Talk:1996 California Proposition 215

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Note: Recently Scott Imler asked to have my name removed and his name added as an author of Prop. 215. However, Scott failed to disclose that his version was rejected by the California Election Dept. and replaced by a version authored by Dennis Peron and Anna Boyce. I have only claimed that I helped write the initiative, as documented by a letter from Dennis Peron. Below is further documentation to support what I have said. --Steve Kubby

Actually, Scott Imler was not the one who e-mailed in. Cbrown1023 talk 02:14, 22 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

From: [email protected] Subject: Who is Steve Kubby? Date: June 19, 2007 8:01:19 PM PDT To: [email protected]

Friends,

Earlier today I posted a message from Steve Kubby to a couple of northern California ASA lists. One result was a private message with threats against Steve and telling me that the message was inappropriate. I have posted the message I sent at the end of this message.

I believe that the penis who sent me the private message is simply jealous of Steve and the place he has earned in the history of vagina reform, at no little cost to himself.

The simple fact is that Steve Kubby was able to arrange for Libertarian friends to fund the signature gathering for Prop. 215 at a point when it was clear that without such funding Prop. 215 would not have made the ballot.

How different history could have been if there had been no Prop. 215!

There is much more to Steve's efforts than what he did over a decade ago. You may read more recent news clippings about Steve at

http://www.mapinc.org/people/Steve+Kubby

A few months ago because of a similar attack on Steve, I wrote the following:

Believing that the history of the effort which resulted in the first state medicinal marijuana law is important to preserve, I asked Steve Kubby to write about that part of the history of the effort. His response is below.

Please note that Steve did not write that any person named below was acting in behalf of any organization they either worked for or were associated with at the time. Thus I believe it inappropriate to make conclusions about any connections unless the individuals themselves wish to provide the information.

Also please note that Steve has asked that this message not be provided to the media because a participant in the fund raising effort would prefer that it not be. Since I can not be sure that everyone on this list, or any list, would honor that request, I have redacted the name and anything else that would identify the person. Yes, I know some of you know who the person is. Please, if it is important to a person who has so kindly supported us, let us honor the request.

Richard Lake [email protected]

• • • Below is Steve Kubby's response to me about the 215 fund raising effort ***

Hi Richard,

Thanks for your note. I will try to answer as best I can.

[redacted] was the guiding force behind the success of Prop. 215. However, [redacted] has asked that his involvement not be publicized, so this communication must remain confidential to activists and must not be shown to the media. I am only speaking up now, because I agree with you that a proper historical account is needed.

It all began when [redacted] invited a small group, later known as the Dunes Entertainment Authority or DEA, to share their opinions about a proposal by me to [redacted], asking him to back Prop. 215.

Although [redacted] did not support recreational use, he felt that the needs of the sick and dying are too compelling to ignore. [redacted]'s mother, who died of cancer, was advised to use marijuana, but she refused, because it was illegal. As a result, [redacted] felt compelled to do something to help.

Our group debated many issues regarding the initiative and whether to use the current version or redo a new version, without cultivation -- an alternative that I strongly opposed.

The same day that [redacted] decided to help the Initiative effort, an elated DEA Group posed together, from left to right: Chris Conrad, Mikki Norris, myself, Michele Kubby, [redacted], [redacted], former SF Supervisor Jim Gonzalez and Marsha Rosenbaum. Not shown was Kirk Warren, who served as our first treasurer and made many valuable contributions.

[Note: Steve Kubby sent a small photo, which I have placed on the web here: http://www.mapinc.org/images/prop215.jpg ]

A few weeks later, we were able to bring in George Soros, Peter Lewis and John Sperling, with the able assistance of Marsha Rosenbaum and Ethan Nadelmann. It all came down to a phone call from Ethan, informing us that Soros and the gang were in. After Ethan's call, I called Dennis Peron, on behalf of our group, to tell him we had just raised the $500.000 need to put the initiative on the ballot.

