|
||||
|
I have seen a lot of posts complaining about the way the Safer Arizona initiative severely limits the number of marijuana plants you can grow. Under the Safer Arizona initiative you can't grow marijuana this is visible from a public place. Like in your backyard or living room window. Nor can "commercial grows" or "home gardens" grow marijuana at a location that is 1,000 feet or less from a school. And you can only grow 48 marijuana plants, unless you get a sales tax license. Feds will use sales tax licenses to bust you. Bitch about the zoning!!!! While I wrote a lot of the Safer Arizona initiative I didn't write that stuff that limits the number of marijuana plants you can grow. That was mostly put in by Tom Dean, a marijuana criminal defense lawyer. In fact I was kicked off of the Safer Arizona board of directors when I started complaining that Tom Dean was adding all kinds of silly restrictions that were turning the Safer Arizona initiative into a mini-version of the evil Prop 205 written by the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) and Demitri Downing. Here is the story on what happened. I wrote both the RAD initiatives, one which completely legalizes marijuana, and the other which completely legalizes all drugs. When me, Sergeant David Stephen Wisniewski and Alex Gentry wrote the original Safer Arizona initiative we pretty much based it on the RAD or Relegalize All Drugs marijuana initiative which completely legalizes marijuana. We also used some stuff from the Jack Herer initiative to legalize marijuana in California. Jack Herer is the guy who wrote the book "The Emperor Wears No Clothes", which is about marijuana legalization. We also looked at the Arizona Proposition 205 initiative which was written by MPP or the Marijuana Policy Project and Demitri Downing. Prop 205 was written to give the 90 or so medical marijuana dispensaries in Arizona a second monopoly on growing and selling recreational marijuana, in addition to their first monopoly of growing and selling medical marijuana. Needless say we used next to nothing from Prop 205, other then maybe their legal definition of marijuana. The original Safer Arizona initiative we wrote was pretty much 100% legalization of marijuana. We only put three limits in it which were not in the RAD initiative. We added an age limit of 18 years. Sergeant David Stephen Wisniewski later changed that to 21 because of his mom. We also said the state of Arizona could slap a sales tax on marijuana that wasn't any greater than the current sales tax on food. And we also allowed for testing of marijuana. When I joined Safer Arizona I said I would agreed to the first two compromises on the RAD initiative. Adding an age limit of 18 and allowing a small sales tax on marijuana. Once in Safer Arizona I agreed to the 3rd compromise of allowing marijuana to be tested. Tom Dean a Marijuana Criminal Defense Lawyer was invited to all of our initial meetings where we wrote the initial version of the Safer Arizona initiative. I don't think Tom Dean attended any of our initial meetings. And almost all of our initial meetings were open to the public and broadcast on the internet. I think most of them were broadcast live. I thought the initial Safer Arizona initiative that me, Sergeant David Stephen Wisniewski and Alex Gentry wrote was a pretty good initiative. First it completely legalized marijuana with the exception of keeping it a crime for people under 21. Second it treated marijuana like potatoes or tomatoes when it came to growing, producing and selling marijuana. And that would have created a thriving free market, with prices set by the laws of supply and demand, rather than marijuana cartels which have a government monopoly on growing and selling marijuana and charge rip off prices. Third it didn't allow the government to rip off marijuana users with outrageous taxes. And last it forbid the government from passing outrageous regulations which could be used to make marijuana illegal again. Such as outrageous zoning regulations which could severely limit the number of marijuana businesses. Or excessive taxes which could also be used to severely limit the number of marijuana businesses and marijuana sales. Or laws that could be used to arrest people who are either marijuana users or involved in marijuana production and sales. Or next step then was to run it by marijuana criminal defense lawyer Tom Dean and make sure it was constitutionally correct and good enough to put on the ballot. Our meetings were either at Tom Dean's home or at his law office. While all our prior meetings were open to the public the meetings with Tom Dean were not open to the public. Also all the prior meetings were videotaped and shown on the internet none of the meetings with Tom Dean were videotaped. And for me things started to go down hill once Tom Dean got involved. While the public was not allowed to attend our meetings, Demitri Downing who isn't even on the Safer Arizona board of directors was allowed to attend our meeting and he asked us to give special rights to the medical marijuana dispensaries which currently have monopolies on growing and selling medical marijuana. It's my understanding that Demitri Downing's family owns something like 6 medical marijuana dispensaries. Demitri Downing is also the author of the evil Prop 205. I didn't like it one bit that Demitri Downing was invited to our meetings and allowed to ask for special perks, while the public was not allowed to attend the meetings. While Tom Dean gave us an eloquent speech how he was going to write an initiative that put himself out of a job, he didn't deliver on that promise. Instead of making the Safer Arizona initiative that me, Dave and Alex wrote stronger, Tom Dean constantly watered it down and made it weaker. And he didn't give us any justifications for making it weaker. Also see ../tom_dean_marijuana_criminal_defense_lawyer.html