Homeless in Arizona

Here are some interesting comments from Tom Dean on the MPP or Marijuana Policy Project's phoney baloney initiative to legalize marijuana in Arizona.

Some interesting comments from Tom Dean!!!!

Source

Tom Dean Okay, well so far no one has pointed out a single misstatement in my legal opinion. That's because it is absolutely true.

I only published my opinion here because Kathy challenged my credibility.

All those who know me know without any doubt that I spend virtually all my waking hours fighting for for the rights of cannabis consumers, often at a discount or even pro bono basis. I do not have much money or material possessions because I've devoted my life to meaningful cannabis reform and to defending those accused of "marijuana crimes" in the meantime.

I'm happy that I have chosen that path because the truth of your life is the only thing you get to take with you in the end.

So, since Kathy asked for it, let me be clear: If the MPP's initiative passes, I believe that the number of arrests and the number of persons imprisoned for nonviolent "marijuana crimes" will increase, rather than decrease. In other words, the net cost of human miserly will, at best, remain the same, if not get worse.

My personal pecuniary interests would be, therefore, best served if the MPP initiative passes.

I support the AZFMR initiative despite that fact, because I have devoted my life, career and resources to meaningful cannabis reform.

Those who would embrace the existing prison industrial complex ought to be ashamed. Greed is their calling card, those who stand to gain from maintaining the status quo, which is defined by the "war on drugs (users)" and the prison industrial complex (Monster) that has grown up around it.

Bottom line: The MPP initiative is a half ass measure that will maintain the status quo and result in many thousands of Arizonan's facing imprisonment for nonviolent cannabis related activity.

Are we to settle for a top down corporate dominated trickle down measure like the MPP's version of "legalization", forcing our brothers and sisters to beg for scraps from the table of the corrupt commercial-government interests?

How has that worked out for us so far? In summary, the MPP initiative does little to change the existing state of war between the government and we cannabis consumers.

The AZFMR initiative, on the other hand, radically changes and corrects the current state of affairs. Reader: just read the initiatives and look at the statistics and see for yourself.

Tom Dean Some of you may have seen a post I made a few days ago, but it is worth repeating here, since we discussing the MPP initiative.

First of all, before I go any farther, let me say that I know several persons who support the MPP initiative that are not bad people.

I believe soe of them don't mean to cause harm, but firmly believe that only the MPP initiative has a chance of getting on the ballot.

These are people who have good intentions and who are convinced that incremental change is better than no change at all regardless of the ramifications because we can come backto the ballots and correct all the problems filing an initiative in the future.

But, who's going to pay for that? How many more lives and families will be destroyed between now and then?

Why can't Arizona be the state that turns this trend of corporate greed driven reform around and set the tone nationwide for future grass roots consumer focused reform?

I don't mind someone making money by providing high quality cannabis to interested consumers, but the profit interest should be the afterthought, not the primary focus.

Consumer interests must be primary. I've done some research recently using the Arizona Department of Public Safety's official arrest statistics for 2009 (the year before the AMMA was passed) and 2013 (the most recent data available) to determine how the MPP's AMMA has affected marijuana arrests, prosecutions and convictions. Have they decreaased as one would expect? According to the DPS official numbers, the number of arrests statewide for 2009 was roughly the same in 2013 as it was in 2009:

In Maricopa County, it breaks down like this:

Again, those are the official numbers and can be verified here: http://www.azdps.gov/About/Reports/Crime_In_Arizona/.

When you consider the fact that most persons who use marijuana now have cards (25,407 in Maricopa County alone in 2013), one would expect that the arrests numbers in 2013 would be dramatically lower than they were in 2009. Instead, arrests in 2013 for simple possession increased 22% over what the number in 2009. It is a surprising statistic, to say the least.

While the MPP's 2016 initiative should have an impact on reducing arrests for simple possession given the fact that every adult over 21 will be allowed to possess up to one ounce on his or her person, it is a concern among consumers that it will nonetheless result in more persons being arrested, prosecuted and convicted for marijuana sales and production related offenses. Again, I turned to the official numbers from the last few years since the AMMA was implemented to see what effect the MPP's initiative has had on arrest statistics for those kinds of offenses. The numbers break down like this:

According to my math (not my strong suit), arrests both statewide and in Maricopa County in 2009 for sales and production offenses did decrease from 2009 (the year before the AMMA passed) by 20% and 18% respectively in 2013. Once would expect, however, that there would have been a much sharper decrease given the fact that registered patients could legally purchase cannabis from a medical marijuana dispensary. In other words, given the fact there were 43,148 patients statewide and 25,407 patients in Maricopa County who could legally purchase marijuana in 2013, why hasn't the number of arrests for marijuana sales and production decreased more dramatically? The answer, in my opinion, is that the more relaxed public policy toward cannabis encourages small sales and production violations. In fact, we know for a fact that even licensed dispensaries engage in the unlawful procurement of marijuana because of supply problems. I know from my professional experience that if these unlawful suppliers are caught en route to a dispensary, they are prosecuted for marijuana sales related offenses.

One of the MPP's primary arguments for their initiative is that it eliminates the black market. Based on the above statistics, that simply has not happened under the AMMA. I believe that this is because the AMMA (1) created an inadequate number of retail outlets, and (2) failed to decrease the penalties for sales and production related offenses. Unfortunately, these are the exact same problems with the MPP's 2016 legalization initiative and I would expect the situtation to become even worse if their initiative ultimately passes. Although the number of persons eligible to purchase marijuana will skyrocket (all persons over 21 years of age), the number of retail outlets is hardly any more than the number of medical marijuana dispensaries currently in operation. Nor is there any meaningful reform in the area of nonviolent marijuana sales and production offenses.

The recently filed competing initiative called the “Legalization and Regulation of Marijuana Act”, which was filed by the AZFMR, headed up by Jason Medar, on the other hand, creates many more retail outlets (1,600 to start) which will make it much more convenient for adults to find a store near by to purchase from.

The larger number of retail outlets will also encourage competition and keep prices more competitive with the black market.

The black market will simply not be able to offer any advantage over the large number of competing licensed retail stores.

Moreover, by defelonizing smaller sales and production related offenses and eliminating property forfeitures in connection with those offenses, the “Legalization and Regulation of Marijuana Act" will disinsentivize law enforcement from investigating and arresting persons for marijuana sales and production violations.

This, I believe, will achieve what I see as the three primary objectives of any legitimate leglization initiative:

(1) dramatically reducing the number of persons who end up arrested, convicted and imprisoned for nonviolent marijuana related offenses,

(2) making high quality recreational marijuana widely available at competitive prices, and

(3) creating opportunity for entrepreneurs and other talented people who are interested in participating in the legal cannabis industry.