Right-wing Republican Kevin Mannix has filed two initiatives that would abolish the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program (OMMP), instantly making criminals of over 16,000 sick and disabled Oregon patients. Mannix, an insurance defense attorney and former chairman of Oregon's Republican Party, not only wants to treat patients like criminals, but he even hopes to hand a tax-payer-funded-gift to the pharmaceutical industry by requiring the state of Oregon to purchase less-effective perscription drugs that patients don't even want. 

Mannix knows that he can't take on the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act (OMMA) in a fair fight because the OMMP is a popular state program that protects patients, saves state resources, and generates revenue.  Instead of attempting a repeal of OMMA in a stand-alone-initiative, Mannix is attempting to mislead Oregon voters by hiding behind so-called anti-crime provisions.  

Voter Power is doing everything possible to stop this right-wing boondoggle.  We have filed challenges with the state arguing that his ballot title is misleading and that his initiatives are unconstitutional because each violates Oregon's single-subject rule because each initiative combines criminal matters, such as sex offenses, with the noncriminal actions of Oregon's patient community.  Currently, we have a case pending before Oregon's Supreme Court challenging the ballot titlte of Mannix's Initiative Petition #104.  We are the only organization whose primary mission is marijuana law reform to file such a challenge.  We are joined in this challenge by other organizations, including the ACLU, the Partnership for Safety and Justice and Stand for Children.

We are currently publicizing the unfortunate details of these proposed boondoggles by educating voters, mobilizing patients and activists submitting letters to the editors of Oregon's newspapers.  We will be mobilizing our supporters throughout this campaign, and if necessary, we will file yet another challenge in the Oregon courts.

This terrible initiative has national implications because if the right-wing Republicans, insurance companies, and Big Pharma manage to dismantle the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program, they will be emboldened to kill the programs of all of the other medical marijuana states. This is an important time for our movement and all of us, especially sick patients, need us to move forward, not back to a time where grandmothers stricken with glaucoma and cancer are treated as drug dealers.

We are not only playing defense by fighting Mannix's initiatives, we are also going on the offensive by filing our Regulated Medical Marijuana Supply System Initiative (#124).  This initiative will get medicine to patients who need it and it will protect our program by generating millions of dollars in state revenue.  That added revenue will ensure that low-income patients and patients in need have an adequate supply of medicine and can be used for our state's social services, such as improving and expanding the Oregon Health Plan and food assistance programs.

Kevin Mannix and his ilk cite abuses of the OMMP as why the program needs abolished.  Unfortunately, there will always be abuses of the system as there are abuses of every system.  Fraud and abuse exists in our Social Security system, in Medicare and in government.  Fraud and abuse are human nature and will continue in any system that contains thousands of people.  Initiative #124 will protect our program because, while Mannix may point to a few abuses in the future, voters and politicians won't want to repeal a law that generates millions in revenue, helping keep taxes lower and providing more poverty-stricken children with healthcare.

We have an important choice before us here in Oregon.  Do we implement policies that cost more money and resources and treats patients as criminals?  Do we stick with the status quo where too many patients are without medicine and the OMMP is under attack every two to four years?  Or do we move forward and ensure that all patients have a supply of medicine, that the OMMP is protected, and we have more resources to provide social services to our citizens in need?  Please join Voter Power to create a better policy for all Oregonians.