News » Legalize 2012 Initiative in Final Drafting Stage





Laura Kriho, one of the major proponents of Legalize 2012 and a vocal opponent of the controversial Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act of 2012, says that the final draft for the Legalize 2012 Initiative will be publicly available in the near future and will be open for review before it is given to officials for acceptance and signature gathering.

Kriho and her cohorts began the Legalize 2012 before Proposition 19 had even come up for vote. At the time, they said that whether Prop 19 passed or not, it was not what they or the people of Colorado really wanted out of a legalization initiative. So they didn’t use it as a model.

According to the Legalize2012.com website, final draft legislation should be available for public review sometime this month (December 2011) and will be submitted to the Secretary of State for approval in January. Signature collection would then begin in February and if enough are gathered, turned in by August 2012.

“Fear not! For those of you who want to see cannabis taken out of the hands of the Department of Revenue armed regulatory agents and end the long compliance nightmare that is making it impossible for anyone but the very rich to participate in Colorado’s highly-regulated cannabis industry (oligopoly), the Legalize2012.com campaign is working to write a “true legalization” ballot initiative for the November 2012 ballot that will guarantee more reasonable regulations,” says the campaign’s website.

With polls showing that 49% of Colorado citizens supporting full legalization of marijuana, the group contends that the “fake legalization” legislation being proposed by NORML, MPP and others is meant to divide cannabis supporters and give power to the Department of Revenue (tax men) rather than the people. They are proposing, they say, nothing short of “re-legalization” for cannabis.

Legalize 2012 has one goal: to put a citizen’s initiative on the 2012 Colorado ballot to amend the state’s Constitution to re-legalize cannabis and hemp for all uses. They say that Colorado’s current medical marijuana laws favor regulators and policing and allow for an unprecedented fingerprinting and tracking scheme that violates privacy rights and upholds cannabis as an illicit substance rather than helping move it towards acceptance and legalization.

Legalize 2012 is funded primarily through $4.20 money bombs via their website and directly at their Boulder, Colorado headquarters.

[source Legalize 2012]

Tags: 420, Colorado, legalization, legalize 2012, mpp, NORML