Measure B wins a victory over out-of-county marijuana lobby

In Our Opinion

Now that the June 3 election results are final we want to thank all the voters and committed volunteers who voted to pass Measure B to help this county restore safe communities and an economic future by pushing back on the commercial marijuana industry here.

On Friday, CalNORML sent out a press release claiming that the marijuana industry's loss on Measure B was still a "moral victory" for marijuana growers.

We beg to differ.

While 52 percent "Yes on B" majority to turn around Mendocino County's marijana policy is a great result, we feel it's important to have it on the record that our community was able to do this despite the outrageous activities of the opponents.

The most visible manifestation of the underhanded practices was theft and vandalism of at least 400 Yes on B campaign signs--a supression of election free speech that's unprecedented in the recent history of Mendocino County.

Financed by large contributions by the out-of-county marijuana lobby, the No Campaign also set out to change the composition of Mendocino County's electorate. Paid employees were hired to find and register the mostly young seasonal work forced associated with the marijuana industry as trimmers, growers or drivers.

The Yes on B Coalition estimates that about 1,400 new voter registrations were generated by the opposition in this way, and the new registrations show a pattern of registration law violations. The records at the county election office show new voters who haven't yet reached the minimum age of 18, voters who registered at non-existent addresses, or voters who put down the No on B mail drop address as their residence. These transients have no interest in our community except to try to keep it as a drug haven, and none of them are likely to ever vote here again.

To further their all-out campaign, the marijuana industry spent tens of thousands of dollars on mailers and radio to spread falsehoods about Measure B. Sincere people can disagree, perhaps, about the No on B claim that Measure B will "criminalize" sick medical marijuana patients and "deny their medicine," but no one can claim that the six phony slate mailer put out on behalf of No on B were anything except lies.

These slate mailers were deliberately designed to deceive voters into believing that law enforcement, the Republican Party, and the Democratic Party all endorsed "No" on B, when the truth is that every law enforcement leader or organization endorsed "Yes," as did the local Republican Party, while the local Democratic Party took no position.

According to campaign disclosure statemens, NORML put $13,800 into the No campaign plus a personal contribution of $11,413 from NORML's California director, Dale Gierenger of Berkeley. (This doesn't include the thousands spent on the phony slate mailers which No on B is pretending it knows nothing about and may never be traced, in clear violation of election laws.)

A moral victory?

We believe the moral victory lies with the citizens of Mendocno County, who successfully resisted the lies and the money of the "no-limits" out-of-county marijuana industry and took a courageous stand to take back Mendocino County.

(Editorial by Ukiah Daily Journal June 22, 2008)