Organizers of a new Oregon state marijuana legalization initiative campaign, Oregon Cannabis Tax Act 2012 (OCTA 2012), are kicking off their petition drive and opening a new office. The Oregon Secretary of State’s Election Division just announced the approval of the petition, Initiative Number 9, for circulation and signature gathering on March 24.
Initiative organizers will have until July 7, 2012 to gather 90,000 registered Oregon voters’ signatures to qualify for the November 6, 2012 ballot.
Petitioners rallied at their new office in Portland starting at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, March 28 and held a news conference at 10 a.m. The state campaign committee is working to achieve ballot status in three ways: hiring paid petitioners, organizing volunteer petitioners and soliciting Oregon registered voters’ signatures online.
“We’re wasting a lot of money right now on prohibition of marijuana,” said campaign manager Jennifer Alexander, reports
KPTV. “We’re losing a lot of industrial benefits from not having hemp.”
The Oregon Cannabis Tax Act of 2012 would regulate the legal sale of marijuana to adults through state-licensed stores, allow adults to grow their own, license Oregon farmers to grow marijuana for state-licensed stores and allow unlicensed Oregon farmers to grow cannabis hemp for fuel, fiber and food.
OCTA 2012 will raise $140 million a year by taxing commercial cannabis sales to adults 21 years of age and older, and save an estimated $61.5 million as law enforcement, corrections and judicial attention can focus on violent crimes and theft.
