(6/12/14)
For Immediate Release—
Safer AZ Suspends 2014 Petition, Retools for 2016 Drive
Contact: Mikel
Weisser, Executive Director, Safer Arizona
On the one year anniversary of launching their historic
citizens’ initiative to legalize marijuana statewide, Safer AZ, the cannabis
reform Political Action Committee, announced the group is suspending petition gathering
for the 2014 cycle to reorganize for a 2016 campaign.
At a reorganizational meeting for the group’s upcoming 2016
petitioning campaign, the initiative’s author, Dennis Bohlke, formally
announced what had long been rumored-- that the group would not reach the minimum
250,000 signatures required to qualify for the ballot. “We have enjoyed so much
good will and support around the state, we have to honor that and not leave
folks out in the field till the last minute, when Safer AZ leadership is
already planning for 2016.” The group also announced Weisser will serve as
interim executive director, as Safer AZ retools to develop a full-scale
operation for 2016, complete with a paid staff and fundraising arm of the organization.
Originally founded by David Wisniewski, a tech savvy active duty
soldier stationed in South Korea, Safer Wisniewski soon connected with Phoenix-based
computer designer Bohlke. The two
developed the organization through email and online chat. In March, Bohlke attended
a statewide meeting of AZ NORML in Sierra Vista and enlisted Tucson mmj patient
and defendants’ rights activist, Robert Clark and Kingman-area Democratic
organizer/congressional candidate, Mikel Weisser, and the PAC was born.
“So far Safer AZ has
operated as a totally volunteer organization,” Weisser explained. “We all
worked on the parts we liked and no one worked enough on central organization. We
all had fulltime commitments already. Dennis runs a computer company, I’m
running for Congress. Nobody had the time to work on it fulltime. We rarely
worked on fundraising and though we enjoyed a LOT of good will, the moneys we
received were inconsistent. You can only do so much w zero budget.”
Though the group only raised a few thousand dollars, much of
that through leadership donations, in the course of a year, Safer AZ accomplished
much. “When we started, politically the cannabis community was just a whipping
boy for the ‘Law & Order” crowd,” Weisser laughed. “Now they know we have
faces, opinions and voices. Now they know we vote.”
Devised to address cannabis reform through a variety of political
approaches, Safer AZ’s legalization drive gained national attention last summer
when the group first announced filing the initiative. In addition to the
statewide petition gathering project directed by Bohlke, David Wisniewski built
an online community through the PAC website and Facebook page that has grown to
have thousands or followers nationwide. Robert Clark continued his work w the
Human Solution (a national defendants’ rights group) and helped develop an
activist Tucson community on cannabis issues; while Weisser focused on the
state capitol and served as the group’s legislative liaison, using traditional
advocacy approaches w social media to create political pressure for cannabis
reform.
Safer AZ’s decriminalization bill HB2474 (written by Bohlke)
had 14 Democratic sponsors and got as far as the House judiciary committee
before being stopped by the GOP. The group also organized resistance to
anti-cannabis bills by state senators Kelli Ward and Kimberly Yee. In addition,
with the help of organizations like AZ NORML and the Phoenix Cannabis
Coalition, Safer AZ created several musical events for the cannabis community
often featuring cannabis friendly artists such Phoenix’s Hot Rock Supastar and
the Hippy Thug Family or Tucson’s Ezra Letra.
“I’m glad we did all the different stuff we did. It’s been a
great learning experience. We have been building for a stronger presence and
trying to pull together the different elements of AZ cannabis reform, before we
launch our 2016 package. There are numerous activist groups and stakeholder
communities in AZ’s cannabis community and they don’t always play together as
well as they should.” Weisser laughs.
Throughout the past year, the upstart Safer PAC often had to
jostle for position among the state cannabis reform leaders. “2016 is going to
require the various cannabis activists to be on the same page. I aim to be sure
ALL interested parties have a chance to write some of it,” Weisser assures.
Safer AZ will be drafting the initiative over the course of the summer and
hopes to bring together the various cannabis activist groups in the state to
contribute their part in the drafting process. “Call it a cannabis convention. We
want everyone to know their concerns are looked out for as we draft the
initiative; but, more importantly, with ownership comes responsibility. If
everyone has a part in the creation, we all know what part we’ll have to play
to make it happen.”
In addition Safer AZ is going to expand their cannabis surveys
of elected officials to include candidates for the upcoming 2014 elections. “AZ
doesn’t have a drug problem, we have a political problem and this is how you
solve it. We need to educate the public about who they are voting for and the
candidates need to be educated that this community is tired of being ignored,” Weisser
smiled. “We vote, we volunteer, and we’re watching.”
For more information
contact Safer AZ:
Mikel Weisser
928-234-5633
Mikelweisser@gmail.com
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