MARIJUANA ACTIVIST FIRES UP CROWD

Paul Stanford Comes to Corvallis to Stump for Oregon Cannabis Tax
Act

Oregon has allowed marijuana for medical use since 1998, when voters
passed Measure 67. Paul Stanford thinks it's time to make it legal for
other purposes as well, and like M67's proponents before him, he hopes
to decide the matter at the ballot box.

Stanford is the chief petitioner for the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act, an
initiative that would regulate the sale of pot for recreational use
and remove restrictions on the cultivation of industrial hemp, its
less potent cousin.

The Portland activist was in Corvallis on Tuesday evening to round up
support for his proposal, and about 30 people turned out at the
Westminster House to hear what he had to say. The crowd was mostly
middle-aged or older and included at least two attorneys and one city
councilor.

In an appearance sponsored by the Pacific Green Party, Stanford argued
that adults should have the right to use marijuana as they see fit and
that criminalizing the weed has devastating consequences for society.

"Prohibition is a great evil," he said. "Families are being torn
apart; people are being thrown in jail."

He also made the case for industrial hemp as an all-purpose plant that
produces nutritious seeds for human and animal consumption, high-grade
oil for biodiesel feedstock, and fiber for everything from paper to
textiles.

While the Oregon Legislature recently passed a law allowing hemp
cultivation, he said, it's so restrictive as to make commercial
growing impractical.

"No plant makes more fuel, no plant makes more fiber, no plant makes
more food per acre," Stanford said. "To take this plant and make it
illegal is to me the height of idiocy."

The Oregon Cannabis Tax Act would set up a system of state-licensed
stores where people 21 and over could buy marijuana. The price would
be set by a state commission, which would also license farmers to grow
marijuana for sale.

Adults would be allowed to grow their own marijuana, as well as buy or
sell seeds and starter plants, without regulation. Industrial hemp --
defined as having lower levels of psychoactive chemicals than
marijuana intended for recreational or medical use -- could be grown
for fiber, fuel and food without a license.

Stanford estimates the state would bring in $140 million a year by
taxing commercial pot sales while saving $61.5 million a year in law
enforcement and corrections costs and creating a whole new class of
"green" jobs for the state's struggling economy.

Some 90 percent of the marijuana tax revenue would go to the state
general fund, 7 percent would be set aside for drug treatment programs
and the remaining 3 percent would be divvied up between drug education
programs and agricultural commissions to promote hemp
cultivation.

Stanford must turn in 87,000 valid signatures from Oregon voters by
July 7 of next year to get his initiative on the November 2012 general
election ballot, and he's shooting for 135,000 to give himself plenty
of margin for error.

He said he's gathered about 9,500 names so far, and he's hoping to get
the rest in by this September so he can shift his focus to winning the
hearts and minds of potential voters.

While 13 states, including Oregon, have decriminalized marijuana in
small amounts, none has legalized pot outright, and the federal
government continues to classify it as a dangerous narcotic.

If the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act passes, Stanford said, he fully expects
it to be challenged in federal court. But because the initiative was
drafted based on principles of constitutional and international law,
he thinks it should withstand a legal challenge.

Perhaps more to the point, he cited a recent national poll that shows
slightly more than half of Americans favor dropping legal sanctions
against pot. That's a significant shift from years past, and Stanford
takes it as a sign that, with Oregon leading the way, the country may
finally be ready to legalize marijuana.

"The tide is turning in our direction," he said. "We think that
winning here will be the break in the dam of prohibition."