POT IDEAS WILL TEST ACCEPTANCE

Signature Gatherers Want to Change Marijuana Laws in Oregon, Which
Has a High Rate of Users

Oregonians, prepare for reefer referendum madness.

Starting today, signature gatherers will ask Portland residents to
put a law on next year's ballot decriminalizing possession of as much
as an ounce of marijuana.

It's a weird request, as possessing that much pot is already
decriminalized statewide. Oregon was the first state to decriminalize
a little dope, way back in 1973. Having a little marijuana is now a
civil violation, like speeding, punishable by a $500 to $1,000 fine.

Other Oregon pot fanciers want to move way beyond removing penalties.
They're aiming for a 2010 ballot measure to legally sell marijuana
through Oregon liquor stores, taxing the sales for state revenue -- a
law that, if passed, guarantees a war with the federal government.

NORML, the main U.S. group backing marijuana legalization, identifies
Oregon, Nevada and Vermont as the three states where its legal pot
dream seems most possible.

"We just had a conference in D.C., and there were so many people from
Oregon declaring their intent for this initiative, that initiative,
medical marijuana," NORML spokesman Allen St. Pierre said. "I'm not
really sure what's going on up there."

What seems to be happening is a union of two of this pioneering
state's great loves: ballot initiatives and dope smoking.

Our ballots have carried more initiatives than any other state: 341
through last year, according to the Initiative and Referendum Institute.

And more than 1 in 8 Oregonians uses marijuana yearly, the federal
government estimates, well above the 10.5 percent national average.
Oregon ranks fifth in yearly marijuana use, third in use by adults
older than 25. We also have one of the highest rates of people trying
pot for the first time and lowest rates of residents who call monthly
pot smoking very risky, the federal figures show.

"You just draw a line from Seattle to all the way just south of Los
Angeles, and 50 miles inland," St. Pierre said. "That is the most
tolerant place in the United States for marijuana, bar none."

Not that we'll vote for just any pot proposal. Oregonians have a
mixed marijuana record.

After the state Legislature voted to recriminalize possession in
1997, petitioners sent that law to a vote in 1998, the same election
where Oregon's medical marijuana law passed. Voters decided 2-to-1
that low-level possession should remain a civil penalty, like a
traffic ticket. But an initiative to make marijuana enforcement the
lowest police priority, versions of which passed in Seattle and
Denver, failed to get enough signatures to make it onto Portland's 2006 ballot.

Parker Bell, the man behind the newest Portland pot effort, worked on
that failed campaign and Denver's vote. His new initiative differs,
he said, because it doesn't tell police what their priority should be
- -- though it does ban Portland police from helping state or federal
authorities investigate or arrest anyone for possessing less than an
ounce of marijuana. But Bell said the main thrust of his law is to
erase fines or any other penalties for a bit of pot.

"We're no more criminals than the people who take a couple of shots
of Jameson at the end of the night," said Bell, who must gather
27,255 legitimate signatures by July 7 to make November 2008's ballot.

The language of Bell's ordinance doesn't seem to match his intent,
however. It says adults "shall be excepted from the criminal laws"
for low-level possession, ignoring that criminal laws don't cover
that. The ordinance doesn't erase the fines or civil penalties.

It might make a few changes, though, according to Portland lawyer
Leland Berger, who helped draft the medical marijuana law. It would
change the way police weigh marijuana (seeds and stems would no
longer count toward the 1-ounce limit) and make police who confiscate
bigger stashes leave an ounce for the owner.

The text also seems to invalidate a state law that makes it a
misdemeanor to possess less than an ounce of pot within 1,000 feet of
a school, Berger said. And it might bar Portland police from helping
arrest people dealing small amounts of pot, Berger said. Bell said
that's not intended, but the language is unclear on that point.

Barring Portland police from working with state and federal
authorities could be a problem because local police get federal money
to work on state and federal drug task forces, Portland Police Bureau
spokesman Sgt. Brian Schmautz said.

Otherwise, Bell's law would have little practical impact, he said:
Police don't seek people possessing small amounts of marijuana. They
write those citations only if they find a little pot while
investigating another issue. Portland police cite fewer than 1,000
people a year for holding less than an ounce of pot.

The legalization drive would have much bigger effects, said Madeline
Martinez, executive director of Oregon NORML. It would let farmers
grow hemp for fun and fiber. Adults 21 and older could buy pot in
Oregon liquor stores. And the state could tax that pot, making many
millions of dollars, she said -- though she doesn't have estimates yet.

The law also "sets us up for the federal battle" that would
inevitably follow a state legalizing marijuana, said Martinez, a
retired California prison guard who takes medical marijuana for chronic pain.

Martinez needs almost 83,000 signatures to get on the state ballot.
She says that's possible.

"When we get ready to start gathering the signatures, I really do
believe the people will be ready for this," she said. "Americans'
roots are hemp roots, and I think we should go back to those roots."