Accomplishments, Challenges and Opportunities: Florida's CSMP in 2011 and Beyond

Dear Fellow Legalization Advocates,

      As 2011 draws to a close, the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy (CSMP) reflects upon another year in which we continued to illuminate the failures and foibles of marijuana prohibition, identified new allies, gained endorsements and created a conversation about the harms of prohibition which is ongoing and will not end until we reach our ultimate goal of legalizing the responsible adult use of marijuana in Florida. So let's take a look back at CSMP accomplishments in 2011:

 

Endorsements

 

     The CSMP gathered a bevy of endorsements from South Florida candidates and office holders in 2011. In April, Miami mayoral candidate, writer and musician Luther Campbell endorsed decriminalization, saying "Any arrest on your record can keep employers from hiring you. We need to focus on getting people to work, not nailing them for nothing."  In Miami Beach, comedian and mayoral candidate Steve Berke made decriminalization and his support for the CSMP's Miami Beach initiative a prominent part of his platform. In July, the CSMP presented more than 9,000 petititions gathered on Miami Beach to the City Commission. South Miami Commissioner Walter Harris appeared in support, held a sign in front of city hall and then asked the Miami Beach city commission to introduce legislation on their own to decriminalize marijuana  in Miami Beach.  Commissioner Michael Gongora surprised everyone when he stated to a meeting hall packed with supporters of the CSMP's Miami Beach initiative, "I am with you."

      

Driving the Conversation

 

     This year our work was covered multiple times by The Miami Herald; The SunPost; Examiner.com.; South Florida Gay News; Miami NewTimes; NBC Miami and JackHerer.com.  Thousands of Floridians and people from around the world visited the CSMP website.  The CSMP is the leading voice for legalization in the Sunshine State.

 

Challenges and Opportunities

 

        The presentation of the petitions to the Miami Beach City Commission in July was to be the end of a canvassing effort that began on the steps of Miami Beach City Hall in June of 2010.  Two obstacles quickly emerged. First, in August Commissioner Michael Gongora requested an opinion from City Attorney Jose Smith on behalf of the CSMP regarding the legality of our petition. It was no surpise when Smith, who in July made statements questioning the petiton while at the same time claiming not to have read it, issued a political opinion declaring his belief that Miami Beach could not do what many cities and states have done across the country over a period of almost thirty years and decriminalize marijuana.  The second challenge is that a coprorate donor who pledged to pay the  $1000 validation fee required to have the county supervisor of elections process the petitions has not been able to come through on their promise.  

 

     The first challenge is truly no obstacle at all.  The CSMP was conceived of and created by the collaboration of attorneys and law students who sought to find a way to change marijuana policy at the local level. We now have two tough as nails pro bono attorneys, Norm Kent, a longtime legalization advocate and activist, and Shawn Heller, the founder of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), ready to seize with the CSMP the opportunity to establish a precedent holding that Florida's cities are not bound by Tallahassee's failed policies.  When this is done, we can move on to decriminalize other cities in Florida and ultimately the entire state in the same way that multiple local initiatives in Massachusettes led to statewide decriminalization in 2008. 

 

Your Help is Vital

 

      To overcome the second challenge, we need your help. The CSMP raised more than $30,000 from individual and corporate sponsors to run an initiative in an important city where local codes make petitioning to amend the charter very difficult. The CSMP is an extremely efficient all volunteer advocacy organization that has never paid legal fees. With all signatures gathered for our Miami Beach initiative, we are now closer to making a real change in Florida's failed marijuana laws than ever before in Florida history.  Prohibitionists and those who profit from prohibition will be working hard, employing the same tired scare tactics and attempting to group marijuana, a harmless plant, with the heroine and prescription drugs that kill thousands of Floridians and Americans each year. The CSMP is ready to meet them head on.

 

      Please log on to the CSMP website at www.sensibleflorida.com and make a donation to support the CSMP's Miami Beach initiative. After a year in which a federal district court found the entire Florida controlled substances act to be unconstitutional and Governor Rick Scott's attempts to expand drug testing were similarly struck down, the CSMP and the marijuana legalization movement are poised to make huge gains in 2012.

 

     TOGETHER, we can make Florida a GREEN State.

 

                                                                                To Freedom,

 

                                                                                Ford Banister

                                                                                Chairman

 

P.S.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions about the Miami Beach initiative or the CSMP's statewide lobbying efforts at ford@sensibleflorida.com.

