By Steve Elliott of Toke of the Town
This will be remembered as the election year with three competing marijuana initiatives to end prohibition in California — and none of them making the ballot.
Organizers behind the Repeal Cannabis Prohibition Act (RCPA), one of the three (and seen by many as the most legally viable), now say their intent is to seek ballot status in 2014 with the same team of proponents, along with a much expanded professional campaign outreach and infrastructure.
According to its proponents, the RCPA represents a paradigm shift in initiative language from Legalization to Repeal. The focus on repealing state marijuana laws is designed to withstand a federal preemption challenge, according to coauthor Joe Rogoway.
“By simply removing each of the laws that penalize adult cannabis-related conduct, the Federal government will be alone in attempting to enforce their own perverse version of prohibition against millions of people over hundreds of thousands of square miles across the state,” Rogoway said. “Repeal is now widely viewed as the reasonable route to success.
“It makes common sense as well as legal sense,” Rogoway said. “Our hope is that, moving forward, we can come together to finally make the Golden State green.”
Coauthor Bill Panzer, an attorney who specializes in cannabis cases, said he doesn’t care if repeal hurts his business.
“I am committed to repeal,” Panzer said.k “I don’t ever want to have to represent another marijuana defendant, even though it would mean the end of the majority of my legal practice.”
According to RCPA proponents, these are the next steps:
We are calling for unity and collaboration amongst all those who believe in putting differences aside to focus on points of agreement — ending the “war on marijuana” by repealing prohibition.
Those behind the Repeal Cannabis Prohibition Act will continue to relentlessly pursue this mandate.
We are a movement of not just cannabis consumers, but also doctors, business professionals, retired members of law enforcement, medical patients, teachers, students, academics, artists, farmers, and, yes, soccer moms.
Together we have the ability to repeal a set of laws that are not only ineffective and unenforceable, but also morally unjustifiable.
Refocusing campaign energy on 2014, the most pressing question posed by supportive donors and seasoned veterans is: “What does your polling show?”
We view polling data as a research tool to help formulate the language of the 2014 Initiative.
We now have time to put polling at the top of our budget considerations and will commission a poll early in the next phase of the campaign.
We will need $40,000 for a credible research poll to prove to major donors that we can win. Please join us!
Signed by proponents
Joe Rogoway, Esq.
William Panzer, Esq.
Pebbles Trippet
Frank Lucido, M.D.
Omar Figueroa, Esq.
You can mail donations to Sensible California (the organization behind RCPA) at 360 Grand Avenue #361, Oakland, CA 94610. To volunteer or make online donations, visit www.repealcannabisprohibition.org.
Article From Toke of the Town and republished with special permission.
