A Good Day for Intolerance
Voters say no to gays, marijuana, immigrants, and so on
By Mike Clark-Madison and Jordan Smith, Fri., Nov. 5, 2004
In Oregon, a bid to expand the state's medical marijuana law met a similar fate. The measure asked voters to expand the amount of pot that medi-marijuana patients could legally possess, among other additions to the medi-pot law passed by Oregonians in 1998. Interestingly, according to the Salem Statesman Journal, critics of the proposal disagreed on the reasons for its failure. Predictably, Marion Co. Deputy District Attorney Stephen Dingle told the daily that the measure failed because voters could clearly see that the attempt to provide relief for seriously ill patients was in fact just a "front to legalize marijuana." Not so predictably, Richard P. Burke, executive director of the state's Libertarian Party told the paper that the reason the measure failed was that it "included too much government oversight" over the dispensing of medi-pot.
Still, there were several bright spots in the medi-pot poll fights. In Montana, 63% of voters weighed in to approve legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes, and in Ann Arbor, Mich., voters approved Proposal C, which legalizes medical marijuana as well as caps fines for marijuana possession for non-medi-pot users at $100, reports The Michigan Daily.
In other ballot issues nationwide, 11 states banned (pending court challenges) same-sex marriage; Coloradans nixed the effort to split the state's electoral votes; Arizona voters approved a measure to require proof of citizenship from applicants for various state benefits; and Californians refused to amend the Golden State's draconian "three strikes" law, but gave their OK to a $3 billion fund for stem cell research. And, as of press time, voters in Houston were supporting the less extreme of two competing measures to limit the growth of the municipal budget without voter approval.
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