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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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US OH: Marijuana Decriminalization Petition Drive Comes Up
ccguide Sunday 15 Jul 2001 Pubdate: Sat, 14 Jul 2001 Source: Plain Dealer, The (OH) Copyright: 2001 The Plain Dealer Contact: Website: http://www.cleveland.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/342 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) MARIJUANA DECRIMINALIZATION BACKERS' PETITION DRIVE COMES UP SHORT COLUMBUS - Backers of a proposal to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana in this city failed to collect enough valid signatures on petitions to put the issue on the November ballot. The Franklin County Board of Elections said the effort by the group, For a Better Ohio, came up 1,858 signatures short of the 7,213 needed. The 7,213 represents 5 percent of the turnout in the last general election. The petitions contained 10,762 signatures, but Board of Elections Director Guy Reece II said just 5,355 were from registered Columbus voters. The proposal calls for Columbus police and prosecutors to ignore laws governing possession of up to 7 ounces of marijuana. Even if the initiative made it to the ballot and voters approved it, there are questions about its legality. Some lawyers have said that it would violate the Ohio Constitution. They say a city law cannot tell police and prosecutors to ignore a state law. Kenneth Schweickart, president of For a Better Ohio, said he wants a recount. Schweickart claimed elections officials botched the count because they are in the midst of a move to new offices and because they don't have enough workers to do the job accurately. "It's extremely unlikely that they could have counted the signatures and evaluated them thoroughly," Schweickart said. "We were just so diligent about voter registration, and our validity should be much higher. We should have enough to make it on the ballot." The board checks petition signatures for the Columbus city clerk's office as a courtesy. Under city law, Clerk Timothy J. McSweeney has the final say on a petition's validity. Petitioners could review the signatures themselves and make their case directly to the clerk that the petition is valid. Failing that, they could go to court to ask a judge to order McSweeney to validate the petition. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager
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