Hippie Oregon snips propot law

By Enzo DiMatteo

As activists here await a court decision on a recent constitutional challenge
to Canada's cannabis laws, south of the border the Oregon state legislature,
the first to decriminalize pot, in 1973, has moved to make small quantities
of the leaf illegal again.

The decision, announced earlier this month, now makes possession of less than
an ounce of pot a criminal offence punishable by a maximum $1,000 fine, up to
30 days in jail and the loss of driving privileges for six months. A far cry
from the days when getting busted for a bag of weed bought you a small fine.

Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the Washington, D.C.based NORML
(National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) Foundation, says the
decision was prompted by a number of factors, chief among them the lobbying
efforts of antidrug groups looking to roll back the gains made in California
and Arizona, where marijuana can legally be prescribed for medical use.

"Oregon is no longer the hippie haven people used to escape to in the 60s,"
says St. Pierre.

But already, propot forces are rallying the troops with an Extravaganja
rally in Harrisburg, just outside Portland, this weekend. Events are also
planned for the county fair in nearby Eugene. The focus will be on getting
the 70,000 signatures NORML says it needs to stop the law from taking effect.

Leslie Carlson, a spokesperson for Oregon governor John Kitzhaber, did not
return NOW's calls.

A statement released by Kitzhaber strikes an ominous note.

"This measure has less to do with the possession of marijuana than it does
with expanding the (police) power of search and seizure."