On this issued I think Billy Hayes is 100% right!!!!
I don't know if Billy Hayes agrees with me on this, but personally I suspect that Andrew Myers and his Arizona Dispensary Association tried to give themselves a government monopoly on growing and selling medical marijuana when they allegedly wrote Prop 203, which is Arizona's Medical Marijuana Act.
So that they can all become rich, using their government monopoly on growing and selling marijuana to allow them to sell us medical marijuana at rip off prices of $300+ an ounce.
I also suspect that Andrew Myers and his Arizona Dispensary Association, and the folks at MPP or Marijuana Policy Project are attempting to write an initiative to place on the Arizona ballot which will also give them a government monopoly on growing and selling recreational marijuana.
I am not quite sure who wrote Prop 203. Some people say Andrew Myers wrote Prop 203. Some folks say Andrew Myers managed the team that wrote Prop 203.
With many eyes around the nation looking at Arizona as one of the states likely to have a legalization initiative on the ballot in 2016, Hayes wants to have a hand in writing the proposed measure -- and he doesn't appreciate the pro-dispensary influence of Myers and the dispensary industry. His arguments touch on some of the same issues in the national debate on marijuana laws, such as the best way to regulate use and sales of the plant. This month, for example, voters in the District of Columbia approved a law that makes growing and possession of marijuana legal for adults 21 and older, but the statute doesn't allow for Colorado-style retail shops.
Inman says she didn't know she and Hayes were at odds on any issue when he started railing against her to other marijuana supporters and in various online forums. Hayes was "relentless," she says.
She grew tired of accusations by Hayes and others that she was too supportive of dispensaries and the Marijuana Policy Project. Hayes "became the final straw," she says, so she quit her NORML post. She's continued her activism in other pro-cannabis groups.
"I try not to take it personally," she says of Hayes' campaign against her. "He's so nice. He's got wonderful kids. I like his wife . . . I don't want to see him go to jail, but when you play with fire, you might get burned."
Inman says she believes in staying within certain bounds but says Hayes "is willing to push the envelope every which way."
Ultimately, she thinks Hayes' recklessness is harmful to the legalization cause. She doesn't want to see prohibitionists like Bill Montgomery win, saying Hayes is good for the anti-legalization campaign.
Hayes, with other advocates in a group he leads called Registered Arizona Medical Marijuana Patients, continues to try to influence the drafting of the 2016 measure. He met with a national representative of the Marijuana Policy Project, he says, and lobbied to limit Andrew Myers' involvement in the drafting process "as much as possible." Hayes claims that Myers isn't trusted by some dispensary operators, as well as by some in the grassroots community.
Myers, who represents an industry that has publicly called on the authorities to close unauthorized clubs or other businesses acting as dispensaries, disputes this.
The Marijuana Policy Project, successful at passing the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act in 2010, is spearheading the legalization campaign. "The current drafting group," Myers says, "is the DPA [Drug Policy Alliance], the MPP, Lisa Hauser, Ryan Hurley, Gina Berman, the ACLU, and key in-state stakeholder groups and organizations, which will include representation from patient/consumer advocates. We don't plan on including black market operators [like Hayes] in the drafting process."