Miami Beach pro-pot effort stalled by finances, legal issues

Posted on Mon, Oct. 10, 2011 Miami Beach pro-pot effort stalled by finances, legal issues By David Smiley In July, pro-marijuana activists filed into Miami Beach City Hall and, alongside a stack of thousands of signed petitions, proudly announced that they were about to make Florida history by forcing a vote to decriminalize small-time pot possession in the city. But months later, the group has yet to submit the 9,000 documents to the city clerk — the first necessary step toward a referendum. Eric Stevens, who has coordinated the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy’s petition drive, said two related issues are holding up the process: finances, and the strong possibility of a court battle with the city after the petitions are handed over. “I sort of feel as if my hands have been tied for the last two or three months,” Stevens said. The Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy began pushing petitions on Miami Beach almost two years ago, hoping to collect support from at least 10 percent of the city’s roughly 43,000 registered voters in order to create new language in the city’s charter that allows officers to issue $100 civil fines for adult possession of a personal stash of pot. Two months ago, the committee announced it had far surpassed 10 percent and gathered enough signatures to schedule a special election. But roadblocks quickly materialized. Commissioners made clear in July that they would not push the issue themselves in order to place the vote alongside choices for mayor and commissioner on the November 1 ballot. And about a month later, City Attorney Jose Smith opined that state law trumps city law in matters of illegal substances. Citing the legal outcome of a similar situation in the city of Tallahassee, he wrote that the group’s proposal to amend the Miami Beach charter “would likely be found to be unlawful” if challenged in court. County law states that the city schedules the election after the submittal of valid petitions. But Smith said commissioners could choose to fight the pending referendum in court — as Tallahassee did — or refuse to schedule the referendum and leave it up to Stevens’ committee to sue. So unless the Miami Beach commissioners support the effort, the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy would be headed for a costly court battle. “If we don’t change Jose Smith’s opinion once we get the validation through, then we go to court,” Stevens said. But that presents another problem. Stevens, who is the committee’s treasurer, said the committee doesn’t even have the funds to pay the cost of submitting the 9,000 petitions for validation — ten cents per signature — much less fight a lengthy legal battle. He said he has reached out to the committee’s main sponsors. Rakontur, the local film production duo behind acclaimed movies such as Square Grouper, a documentary about the South Florida pot trade in the 70s, has contributed at least $26,000 to the effort. But rakontur co-founder Alfred Spellman said he is hopeful that Stevens will be able to secure grants and that others will begin to chip in. “It’s a grassroots effort here,” he said. “These types of things take time and we’re anxious to get this to voters as soon as possible. But there are several more hurdles.” Stevens and company may want to leap those hurdles sooner rather than later, considering the effort began around June 2010 and state law says that petition signatures inked before May 2011 are only valid for two years. Said Stevens: “I want to get this done as quickly as possible.”

---

© 2011 Miami Herald Media Company. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.miamiherald.com

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/10/10/v-print/2443670/miami-beach-pro-pot-effort-stalled.html#ixzz1gXlCi2Bt

The CSMP Stands Firm In Miami Beach

     In a letter to the Miami Beach City Commission, City Attorney Jose Smith opined that the petition circulated by the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy (CSMP) would not be permitted to be placed on the ballot due to what he perceived to be a conflict with state law.  The letter was in response to a request by Commissioner Michael Gongora who stated on the record at the July 13th meeting of the city commission that he supported decriminalization and would place the question on the agenda at the next commission meeting pending the city attorney's approval.  CSMP Attorney Norm Kent was quick to fire back.  “I am going to roll up the city attorney’s opinion and smoke it," Kent told the Miami Herald. 

 

     The city attorney's opinion, released to the press before being conveyed to the CSMP, comes as no surprise.  Mayor Hatti Bower began questioning the legality of the proposal shortly after the petition drive was launched in June of last year.  This was without having seen the petition and apparently without the advice of her city attorney who stated on July 13th, 2011 that he had not previously viewed it.  CSMP Chairman Ford Banister posted a blog on the organizational website on July 6, 2010 explaining the distinction between legalization and decriminalization and challenging those who questioned the proposal's legality to make their arguments explicitly.  This challenge was met with silence.  City Attorney Smith has now issued a weakly reasoned and wildly illogical opinion which is nothing more or less than a political statement designed to create confusion and lend some credence to a weak attempt to avoid or delay a substantive debate about the issue of marijuana prohibition by subsuming it in legality. From the president who once made a clear statement in favor of decriminalization, confirmed his position then changed it in the same day to State Senator John Thrasher, Chairman of the Florida Republican Party, who had nothing more to say than "Oh boy'" when questioned about the effect that former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson's outspoken support for legalization might have on his candidacy, the politicians are running scared. 

