Vanessa Avery & Amy Young have filed a petition to end the decades-long prohibition on the adult possession of Cannabis plants (marijuana). They filed their initiative petition with the Secretary of State's office, today. In a cursory review of the language, I see some ambiguities that I wish were spelled out more clearly. There will be far more scrutiny in the days & months to come. The petition will require upwards of 200,000 qualified electors' signatures, in order to advance to an upcoming statewide election ballot. It would create another constitutional amendment. Our state's constitution has about 160 amendments in the 112 years of existence. I'm not convinced that enough eyes have reviewed this document before filing it. Had more advisors been in the process, they may have caught some simple and repeated errors from the last petition we voted on. |
For instance,
- The tax issue is misleading, because the issue calls for a 15% excise tax, but few people are aware that it will also trigger another 9%(give or take) in sales tax in addition to the 15%.
- The constitutional amendment would require Medical Marijuana Businesses to be 1000 ft. from 'schools'. But it doesn't sufficiently qualify what a school is? So any church could declare itself a 'sunday school', and block a business.
- The visibility standard doesn't stipulate that the growing plants be 'identifiable as Cannabis' by the naked eye. Thus, any plant that is vaguely seen from a block away, might be trigger legal action.