Federal tax dollars funneled through a local nonprofit have been prevented from going to pay for anti-cannabis crusader Kevin Sabet to speak in Oregon just weeks before voters decided on legalizing limited amounts of cannabis for adult use.
Sponsors of the pro-pot Measure 91 said this week that it was wrong for the “Oregon Marijuana, Alcohol and Other Drugs Summit” in Madras, Oregon to hire Sabet since almost half of their funding comes from federal grant money.
“It raises a lot of questions about federal tax dollars being used to interfere in a state election,” Anthony Johnson, chief sponsor of Measure 91 told OregonLive this week.
Sabet said he wouldn’t talk about the ballot measure. Except, that is, to mention at the start of his talk that he isn’t going to talk about the ballot measure. So, really, he was planning on talking about the ballot measure. Besides, he says, he’s not planning campaigning against Oregon’s measure directly – just indirectly through his opposition to cannabis legalization in general.
“These are educational events, not political events,” he told the Oregonian.
But even the sponsors of the event saw the conflict of interest. Rick Treleaven, director of the summit and director of BestCare Treatment Practices, admits it would have been a little fishy and says he cancelled Sabet’s talk because he “could see from an outside perspective that it could look like a conflict.”
If approved by voters this November, Measure 91 would legalize the possession of up to eight ounces of dried cannabis as well as the home cultivation of up to four plants at a time. State-regulated marijuana sales would also be permitted.