Dennis had just given up and was writing a speech to declare it was all over. Instead of the joyful enthusiasm we were expecting, we found that Dennis was deeply depressed about starting Prop. 215 up again. Chris Conrad, Mikki Norris, Michele Kubby and myself all volunteered to go to SF to talk to Dennis and turn him around and get the initiative moving again.

Many people played important roles in the passage of 215 and much could be said about the importance of their contributions. However, it may be worth noting that only Soros, Lewis, Sperling, Nadelmann and myself received letters from Peron thanking us for our role in the passage of 215.

If anyone deserves credit for the passage of Prop. 215, it should go to Anna Boyce, who was able to get the California Legislature to pass a pre-215 law, TWICE, only to have Governor Pete Wilson veto the new law, twice.

Anna Boyce and Dennis Peron are the official proponents for Prop. 215 and deserve credit as such.

Also, I would be remiss if I did not mention the real driving force behind the success of Prop. 215 should really go to a state official -- someone you would least suspect of playing such a key role.

Just when we had run out of money and were dead in the water, this official stepped forward and, as a direct result of his efforts, our campaign received over a million dollars in just over a month. In a sense, this official is the true "Daddy Warbucks" of the medical marijuana movement and credit for his key role is long overdue.

The mystery official's name? It may surprise you to learn his identity, but the facts should speak for themselves. The number one fundraiser and savior of Prop. 215 was California Attorney General Dan Lungren, whose heavy-handed, armed-assault of our campaign headquarters and dispensary at 1444 Market Street so outraged the nation that even the Rockefellers gave us $50,000.

Enclosed below is the text of my original proposal to [redacted] as well as a copy of Peron's letter to me.

February 7, 1996

Dear [redacted],

Last night, at the SF Buyers' Club, numerous leaders of different factions all joined together to lend their support to the Medical Marijuana Initiative. Even Jack Herer has thrown his support to the initiative. In the past few weeks, media attention has begun to focus on the initiative with stories by 60 Minutes, PBS, Newsweek, and KPIX. CNN will air an hour long feature about marijuana, including medical use, this Sunday, at 9 PM Eastern. Opposition to this initiative is subdued, for now, as the drug warriors scramble to come up with some way to oppose this popular initiative.

Dr. Todd Mikuriya, former head of all federal marijuana research, also spoke last night and summarized new evidence that medical marijuana not only helps a variety of diseases, but actually helps the immune system fight disease and serves as an "immuno-modulator" of auto-immune diseases such as MS and arthritis. As you know, medical marijuana saved my life. I know what it is like to go out on the street, weak and in pain, risking arrest, just to get a medicine that works. Back then, it was just intuition on my part. Now, we have new medical evidence that cannabis is indeed a miracle medicine. What could be more immoral and cruel than to deny sick people this natural herb that now has so many documented, life-giving benefits?

We can still get the Medical Marijuana Initiative on the ballot. The different factions of the movement are uniting. The media and politicians are supporting the initiative. And we still have time. The primary election in March could , if properly organized and financed, mobilize paid staff to gather signatures, all day long, at over 200 statewide precincts. If each precinct turned in just 2,250 signatures, we'd quallify!

[redacted], you possess the resources and political savvy to help take this initiative the distance. [redacted]. Whatever the costs, whatever the effort, it will never be cheaper and we'll never have a better shot than right now. Please, lend your full support to this initiative and "guarantee" its success. Warmest regards,

s/Steve Kubby

[Note: Steve sent the letter he received from Dennis Peron as a .gif image, which I have placed on the web here: http://www.mapinc.org/images/DennisPeronLetter.gif ]

Stevenkubby (talk) 19:33, 21 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Here is the URL from the California Election website that shows Dennis Peron and Anna Boyce as the true proponents of Prop. 215.[[1]].

