Marijuana’s
magazine
This is the first of a three-part series examining
current marijuana laws and proposals for changes.
Tom Alexander was bitter when he found himself
in a jail cell one day in 1979, after the law discovered
his marijuana patch
But while the Corvallis man did get mad, he also
got even
"I saw first hand how the judicial system works,"
says Alexander "I sat in jail while an attempted rapist
got out on $100 bond Four months after I got out, a
head narcotics officer was indicted on four counts of
selling cocaine ."
The charges against Alexander were dropped
because of an improper search warrant — but that
wasn't enough for Alexander
"I was enraged to the point where I had to do
something I had no knowledge of journalism, but I put
together this rag," he says, indicating the latest copy
of Sinsemilla Tips
While unpretentious in design, the Corvallis
Gazette-Times hails Sinsemilla Tips as "the trade
journal of the marijuana industry" for the expertise it
offers on growing finer, more potent marijuana After
two years the quarterly magazine now distributes a
few thousand issues throughout the United States and
parts of Europe
The magazine also serves as a forum for another
of Alexander's projects — reforming marijuana laws.
When the Oregon Legislature convenes next January,
Alexander and fellow members of Citizens for Legal
Action hope to find a sponsor to introduce the Oregon
Marijuana Control Act of 1983.
The bill would create the Oregon Marijuana Con
trol Commission, an organization similar to the
Oregon Liquor Control Commission
The proposal "will put the state of Oregon in the
marijuana business They will buy it from the farmers
and sell at a profit," says Alexander The money would
be used for higher education, drug education of the
young and for law enforcement.
The bill, tentatively scheduled to be uncovered in
a press conference between Christmas and the New
Year, would be a voter-referral bill, meaning it would
require voter approval rather than the governor's
signature "Atiyeh will throw it in the wastebasket,"
Alexander acknowledges
The main issue, says Alexander, is megabucks
"The University of Oregon graduate business
school says marijuana is at least a $500 million
business in Oregon — probably closer to a billion
dollars The social and economic benefits supersede
any health and moral aspects," says Alexander
"Economics is the key issue and the most important
issue."
Tnm Alexander took his revenqe by publishing Sinsemilla Tips, a magazine about pot.
Faced with record deficits, the Oregon Legisla
ture will have to look to new sources of income or face
drastic budget cuts, Alexander says. The timber
industry is "non-existent," and the micro-chip in
dustry is a pie-in-the-sky. "Atiyeh is fooling himself."
In Oregon, possession of less than an ounce of
pot is a misdemeanor with a maximum fine of $100,
which is a slap on the wrist compared to most other
states But possession of more than an ounce is a
felony punishable by up to 10 years in jail and a
$100,000 fine.
Under the proposed new law, marijuana would be
sold out of regulated stores, much like liquor. Unlike
alcohol, there would be no advertising allowed for the
promotion of pot There is a twist thrown in to appease
worried parents — conviction of selling marijuana to
minors would carry a life sentence
"That'll get watered down in committee," says
Alexander "The only reason we put that in there is to
show them that we mean business. I have two children
myself, and I'm very concerned about their access to
marijuana We want to take it out of the schoolyard
and put it in state-controlled stores."
Even though he says he has talked with "thou
sands and thousands' of pot farmers in his travels to
obtain information for his magazine, Alexander
doesn't spend all his time skulking in the netherworld
of underground drug dealing Instead, Alexander has
welcomed, even sought, media attention
High visiblity is not a desirable trait when you're
dealing in an illegal drug. Alexander admits "The
number one commandment when you're a grower is
that you don’t tell anyone what you’re doing
"But I am not breaking the law. I'm printing a
magazine — that is a principal, constitutional right,”
says Alexander. "I don't grow marijuana, so they (the
police) have no reason to harass me I think they
realize that I was a peaceful hippy growing marijuana
and that they came up and stirred up a hornet's nest
Now I am one of the chief advocates of marijuana
reform in Oregon and even the country "
Lobbying for marijuana reform in the Oregon
Legislature and free advertising for his magazine,
Alexander has stirred up a raft of publicity, including
interviews with USA Today, a recently formed national
newspaper, and many Oregon newspapers, radio and
television stations
Alexander, who also owns a gardening store in
Corvallis that sells metal halide and sodium lights and
hydroponic systems, concedes that some of his
customers probably don't have aspirations of growing
bigger-and-brighter tomatoes
What they do with it is their business," says
Alexander. "They don't tell me, and I don't ask them "
His gardening business doesn't discourage mar
ijuana growing and his magazine encourages it But in
the relatively small community of Corvallis, his enter
prises remain unhampered by the law
"I think the police kind of respect me," says
Alexander, "because I'm fighting for something I
believe in."
