Page IO___________________________________ ^ o rtla n h
(©bserücr____________________ October 24. 2012
Help with Street Trees
c o n t i n u e d f r o m page 9
U niversity Park, Vernon, and
W oodlaw n neighborhoods.
If you d o n ’t see your neigh
borhood on this list, email Andy
M eeks
• at
andym @ friendsoftrees.org to
learn how you can bring a plant
ing to your neighborhood.
Since 1989, Friends of Trees
has planted more than 450,000
trees and native plants in the
Portland-V ancouver and E u
gene-Springfield m etro areas.
To learn more or to find the
planting date for your address,
visit friendsoftrees.org.
New Laws for Cannabis
c o n t i n u e d f r o m page 3
continued Ä from front
photo by M ark W ashington / T he P ortland O bserver
Southeast Portland siblings Isabelle Shmeer, 2, and Isaac Shmeer, 5, try to stay dry at the
Sauvie Island Pumpkin Patch.
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drivers, and an expansion of black
m arket crim e and violence.
Other opponents don’t like the
creation of the OCC, a seven-
member state agency, calling it
“needless government.”
The Portland Observer hit the
streets to hear what local resi
dents think about legalizing the
most commonly used illicit drug
in America.
“I’m all for it. Absolutely,”
said Shawn Snyder, 39, a north
e a st P o rtla n d e r ra ise d in
Prineville, Oregon, when asked
if he would vote yes on Measure
80. “I’m tired of them [the state]
spending m oney on busting
people for it.”
Snyder, like his friend who
responded anonymously, ques
tioned how Oregon’s plan to tax
and regulate cannabis would play
out. Both men agreed that state
regulation might create more
problems than it would solve,
creating a hassle like the OLCC
has in the past for people trying
get a permit to open a liquor
store.
Sid, 31, last name anonymous,
also supports cannabis legaliza
tion but fears consequences of
state regulation.
Sid worries the law would put
small growers out of business.
He said the actual implementa
tion of it gives the federal gov
ernment overbearing power that
seems to do less good than in
tended, but like everything “it’s a
process— there’s a balance to
be had.”
Sid continued, “And in order
to create that balance, I think we
need to legalize it, so the feds are
not overbearing and so that the
world of marijuana is in check.”
S id ’s partner B eckie, 39,
who uses m edicinal m arijuana
in brownie form not to get high,
but to take the edge o ff pain
caused by her Fibro- m yalgia,
says she will vote yes. She
said people are as capable o f
being responsible with m ari
juana as much as they are with
alcohol, though both have their
pros and cons.
“If it passes, it’s going to cre
ate jobs and revenues for our
state and I think that’s very
sm art.” Beckie also strongly
supports the deregulation of
hemp. Hemp, she said, is an
amazing, sustainable agricultural
product that our state would ben
efit from.
Other folks talked about how
legalizing cannabis would change
the stigma of the drug.
Lynn McDonald, 28, doesn’t
use the drug anymore, but says
it’s a very benign substance.
“It’s not the threat people think it
is,” he said, “so I’m 100% for
getting it legalized.”
Many residents voiced vary
ing, definite opinions.
“I don’t smoke marijuana,”
said a man who practiced law
for a living. He will not vote on
the issue.
“I’m not really for it,” said
Kiely Johnson, 31, a Portland
resident of 34 years. “It’s a poor
idea— I don’t really see any
thing good coming from it.”
The legalization of marijuana
is long overdue, said a northeast
Portland resident. “Restricted like
this, where they control it really
well, I think is a great idea,” he
said.
“We ought to decriminalize all
drug use,” said a 65-year-old
local resident. “The war on drugs
is a failed policy— it’s hooey.”
A retired Portland English
school teacher, 79, has witnessed
the measure come on and off the
ballot since the 1960’s. “It’s silly
to keep it illegal,” he said. “It
breeds disrespect for the law.
People do what they want to do
anyw ay.”
While legalizing marijuana will
bring its own set of new prob
lems, the elderly African-Ameri
can man said we should just face
the problems and do it.
“Prohibition didn’t work,” he
said, “Maybe we should have
learned a lesson from that.”