Emmett Reistroffer was one of the authors of Initiative 300 and worked on the campaign to get the social-use ordinance passed last November. Now the event planner and policy consultant for Denver Relief Consulting serves on the city’s Social Use Advisory Committee. We sat down with Reistroffer to chat about social use, the first committee meeting, and what he thinks about how the process is going.
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It took over a week for the city to count the votes, but on November 15, Denver officials finally announced that voters had approved Initiative 300, which allows the social consumption of marijuana in the city. Three days later, however, Colorado’s Liquor Enforcement Division (LED) adopted a new rule that prohibits any business with a liquor license from also applying for a social-consumption license.
On February 3, five plaintiffs — including Emmett Reistroffer and Kayvan Khalatbari — filed suit against the state over that rule.
| Photo: KELOLAND.com |
| The South Dakota Highway Patrol isn’t officially allowed to interfere with elections. But they found a way around the rule. |
South Dakota’s medical marijuana initiative, Measure 13, is fending off a new foe: the state’s Highway Patrol.
The South Dakota Highway Patrol saved “news” about marijuana busts from the summer — supposedly related to “out of state medical marijuana” — to release two weeks before the election, Michael Whitney of JustSayNow.com told Toke of the Town on Wednesday.
“It certainly looks like the South Dakota Highway Patrol is interfering with the state’s medical marijuana ballot initiative,” Whitney told us Wednesday afternoon.
“Just Say Now is working with Measure 13’s campaign to fight back,” Whitney said.
Measure 13, which would legalize the medicinal use of cannabis in South Dakota for patients with a doctor’s authorization, is in a tight race going down to the wire on November 2.
| Graphic: South Dakota Coalition for Compassion |
About 100 people gathered in Rapid City, South Dakota Tuesday evening for the Rally for Compassion, sponsored by the South Dakota Coalition for Compassion, which has spearheaded the campaign for Initiated Measure 13, which calls for the legalization of medical marijuana in South Dakota.
South Dakota voters will have a chance to vote on Measure 13 in November, and Coalition for Compassion campaign director Emmett Reistroffer urged rally attendees to spread the truth about the initiative, reports Lynn Taylor Rick at the Rapid City Journal.
“There are some opponents out there lying (about the measure),” Reistroffer said. He encouraged rally attendees to set the record straight.
| Tea Party of South Dakota |
”One of the side effects is, they would not want to work.” ~ Allen Unruh, organizer for a local South Dakota Tea Party group
Supporters of a measure to legalize small amounts of marijuana for medicinal use in South Dakota on Monday sought to assure the public that it would not create pot dispensaries or open the door to full legalization.
“This is about ill people,” said Tony Ryan, a retired police officer whose wife suffers from multiple sclerosis. “It’s only about ill people. It’s not a free-for all.”
The rally also came on the same day that conservative firebrand Allen Unruh, an organizer for a local Tea Party group, denounced the medical marijuana measure as a back-door effort to legalize cannabis, which Unruh complained would lead to “widespread laziness” among users.
“One of the side effects is, they would not want to work,” Unruh said. “Unemployment is already through the roof.”
(Damn, I don’t really feel like doing the rest of this story, man. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Just kidding!)
| Graphic: South Dakota Coalition for Compassion |
Encouraged by their near miss four years ago, medical marijuana supporters say they have a better chance this year to persuade South Dakotans to legalize the plant for treating pain, nausea and other health problems.
A similar measured failed in 2006, getting about 48 percent of the vote. It was the only time in American history that medical marijuana lost a statewide popular election.
But a coalition of patients, doctors, nurses and others will campaign this summer, explaining how marijuana can help people with serious illnesses, said organizer Emmett Reistroffer, reports Chet Brokaw of The Associated Press.
“We feel like once people learn about the therapeutic uses, they will compassionately support the measure,” Reistroffer said. “If we help them understand marijuana is a medicine, we think we’ll gain their votes.”
| Graphic: Oregon NORML |
| Medical marijuana has never lost the popular vote in a statewide election — except in South Dakota. |
South Dakotans will probably get to vote (again) on legalizing medical marijuana this November.
Cannabis advocates on Monday filed petition signatures seeking a statewide vote on a proposal to legalize marijuana in South Dakota for medical use in treating pain, nausea and other health problems, reports KELO.
Nearly 32,000 signatures — almost double the 16,776 valid signatures needed to make the November ballot — were turned in to the secretary of state’s office in Pierre, according to one of the organizers, Emmett Reistroffer of Sioux Falls.