[Press release] PHOENIX — A group of local faith leaders is urging Arizonans to vote ‘yes’ on Prop. 205, citing a “moral obligation to support change” because current marijuana prohibition laws “cause significant harm to individuals families, and society.” In an open letter to voters, Arizona clergy members representing various faith backgrounds explain why they support regulating marijuana like alcohol. A link to the full letter is available at the bottom of this release.

It is also signed by Rev. Alexander E. Sharp, executive director of Clergy for a New Drug Policy, a national organization of faith leaders advocating for sensible alternatives to the failed war on drugs. Rev. Sharp is available for interviews Friday until 12 p.m.

“One does not have to use marijuana – or even approve of marijuana – to see that our current laws are not working, nor are they, in our view, just,” the faith leaders write. “As we seek to teach compassion and love, it seems inconsistent to support, in cases of private personal adult marijuana possession, the use of police, guns, and courts. The faith community, parents, peers, counselors, and educators are the appropriate means to address this kind of personal behavior.”

There were 151,276 arrests for adult marijuana possession in Arizona from 2005-2015, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety, including 13,321 last year. Possession of any amount of marijuana is a felony under state law. Possession of up to one ounce will be legal for adults 21 and older if voters approve Prop. 205. Currently, it carries a penalty of up to two years in jail and a fine of up to $150,000.

“If a punishment policy fails to meet its objectives and causes harm to humans, we have a moral obligation to support change,” the faith leaders write. “Our laws punishing marijuana use continue to cause significant harm to individuals, families, and society. In response to that harm, we support replacing marijuana prohibition with a system of strict regulation and sensible safeguards. We urge all voters in Arizona to support Proposition 205.”

Read the full clergy letter to Arizona voters here.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol is supporting Proposition 205, an initiative on the November 2016 ballot that would end marijuana prohibition in Arizona and replace it with a system in which marijuana is regulated and taxed like alcohol. For more information, visit http://www.RegulateMarijuana.org.

[Press release] --

Clergy Letter to Arizona Voters

We are clergy in Arizona united in our support of Proposition 205. This measure will regulate, tax, and control marijuana like alcohol. It will limit legal use to adults 21 years of age or older and generate tens of millions of dollars for public schools and education programs annually.

As clergy, we have the responsibility and the credibility to talk about what policies serve our community best. One does not have to use marijuana – or even approve of marijuana – to see that our current laws are not working, nor are they, in our view, just.

In Arizona, taxpayers spend millions of dollars annually to arrest, prosecute, cite and process thousands of people — disproportionately Latinos and African-Americans — for possessing small amounts of marijuana. Over 150,000 adults have been arrested for marijuana possession in Arizona since 2005. These arrests, even when they do not lead to incarceration, ruin lives.  

For decades, marijuana prohibition has been inefficient, wasteful, and counterproductive. By all measures, Arizona’s marijuana laws have failed. In addition to the millions of dollars spent on enforcement, our police waste precious time enforcing these policies. This is time that could be directed toward preventing violent crimes. Despite all these efforts, about three-quarters of teenagers in national surveys consistently report that marijuana is “fairly or very easy to get.”

As we seek to teach compassion and love, it seems inconsistent to support, in cases of private personal adult marijuana possession, the use of police, guns, and courts. The faith community, parents, peers, counselors, and educators are the appropriate means to address this kind of personal behavior.

We should work to make our communities safer. Illegal marijuana sales are the foundation for criminal markets that operate in every community in our state. When people, both old and young, seek to purchase marijuana in the underground market, they are often exposed to – and are encouraged to purchase – far more dangerous substances.

We need to break the link between marijuana and more dangerous drugs. And we can do so by shifting sales of marijuana out of the criminal market and into regulated businesses that check ID’s for age and generate tax revenue for needed services.

How we punish people and what we punish them for are central moral questions. If a punishment policy fails to meet its objectives and causes harm to humans, we have a moral obligation to support change. Our laws punishing marijuana use continue to cause significant harm to individuals, families, and society. In response to that harm, we support replacing marijuana prohibition with a system of strict regulation and sensible safeguards.

We urge all voters in Arizona to support Proposition 205.  

Rev. Sherman Fort
Senior Pastor, Canaan Missionary Baptist Church
Mesa, AZ

Rev. Terry Sims
Minister, Unitarian Universalist Church of Sunrise
Sunrise, AZ

Rev. Bart Smith
Pastor, St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church
Tucson, AZ

Rev. Warren Stewart, Jr.
Lead Pastor, Church of the Remnant
Phoenix, AZ

Rabbi Dr. Schmuly Yanklowitz
President and Dean, Valley Beit Midrash
Phoenix, AZ

Rev. Jim Wiltbank
Pastor, St. Francis in the Foothills United Methodist Church
Tucson, AZ

Rev. Alexander E. Sharp
Executive Director
Clergy for a New Drug Policy

Two Philadelphia medical schools Thursday announced that they are collaborating on research into medical marijuana, and will copresent an academic conference on cannabis at the end of this month.

Temple University will partner with Thomas Jefferson University’s Center for Medical Cannabis Education and Research to “encourage research and education initiatives involving physicians and scientists” across the state and nation.

The collaboration marks a significant development within the local research community, said Charles Pollack, director of Jefferson's center.

"Medical cannabis is such a hot medical and social issue that it's helping to break down walls between competing institutions that don't usually collaborate on things," Pollack said.

Read more

This article originally appeared in the September/October print edition of Cannabis Business Times. To subscribe, click here.

Pueblo County, Colo., is an outdoor marijuana grower’s dream: Its hot, dry summers begin early and end late, it receives loads of sunshine throughout peak growing months, and the vast and open geography allows for sprawling growing operations.

It’s no wonder businesses like Strawberry Fields, which operates a 2-acre greenhouse facility and two retail centers, and Los Sueños Farms, a 36-acre outdoor growing operation, along with 111 other cultivators have made the southern Colorado region their base of operations.

And the cannabis industry has benefited the local economy: It accounts for over 1,300 jobs in the county; nearly 40 percent of 2015’s commercial building permits were related to the cannabis industry, representing just under $15 million in commercial building expenditures; as of June of this year, the county has earned $1.8 million in taxes and fees from the marijuana industry and is projecting to collect over $3.5 million by year’s end; and, starting in 2017, Pueblo will become the first government entity to give scholarships for higher education funded entirely by the cannabis industry, according to the Pueblo County Commissioner Office.

But most of those jobs, building projects, scholarships and cannabis businesses could be extinct after Nov. 8. A measure asking voters to decide whether the county should opt-out of the recreational marijuana program is on the election ticket and could end Pueblo’s vibrant recreational cannabis industry.

To read the full article in our September/October edition, click here.