 

    "There is something incredibly contradictory about having the use of a relatively benign substance be so important that it requires that more than 800,000 citizens be processed through the criminal justice system yet not worthy of debate.  The marketplace of ideas that is vital to our democracy cannot function properly when matters of serious public concern are taboo," said Banister.  "The CSMP has been prepared for this type of challenge since long before we began petitioning in Miami Beach.  Mr. Smith cited no statute or appellate court case that would preclude submission of this question to the people.  If there is litigation, it will be litigation of choice and not of necessity.  I told the Miami Herald that we were prepared to defend the initiative without question on the day we made the announcement at Miami Beach city hall.  That stands even more true today than it did then," Banister continued.

 

South Miami Commissioner Walter Harris supports pot decriminalization

Posted on Wed, Jul. 27, 2011 Commissioner Walter Harris supports pot decriminalization Raquel Garcia Community Newspapers PETER ANDREW BOSCH / MIAMI HERALD STAFF A group pushing for the legalization of marijuana on Miami Beach submitted the 9,000 signatures required to get their cause on the ballot, they were out side of the Miami Beach city hall having a rally, Wednesday , July 13th 2012. Commissioner Walter Harris was photographed recently with a group of activists while attending a Miami Beach rally outside city hall in support of a local referendum for the decriminalization of marijuana. Holding a sign depicting a giant pot leaf, Commissioner Harris appears relaxed and content surrounded by fellow supporters who presented a petition to the commission requesting anyone caught in possession of less than 20 grams of pot be fined $100 or less. When asked about his presence at the rally Commissioner Harris said Miami Beach is the perfect forum for the issue as a popular resort area that ought to be in tune with what is going on around the nation. “Fifteen states and the District of Colombia have decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana and rather than tie up the court system, cost taxpayers money and delay police officers with more reports, this seems like a good solution for people who have no problem getting hold of marijuana and are going to continue to smoke regardless of its legal status.” Director of the South Miami Drug-Free Coalition Margaret Sotham calls the argument a red herring. “What we know from looking at other states and communities and what we have learned from other states that have decriminalized small amounts of marijuana is that you are simply taking on one set of problems over another. So perhaps you trade court costs or lower court costs but what you end up with when you have greater access is more use and therefore more treatment, more addiction and more of a burden to society.” Although Sotham concedes she did not have the immediate data at her fingertips she calls Harris’ argument inaccurate and shortsighted. “Marijuana use is the leading diagnosis for adolescents suffering from drug addiction and seeking treatment in the United States. Seen in its totality it is the reason for myriad problems like high academic dropout rates, juvenile crime, mental health problems and primary health issues as well.” Commissioner Harris however says he does not believe that decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana for the casual user will encourage, increase or condone use for minors. “The idea that marijuana is a gateway drug is nonsense, it is not. Is alcohol a gateway drug? No deaths in the state of Florida or in the United States have ever been attributed to a marijuana overdose unlike alcohol and other drugs.” Margaret Sotham and the South Miami Drug-Free Coalition essentially advocate rigorous scientific scrutiny and FDA approval of any new proposed drug. “Marinol, the synthetic version of THC, the main compound in marijuana went through a rigorous scientific process and was determined to have some benefit and became available through prescriptions. Our coalition supports that kind of scientific research if there is a medicinal value in the compounds. We are not about denying comfort and care to people who may be sick and could benefit from usage, we simply want to be sure there is a scientific process and approval beforehand. Smoking pot has not gone through this type of scrutiny.” Public Information Officer for the State Attorney’s Office Ed Griffith says lobbying for change in marijuana usage by way of petitioning for a local ordinance is a moot point anyway since Florida state statutes established by the legislature dictate the law. “Prosecutors prosecute based on Florida statutes and misdemeanor arrests vary according to decisions made on the street. Cases for possession of small amounts of marijuana are rarely arrested on the spot but rather generally will get a notice to appear in court and will depend on the determination of the judge. There are no single indicators in terms of ultimate costs for these arrests. If you wish to change the law you should go to Tallahassee.” Commissioner Harris suggested the police department should be contacted to inquire about issues related to the decriminalization of marijuana. Chief of Police Orlando Martinez de Castro of the South Miami Police Department had this to say: “my opinion on these matters is irrelevant because in this state and in my city, possession and usage of marijuana continues to be illegal. As police officers we do not create the law we enforce it. This is our job and we will always do it to the best of our ability.” Director of the South Miami Drug-Free Coalition Margaret Sotham had one ultimate inquiry addressed to Commissioner Harris, “my question to the commissioner would be was he there in an official capacity or as a private citizen?”

