While I support Dennis Bohlke and his Safer Arizona petition to legalize marijuana I think my petition is much better. At least from a freedom lovers standpoint or a marijuana smokers standpoint. Here is a link to Dennis Bohlke's Safer Arizona website. http://saferarizona.com I think Dennis wrote his petition hoping for something that would be passed by the voters and our government masters. I took Dennis's petition and rewrote it from a freedom lovers and marijuana lovers standpoint. Times are changing and I think the PEOPLE will support my petition. Just a few weeks ago a poll said that 56 percent of the people support legalizing marijuana for recreational use. I don't think some government bureaucrat at the Arizona State Capital or in Washington D.C deserves a chunk of money from you every time you smoke a joint or sell a bag of weed so my petition forbids the govenrment from taxing marijuana. Personally I think marijuana should be re-legalized, just like it was before the "1937 Marihuana Tax Act" was passed which made marijuana illegal at the Federal level. For that matter I think ALL drugs should be re-legalized just like they were before the "1914 Harrison Narcotic Tax Act" was passed which made them illegal at the Federal level. On top of that I don't think there should be ANY restrictions or taxes on the use, sale, manufacturing or distribution of any drugs. Just like it was before 1914 when the "1915 Harrison Narcotic Tax Act" was passed. My petition is on the web at: http://free-al-zeidi.tripod.com/my_marijuana_petition.txt My petition follows. My petition to re-legalize marijuana in Arizona with NO restrictions. I have added comments to the petition which are enclosed with [] to tell some of the reasoning behind the petition. If you have questions, comments or suggestions on how to improve my petition please email them to me. OFFICIAL TITLE Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Arizona; amending the Constitution of Arizona by adding Article XXXI Marijuana Legalization, therewith, providing for the legalization of Marijuana. FULL TEXT OF PROPOSITION Be it enacted by the People of the State of Arizona The Constitution of the State of Arizona is amended BY THE ADDITION OF A NEW ARTICLE to read: ARTICLE XXXI. Marijuana Legalization "Marijuana use" is legal for any "person", non-person, business, corporation, partnership, entity or other non-entity in Arizona. The presence of marijuana, marijuana metabolites or any of the chemicals or compounds that marijuana decomposes or breaks down into, in a person's blood, urine, breath, saliva, organs, body or body fluids shall not cause the person to be guilty of any criminal, civil or other offense. "Marijuana use" shall not be a reason that can be used to declare a "person" crazy, mentally ill, mentally incompetent or insane. No government entity in Arizona shall tax or regulate in any way *) Marijuana *) "Marijuana use" *) "marijuana accessories" nor shall any government entity in Arizona shall make a treaty, contract, or an agreement with another government entity, a private person, business, corporation, partnership, or entity to tax or regulate in any way *) Marijuana *) "Marijuana use" *) "marijuana accessories" [My intent here is to prevent the government from making agreements with private or government entities to regulate or tax marijuana. An example would be Maricopa County makes an agreement with the Arizona Diamondbacks to make marijuana use illegal in BankOne Ballpark. Another example is if the state of Arizona made an agreement with the Feds or the FAA to ban marijuana from any airplanes, buses or trains that pass thru Arizona.] No government entity in Arizona shall create a database or file or log tracking "persons", businesses, corporations, partnerships or other entities that "use marijuana", without the persons or entities signed, notarized, written permission. [Government doctors may keep records on marijuana patitents if they have the patients written permission] Private, non-government entities may regulate "marijuana use" on their property or by their employees, members, guests and visitors as long as the private, non-government entity *) does not receive any tax dollars, money, goods, aid or benefits from any "government entity" *) does not bid on, provide, or receive any contracts, grants or money, or provide any services to or from any "government entity" *) was not created by a "government entity" directly or indirectly *) does not have any officers, directors or managers who are government employees or elected government officials. and as long as the property *) is not owned partially or fully by any "government entity" *) is not owned or rented by any "government entity" *) is not leased or rented from a "government entity" *) has not been temporally "sold" or "transferred" by the government entity to get around this law [My intent here is to allow private entities such as businesses, clubs, churches and private schools to regulate marijuana, but not to allow the government to create private entities which can then regulate marijuana for the government getting around this law on a technicality. If your church thinks marijuana is the work of the devil, then your church may refuse to allow marijuana on it's property. As long as the government doesn't have an interest in the church or the property. While Bank One Ballpark is a private entity created by the government, it would not be allowed to regulate marijuana in the baseball stadium because the stadium is owned by the government and because the Bank One Ballpark is a private entity created by the government. While DTC or Downtown Tempe Community is a private non-government corporation it is controlled to