For the past two weeks, petition sheets have been quietly
circulating around Portland by volunteers hoping to convince registered
voters to support a plan that will decriminalize less than an ounce of
marijuana.
If passed, the ballot measure, headed up by initiative activist
Parker Bell, would exempt Portlanders over the age of 21 from criminal
penalties for possessing an ounce or less of weed. Last week, though,
an article in the Oregonian pointed out that state law already
exempts possessors of less than an ounce from criminal
penalties—but they can still be cited and fined, like with a
traffic ticket.
In response, Bell submitted another initiative petition,
specifically including “civil penalties” in the types of sanctions that
pot smokers would no longer be subject to.
Additionally, he added a provision that allows police to still
enforce anti-pot laws within 1,000 feet of a school zone. He wouldn’t
have made either change, he said, if it weren’t for the
Oregonian‘s attention.
“I’d like to give the Oregonian a big thanks for furthering
the cause of the legalization of marijuana,” Bell says, adding that he
hopes to have the new petition out in a week or so.
Last year, Bell worked on a petition that would make “marijuana the
lowest law enforcement priority in the city,” which was headed up by
then-city council candidate Chris Iverson. The petition, which failed
to make the ballot, was frequently carried along with conservative
ballot measures and was used as a “stopper” petition in order to get
potential signers to, well, stop. Bell has filed an identical petition,
which he plans to run alongside the “ounce or less” petition. But, he
says, he won’t be working with any conservative campaigns this time
around—in fact, he says, he won’t even allow them to carry the
signature sheets.
“I want people to know that the guys holding the sheets are doing
this because they believe in the cause,” he says.