Stories by Sean Meyers
Is ‘pot politics’ hurt by strategy split?
The most formidable opposition of the Oregon
marijuana reform movement may not be angry
mothers, public opinion or Pres Ronald Reagan's
multi-million dollar "war on drugs.''
Its biggest stumbling block might be the
movement itself — one arm of the octopus not know
ing, or supporting, what another is doing
John Saja, state coordinator for the Oregon
Marijuana Initiative headquartered in Portland, admits
that "there has been a certain amount of the political
stuff," between rival pro-marijuana groups but denies
that it is due to anything but a difference of opinion on
how best to go about "reforming" marijuana laws
"There's OMI and we re doing what we re doing,
and there's Tom Alexander and some people he's
working with down in Eugene and they’re doing what
they're doing," says Saja "I wish them all the luck in
the world I'll be happy if they succeed I just don't
think that they will.”
Alexander, who with the aid of Citizens for Legal
Action hopes to push a pro-marijuana bill through the
1983 legislature, represents the other side of the coin
A recent issue of his magazine, Sinsemilla Tips,
mentions a state wide meeting of the Oregon Coalition
Against Marijuana Prohibition, which was attended by
thirty people representing 14 organizations
"As it happened," the magazine editorialized,
"the meeting degenerated into a loud argument
between what have clearly become two factions in
Oregon's legalization movement "
The OMI. about a year old and with a mailing list of
3,000 people, including 100 "hardcore members,
gained statewide attention this fall when a petition
asking for the abolishment of penalties for personal
use and cultivation of marijuana fell just short of the
required 50,000 valid signatures needed to put it on
the ballot
Alexander's faction will undoubtedly also get
attention late this year when they announce their
proposed legislation, which would legalise marijuana
farming if distributed through state-controlled stores
It would also create an Oregon Marl|uana Control
Commission and possibly establish a life sentence for
anyone convicted of selling to children
Alexander's group, says Saja, is asking for more
than Oregonians are willing to give
"(We re for) having the personal use of marl|uana
legalized." says Saja "So thaf you can smoke mar
ijuana privately and grow it for personal use Sale
would still be illegal, just like it is now ”
Specifically. OMI wants at least a reduction in the
classification of marijuana cultivation as a Class A
felony "According to the law, growing one plant is a
more serious crime than manslaughter in this state
you can get up to 20 years in prison and a $100,000
fine Right now. we just want to right the serious
inequity in our law that makes growing a worse crime
than manslaugher "
The average marijuana smoker, according to OMI
statistics, spends $1000 to $1,500 on marijuana per
year, so allowing people to grow mari|uana for per
sonal use would aid the Oregon economy "If they
were allowed to grow their own, that's $1,000 or $1500
that would be spent on something else, says Saja
Saja says that in petition drives and interviews he
has personally talked with from 20-30,000 people
about marijuana, so I feel I have a generally good
feeling for what people in Oregon are willing to
accept "
He cites a Gallup poll in the October 25 issue of
Newsweek that reports 85 percent of those polled
believed "that the growing of marijuana for sale to
others should be treated as a criminal offense" while
only 53 percent agreed that "the growing of small
amounts of marijuana for personal use should be
treated as a criminal offense
"Oregon is the only state in the union where there
is currently a strong movement towards relaxation of
marijuana laws," says Saja
He feels there is a mandate tor reduced marijuana
penalties whether or not the various groups in the
state work together towards that goal
"I don't necessarily think it's wasted energy if
we re not working toward the same goal There's room
for all types of opinions, says Saja "But I agree that it
might be better if we worked together "