a great degree by members of the Tempe City Council and this section would prevent them from regulating marijuana at that street fairs held on Mill Avenue in Tempe, first because several members of the Tempe City Council are on the DTC board of directors, and two because Mill Avenue is property owned by the government.] Marijuana users shall be responsible for their actions *) any person who drives while impaired by marijuana and is responsible for causing an accident or committing a crime shall be financially liable for any damages or injuries caused. *) any person who uses marijuana or is impaired by marijuana and is responsible for causing an accident or committing a crime shall be financially liable for any damages or injuries caused. [My intent here is that I don't care if people use marijuana, but if they do they should be liable for any damages they cause. While most marijuana users are honest law abiding citizens, the government propaganda demonizing marijuana has made many people think that if you smoke a marijuana cigarette you will turn into an insane person that robs, rapes and steals. This clause is designed to show voters that the law does not allow marijuana users to be criminals who won't be held responsible for their actions.] A persons rights and privileges shall not to be infringed upon based "marijuana use". That includes but is not limited to *) parenting rights and privileges *) the right to own and bear arms and ammunition *) a person’s eligibility for State services and benefits [this clause isn't libertarian, but I think it will help legalize marijuana and end the insane war on drugs, which is really a war on the Bill of Rights and a war on the American people] *) A person’s right to vote or run for office [This is redundant to items 1,2, and 3 but because government tyrants always twist the words of laws around to mean what the government tyrants want the law to mean, it makes it much harder for the government to do the above things.] A government agency, department or other government entity or a contractor or business performing work for a government entity *) may not deny a person employment because of "marijuana use". *) may for safety reasons require that employees or contractors not be intoxicated on "marijuana" in a manner that creates a safety hazard while working. *) may require that employees or contractors not use "marijuana" in a manner that interferes with their job performance. The state of Arizona and any of it's "government entities" which includes cities, counties, government corporations, school districts and all other government entities may not assist any other "government entity", which includes the Federal government, Indian tribes, foreign governments and other state governments in enforcing their marijuana laws in any way which includes arresting people, jailing people, prosecuting people, extricating people or notifying these other government entities of violators of the other government entities laws. [My intent here is to prevent the state of Arizona from helping the Federal government, any Indian governments, any foreign governments or the United Nations from enforcing their marijuana laws.] Even if marijuana is illegal at the Federal, International or United Nations levels any government court in Arizona must accept any civil lawsuits filed relating to marijuana disputes. The government courts must settle the civil lawsuit based on the written or oral contracts made by the parties in the lawsuits. [The intent here is to allow marijuana users, vendors, sellers and people involved with marijuana to use the state and federal courts to settle their disputes] For all persons, property, things and goods that have been convicted of any marijuana criminal or civil charges that have been legalized by this initiative or that were charged with marijuana or civil charges legalized by this initiative but copped a plea to a lesser charge the government must *) immediately release them from jail, prison or other confinement for the marijuana charges they were guilty of or the charges they copped a plea to *) immediately clear or expunge their criminal and or civil records of the marijuana charges *) immediately return any fines, fees or taxes they were charged for the marijuana violations *) immediately return any property the government seized as a result of the marijuana violations. *) If the property has been destroyed or damaged immediately pay for the property or the damages to the property, using the value of the property at the time it was seized, destroyed, or the current value of the property, whichever is greater. [For years the government and the police have used the RICO laws to steal property for the cops and politicians use. This part is intended to let the stolen property be returned to the people it was stolen from] This Article shall change the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act to: *) allow patients, doctors, dentists, psychologists, nurses, or any other licensed or unlicensed health or medical professional to prescribe or recommend marijuana for any illness, ailment or other condition that they think will improve the physical or mental health or the well being of the patient. *) allow any patient or person to possess, sell, buy, trade, give away, or receive an unlimited amount of marijuana. *) allow any person, patient, business, corporation, partnership or other entity, located any where in the state of Arizona to "use marijuana" for medical marijuana purposes anywhere in the universe. *) allow any person, business, corporation, partnership or other entity to act as a primary caregiver *) forbid the state of Arizona or any government entity from charging fees or