Smell the Truth » Women Lead the Effort to Legalize Cannabis in California

Smell the Truth » Women Lead the Effort to Legalize Cannabis in California

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Reform advocates met in San Francisco last weekend to plot ending the 100-year cannabis prohibition in California. Sponsored by California NORML, the conference started by presenting the history of cannabis prohibition and reform, turned to an analysis of multi-state polling data, and ended discussing the path to the California ballot. Throughout it all, the vast majority of panelists and attendees felt that, with good wording and solid teamwork, a cannabis legalization initiative would succeed in 2016. Leading the discussions were the women of cannabis reform, under the polished guidance of Dale Sky Jones, Chairwoman of Coalition for Cannabis Policy Reform (CCPR), Diane Goldstein of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), Ellen Komp of Cal NORML, and Amanda Reiman of Drug Policy Alliance (DPA).
Dale Sky Jones is a former corporate trainer, with a background in manufacturing and product research, and is the proud mother of a young son. A child of hippy parents, she rebelled by becoming the “corporate chick,” hiding her occasional cannabis use from all but two close friends. She learned about the medical benefits of cannabis, and the risks of the current prohibition, after accepting a management position at a California medical practice. There, she found it difficult to understand the shifting laws governing medical cannabis and realized that patients were stepping out into a “black hole” after receiving recommendations, with no information about dosage, usage and strains. The physicians she directed were prevented from discussing how to get medical cannabis, under threat of felony imprisonment. It became clear to Jones that cannabis laws needed a major overhaul, so she took the helm as spokesperson for the Proposition 19 campaign.
Polling data presented at the Cal NORML conference showed that moms do not support cannabis law reforms, with the majority of them voting “no” in Colorado, Washington and on Prop 19 in California. But, as Jones points out, “I was the woman I am trying to talk to now. There is nothing stronger then a women or a mother on a mission.” She intends to get the message out that, “we will have safer communities, if we tax and regulate cannabis.” [ read more at link]