Tea Party stages debate on marijuana legalization

By Jon Johnson

SAFFORD – The “Hippy Dippy Weatherman” he’s not.

The face of the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol initiative is not what one might expect, and it just might be the greatest foil for those who would prefer the plant to remain illegal for nonmedical use in Arizona.

Medical marijuana dispensary owner J.P. Holyoak debated Pinal County Attorney Lando Voyles over legalizing marijuana for recreational use at an event at Victory Theater, sponsored by the Graham County Tea Party and Graham County Republican Women Club, on Feb. 19. 

Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Chairman J.P. Holyoak, left, a self-described “unapologetic conservative Republican,” is the unlikely face of the Marijuana Policy Project’s initiative to legalize marijuana use by all adults. Jon Johnson Photo/Eastern Arizona Courier

Holyoak called himself an “unapologetic conservative Republican” who also happens to be the chairman of the Marijuana Policy Project-sponsored initiative to regulate marijuana like alcohol. Holyoak was previously against marijuana but, after seeing how the plant improved the quality of life for his ill daughter, Reese, he thrust himself into its advocacy.

“I was somebody that, once upon a time, was naïve enough to believe what the government told me, and I listened to that and I was anti-marijuana,” he said. “But I’m also someone who believes in individual rights and individual responsibilities, and I abhor nanny-state government . . . It’s (prohibition has) proven to be an utter and complete total failure.”

While Voyles had little to say in response to Holyoak’s points about reasons why cannabis should be legalized — including an economic benefit to Arizona with the creation of 21,000 jobs and an estimated $100 million in tax revenue for education rather than money spent on purchasing marijuana going to foreign drug cartels — Holyoak seemingly had an answer based on official statistics to counter every argument Voyles had against legalization.

In one instance, Voyles claimed that studies showed an increase of teen use in states where medical marijuana or recreational marijuana was legal, and Holyoak debunked that by referencing an article from Forbes Magazine that listed fewer teens using marijuana than 15 years ago and displaying Arizona’s own youth survey that showed teen use decreased after medical marijuana was legalized.

At one point in the evening, Holyoak told the crowd about his daughter, Reese, who has the rare disease Aicardi syndrome that caused her to have multiple seizures every day. As a parent desperate to find anything that could help his daughter, Holyoak turned to marijuana after the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act was passed.

“The difference between marijuana and no marijuana for her is literally the difference between life and death,” Holyoak said. “She went from 25 to 35 seizures a day and being nonresponsive — she still has an occasional seizure, about every five or six months she has one — but today she’s walking independently, almost running, being herself, getting into stuff, playing, laughing, smiling, and generally enjoying her very high quality of life. I find it offensive that the U.S. government says that marijuana is a Schedule 1 drug with no medicinal value. We know that’s not true. It’s inappropriate, and I find it even more offensive to try to defend the position of keeping it a Schedule 1 drug.” 

Pinal County Attorney Lando Voyles provides the con perspective during a Tea Party debate on legalizing recreational marijuana Friday. Jon Johnson Photo/Eastern Arizona Courier

After recounting his daughter’s experience, Voyles chose that moment to tow the federal government’s line that marijuana has no medicinal value, a statement that garnered groans from the audience.

“I appreciate his anecdotal response to the medicinal purposes of marijuana, but right now, there have been numerous doctors both in the FDA — I say doctors, Ph.Ds, these are people who have done studies on this — both the DEA and FDA, who have done multiple researches to determine if there is any medical use at all for marijuana, and to date they haven’t found any . . . Right now, there’s no medicinal purposes for it.”

Throughout the debate, the only point Voyles made that Holyoak couldn’t refute was that it is illegal on the federal level and that, as a prosecutor, he is duty-bound to follow the law of the land.

Even though it remains illegal at the federal level, medical marijuana is legal in 23 states, including Arizona and the District of Columbia, and recreational marijuana is legal in four states and the District of Columbia. And it was the federal government that initially followed the states’ lead outlawing it in 1937 after several states had already done so.

In his summary, Holyoak urged the audience to do their own research and learn more about marijuana before heading to the polls this November. He added that after nearly 80 years of prohibition, marijuana is still easily available to anyone who wants to get it.

“The choice that we have is, are we going to tax and regulate marijuana with the proceeds of that benefiting public education and health care, or are we going to keep marijuana illegal for the enrichment of criminal drug dealers and cartels?” Holyoak asked. “Do we need nanny-state government telling us what to do anymore? How about a little less government in our lives?

Voyles ended his summary by looking at the law enforcement perspective and said he believed that ending prohibition of marijuana would lead to an increase of problems.

“If you’re going to try to decrease the number of DUI homicides, DUI deaths, it’s not good to flood the community with what causes it,” Voyles said. “It’s a different, different drug (than alcohol). It needs to be regulated differently.”

Marijuana Policy Project’s campaign to regulate marijuana like alcohol would:

• Allow adults 21 and over to possess up to an ounce of marijuana for personal use with no penalties. People in possession of more than one ounce up to 2.5 ounces would be guilty of a petty offense penalized by a $300 fine. Those with more than two ounces would face Arizona’s standard Class-6 felony charges for unlawful possession of marijuana. The limit on concentrated forms of cannabis, such as hash, oil, cannabutter or tinctures, would be five grams.

• Allow residents to grow up to six plants for personal use and keep the fruits of their labor at their residences — even if it is more than 2.5 ounces — with no penalty. There would be a maximum of 12 plants allowed per household.

• Establish the Department of Marijuana Licenses and Control to oversee a tightly controlled system of licensed marijuana retail stores, cultivation, manufacturing and testing facilities, and will include a law enforcement unit responsible for enforcing regulations and investigating violations. The department is to be funded by a 15-percent tax on marijuana on top of state and local taxes.

The likely tens of millions of dollars left over would be split, with 40 percent going to the Department of Education for school construction, maintenance and operating costs; 40 percent to the Department of Education to fund all-day kindergarten programs; and 20 percent to the Department of Health Services for public education.

• Allow a limited number of licensed marijuana retail stores capped at 10 percent the number of liquor store licenses. Currently, that would allow about 180 marijuana stores statewide.

• Still allow businesses to fire employees who fail a urine test and landlords to forbid marijuana cultivation on their property.

• Forbid public consumption of marijuana, punishable by a petty offense $300 fine.

• Make it a petty offense with a $300 fine and up to 24 hours of community service for underage people who use fake identifications to purchase marijuana.