Marijuana: Fayetteville, Arkansas, Lowest Priority Initiative Turns in More Signatures | Stop the Drug War (DRCNet)
A municipal initiative that would add Fayetteville, Arkansas, to the growing list of cities and counties that have adopted lowest law enforcement priority initiatives for adult marijuana possession offenses appears headed to the November ballot after organizers handed in nearly 1,000 new signatures last Friday.Petitioners turned in more than 5,000 signatures on August 20, but after they were examined by city officials, only 3,385 signatures were found to be valid. It takes 3,686 signatures to put the initiative on the ballot.
The Fayetteville City Clerk was examining the signatures this week. Even if only 300 of them turn out to be valid, the measure will be on the November ballot.
Sponsored by an umbrella group known as Sensible Fayetteville, the measure would not only direct Fayetteville police and prosecutors to make such offenses their lowest priority, it would also order the city clerk to send an annual letter to state and federal officials. That letter would say:
“The citizens of Fayetteville have passed an initiative to deprioritize adult marijuana
offenses where the marijuana is intended for personal use and request that the federal and Arkansas state governments take immediate steps to enact similar laws.” The letter would be sent each year until state and federal laws change.
These municipal “lowest priority” initiatives are a good first step in getting involved in marijuana activism. Check with your city clerk to find out if initiative petitions are valid in your city and how many signatures you need to collect. This isn’t just for big cities, small towns are the perfect place to begin these initiatives. Even if you don’t gather enough sigs for the ballot, you’ve brought up the issue to people who’ve never thought about it. If you get on the ballot and lose, you’ve forced people to make a decision about marijuana. And if you get on the ballot and win, you’ve struck a huge blow to the drug war lie that average Americans don’t want to see pot legalized.
Contact your local NORML or national NORML and they can help you with getting all the legalese together. Good luck to you all, and good work, Sensible Fayetteville!
