Pro-Marijuana Drive Launched In Oregon

Another campaign is under way to put a marijuana legalization measure on an Oregon election ballot.

Organizers, rallying Sunday in front of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission in Milwaukie, vowed to quickly raise the required 70,000 signatures to qualify the measure for the November 1996 general election.

The commission would regulate the industry under the Oregon Cannibas Tax Act of 1997, said Paul Stanford, the measure’s author.

Stanford was a chief petitioner in 1986 when a similar measure was defeated by voters by a twoto-one margin.

Stanford said legalizing marijuana would raise about $500 million in taxes. Officials estimate that the illegal marijuana market is a $2.6 billion industry in Oregon.

Such money could be used for school funding and drug treatment, Stanford said. Hundreds of jobs would be created, he added.

In addition, organizers point to many prison inmates who are incarcerated for nonviolent, marijuana-related crimes.