By Phillip Smith
State Sen. Floyd Prozanski (D-Eugene), the powerful head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, last Friday unveiled a draft bill that would ask voters in the November 2014 election whether they wanted to legalize marijuana. The announcement came as lawmakers began debating whether to advance the issue.
Under Prozanski’s plan, the legislature would pass the bill, and the marijuana legalization question would then appear on the November 2014 ballot. If approved by the voters, the legislature would then be charged with crafting regulations in 2015.
Next year, Oregon has only a six-week special legislative session beginning in February. That’s why Prozanski wants solons to handle the regulatory issues in 2015, when there is more time.
Prozanski said a vote on legalization is inevitable, and if the legislature doesn’t act, activists will put their own measures before the voters. At least two initiatives are already in the works, one by Paul Stanford, the controversial force behind last year’s failed Measure 80 campaign, and one by local activists organized as New Approach Oregon, which is already picking up some seed money.
“It is here, we need deal with it,” Prozanski said in remarks reported by the Associated Press. “Because if we don’t deal with it, it’s going to be given to us, and I think we’ll have a lot of unintended consequences.”
New Approach Oregon spokesman Anthony Johnson told the AP it was too early to tell if Prozanski’s draft bill would satisfy his group. If not, Oregon voters could have two or more separate proposals to choose from next November.
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