropriate for the webpages please notify DrugSense using this webform http://drugsense.org/feedback.htm ********************************************************************* Of course the results of the election provide an opportunity for you to write letters to the editor. Just click either of these links to find a wealth of targets for your letter writing efforts. http://www.mapinc.org http://www.drugnews.org ********************************************************************** Prepared by: DrugSense http://www.DrugSense.org === . DrugSense provides many services at no charge, but they are not free to produce. Your contributions make DrugSense and its Media Awareness Project (MAP) happen. Please donate today. Our secure Web server at http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm accepts credit cards. Or, mail your check or money order to: . DrugSense 14252 Culver Drive #328 Irvine, CA 92604-0326. (800) 266 5759 . DrugSense is a 501c(3) non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness about the expensive, ineffective, and destructive "War on Drugs." Donations are tax deductible to the extent provided by law.