taxes **) for issuing medical marijuana cards **) for issuing medical marijuana caregiver cards **) for issuing licenses or permits to run or operate medical marijuana dispensaries [My intent here is to keep the Arizona Medical Marijuana laws, but make them to allow people to possess unlimited amounts of marijuana and allow people to grow unlimited amounts of marijuana, and to cancel the silly rule that you can't grow marijuana within 25 miles of a dispensary, and last but not least to allow people to prescribe marijuana for themselves. While I think the medical marijuana laws stink, they may provide some benefits to people from Arizona who are medical marijuana patients and who go to other states which have not legalized marijuana, but do have medical marijuana laws, and allow medical marijuana patients from other states to use medical marijuana in their state. Forcing the state of Arizona to let anyone who says they need medical marijuana to let that person become a licensed Arizona medical marijuana patient for free will help those people who go to other states with medical marijuana laws. So you want to be a "licensed medical marijuana user". Then under this law all you would have to do is say "I am a licensed medical marijuana user" and the state of Arizona would have to issue you your "medical marijuana card"] Definitions as used in this Article, unless the context otherwise requires. *) "Marijuana use" or "use marijuana" means the use, possession, smoking, eating, drinking, shooting, injecting, refining, purifying, extracting, condensing, drinking, inhaling, processing, sale, resale, giving away, receiving, distribution, cooking with, manufacturing, growing, cultivation, harvesting, production, storing, warehousing, packaging, transporting, displaying, importing of marijuana, any part of the marijuana plant, and refined, condensed, purified or concentrated parts of the marijuana plant. *) "Arizona Medical Marijuana Act" means the A.R.S. Title 36 Chapter 28.1 Arizona Medical Marijuana Act. *) "Consumer" means any person. *) "Person" means person, citizen, non-citizen, visitor, tourist, traveler, resident, non-resident, legal resident or illegal resident, voter, non-voter or human being. *) "Government entity" or "locality" means any government entity in the state of Arizona which includes county governments, municipality governments, town governments, city governments, Indian governments, tribal governments, school district governments, tax district governments, special district governments or any other government district or agency, the Federal government, any UN or United Nation government entities and any other national or international government agencies. *) "Government entity" also refers to any corporation, business, partnership or other entity that was created by the government or for the government to do business for the government. These corporations are usually created as a sham to let the corporation do business that the government is not legally allowed to do. *) "Marijuana" means all parts of the plant of the genus cannabis whether growing or not, the seeds thereof, the resin extracted from any part of the plant, the flowers, the pollen and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of the plant, its seeds, pollen, or its resin, including marijuana concentrate. This includes hashish, hash oil and other concentrated forms of marijuana. This also includes any and all industrial or commercial marijuana or hemp which has been used to make cloth, clothing and rope. For the purpose of this law marijuana also means any synthetic drug or chemical that, when consumed, allegedly mimics the effects of cannabis such as synthetic cannabis, synthetic marijuana, cannabicyclohexanol, K2, spice, JWH-018, JWH-073, CP-47,497, JWH-200, JWH-250, black mamba, turnera diffusa, bombay blue, fake weed, genie, zohai, bliss, blaze, yucatan fire, skunk, moon rocks and other chemicals. *) "Marijuana accessories" means any equipment, products, or materials of any kind which are used, intended for use, or designed for use in planting, propagating, cultivating, growing, harvesting, composting, genetically modifying, manufacturing, compounding, converting, producing, processing, purifying, extracting, condensing, separating, preparing, testing, analyzing, packaging, repackaging, storing, vaporizing, or containing Marijuana, or the ingesting, inhaling, injecting, shooting, eating, smoking or the otherwise introducing Marijuana into the human body. *) "Unreasonably Impracticable" means that the measures necessary to comply with the regulations require such a high investment of risk, money, time, or any other resource or asset that the operation of a Marijuana Establishment or Industrial Hemp is not worthy of being carried out in practice by a reasonably prudent businessperson. There is to be consistency and fairness in the application of this Article throughout the state and that, therefore, the matters addressed in this Article are, except as specified herein, matters of statewide concern. Self-executing, conflicting provisions. All provisions of this Article are self-executing except as specified herein, and except where otherwise indicated in the text, shall supersede conflicting state statutory, local chapter, ordinance, or resolution, and other state and local provisions. Serverability. If a provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of the act that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this act are severable. Effective date. Unless otherwise provided by this Article, all provisions of this Article shall become effective upon official declaration of the vote hereon by proclamation of the governor, pursuant to Article XXI.