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/07/27/v-print/2333641/commissioner-walter-harris-supports.html#ixzz1TNHea0M1

High Times at Miami Beach Commission Meeting

Posted on Thu, Jul. 14, 2011 High times at Miami Beach commission meeting By Perry Stein The Miami Herald Pot provided some relief at this week’s normally tense Miami Beach City Commission meeting. Advocates of the drug hung around for several hours, waiting their turn to make a case before the commission to decriminalize marijuana in the city. A doctor, lawyer, college student, stockbroker and a South Miami city commissioner all showed up to lobby Miami Beach leaders to place a referendum on the November ballot to allow the public to vote on whether they want to decriminalize marijuana on the Beach. Some spouted off well-researched statistics. Others told stories of their love-affair with weed. Still others took more creative measures to try and suit the suited-commissioners. “How many of you have ever smoked marijuana?” Miami Beach resident Jeff Gibson asked commissioners. There was silence from the daia. “No, really. You look like you were from the era, the 60s, 70s,’’ Gibson persisted. “You were the hippies.” Finally, Jonah Wolfson, the youngest commissioner, laughed and raised his hand. Then, Gibson asked commissioners to raise their hand if they thought people in the chambers who had smoked marijuana should be in prison. No one raised their hands. “Everybody has smoked weed, everybody,” said Gibson, who runs an online magazine advocating marijuana reform. . Wednesday was the official deadline to get an item placed on the city ballot. The group has collected 9,000 signatures in Miami Beach for a petition that calls for anyone caught with 20 grams or less of marijuana be charged with a fine of $100 or less. .While some commissioners seemed supportive of the group’s activism, they declined to act on the request. Instead, commissioners encouraged the advocates to submit the names to the city clerk and follow normal protocol to get their item on the ballot. Commissioner Michael Gongora agreed to meet with them at a later date to discuss the issue. “It’s clear to me the people involved are passionate and put a lot of work into this issue,” Gongora said Thursday. “I thought it was nice to see so many young people engaged in civic activism. It’s not necessarily the issue I would have been involved in, but it’s good to see young people involved.” Wednesday’s group was led by Eric Stevens and the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy—a state registered Political Action Committee. “Florida not changing their laws is more of just an issue of wasting taxpayers money,’’ said Stevens, a 2010 University of Miami graduate, dressed in khakis and a button down shirt. “It actually affects these sick and dying people who are trying to get through and enjoy their last days.” Unlike alcohol, people smoking marijuana would not cause the police any trouble, said Robert Platshorn, 68, the man who holds the title for serving the longest prison sentence – 29 years – for a non-violent marijuana crime in U.S history. He was imprisoned for smuggling marijuana from Colombia. “The only effect of marijuana is the Domino Effect—you sit home and call Dominos and order a pizza,” Platshorn, of Miami, told the commission. While Platshorn has served the most time, stockbroker Irvin Rosenfeld probably has smoked more joints than anyone else. He is one of four people in the United States who receives marijuana from the federal government. Rosenfeld, of Lauderhill, has a rare form of cancer and smokes upward of 15 joints a day to help ease the pain. Before going inside to speak to the commission, he lit up a joint, filling the outdoor City Hall corridors with the smell of fresh pot. Cops on the scene didn’t trouble him. He pulled out a jar of marijuana and told commissioners it was crazy that taxpayers pay for his weed and for the costs to arrest those found in possession of the drug that provides him so much relief. “I’m going to assume all of you pay federal taxes,” Rosenfeld said to the commissioners. “I want to thank each and every one of you for paying for my medical cannabis.”

---

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/07/14/v-print/2315009/high-times-at-miami-beach-commission.html#ixzz1S9wqiYxk