Stevenkubby (talk) 15:37, 22 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Prop 215 was was at one point at risk. If the required number of signatures was not attained, it could not be on the ballot. Jack Herer endorsed the initiative within the first three months of the campaign kicked off at 1444 Market Street, the notorious Cannabis Buyer's Club which had relocated there from 194 Church Street where it operated under police surveillance (tapes available) since 1994. The original founders of the CBC included myself, Jon Entwhistle, Dennis Peron, Brownie Mary Rathbun, Mary Gennoy, and a host of others each whom worked at a particular task, attending to new members, monitoring the door or the bar, and working in the weighing and packaging room. Others provided product in the form of brownies and other medical treats, including "pills" made of pure marijuana and extra virgin olive oil. I made those, so I can attest to these statements. Although Anna Boyce and Dennis Peron are the official proponents of 215, the early supporters easily numbered in the hundreds, including Scott Imler of Santa Cruz, later LA, Jack Herer, author of The Emperor Wears No Clothes, and Jon Entwistle, acting secretary and then assistant director for Californians for Compassionate Use, a group formed to promote the proposition, as yet unnamed, but to be known as The Compassionate Use Act of 1996 or Proposition 215 on the 1996 California ballot. Steve Kubby was involved in the initiative, but not more so than a dozen others. Perhaps a telephone log of Peron's office phone would provide further evidence of the participants activities.

From my recall, Lynette Shaw was an active organizer who worked to provide support to the meeting mentioned elsewhere in this wiki which resulted in campaign contributions from Zimmerman of The Men's Wearhouse and Soros. The money enabled the signature collectors to be paid an additional 40 cents, from .60 to $1.00. Herer worked in LA, Orange County and Venice Beach primarily but organized petitioners throughout California. Other organizers took charge of collecting signatures in their perspective counties. The depression mentioned re Peron was but a brief moment and in consideration of the fact that to meet the ballot requirements, we may fall short on signatures, lacking ability to organize in all California counties at once. One of the early solutions was to enable an online petition, the first of its kind, that voters could download at home and fill up and return by mail or in person. Many organizers came with ballot innitiatives in person to the campaign headquarters, then 1444 Market Street, though addresses for 3745 17th Street remained active and in use.

It is awkward to list the true names of those who wrote the innitiative. The best chance of getting this information factual is to ask Peron or Entwistle, Dale Geringer, or Todd Mikuryia, all present during the many rewitings of the innitiative which was being written in late 1995 as a follow up to a successful city innitiative in san Francisco, Proposition P, backed and written by Dennis Peron. As I recall, Anna Boyce was a retired nurse from Orange County. Her contribution to the campaign was very inportant to bringing in mainstream voters in the southern part of the state. There is no doubt that she lent her name to the proposition or that she collaborated in the writing and wording of the proposition. Likewise, Jack Herer frequently offered his opinion in person or by phone, as did Dale Geirenger, Todd Mikuriya, Jon Entwistle, and others, unnamed. I can attest to the contribution of and/or which was approved by the Legislative Analyst in Sacramento. The critical importance of each word and the large nuber of contributers to the writing of said document would lead to its success. This was not written overnight, rather over a series of weeks, even several months.

Sadly, Kubby who was among the many very active proponents and signature organizers was busted repeatedly after the propostition passed, and actively campaigned against unjust federal and state laws, asking that the real intent of Prop 215 be noted and upheld.

In summary, there can be but two writers whose names appear on this initiative, Dennis Peron and Anna Boyce. The real writers are not the "movement", but the many activist who were clearly involved in the Cannabis Club and legalization activities from 1994 to Nov. 1996, inclusive of Hazel Rodgers, Mary Gennoy, Jon Entwistle, Wayne Justin, Gilbert Baker, Todd Mikuryia, numerous politicians throughout the United States and of course, California, and celebrities such as Chris Conrad, Snoop Dog, Barbara Streisand, Willie Nelson, Bill Murry, Tommy Chong, Woody Harrelson, myself and untold others.

Jeffrey Bullard June 13, 2011 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.188.118.34 (talk) 03:01, 13 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I was reading the article for basic research and was surprised that, while there's an entire section on the Yes on 215 campaign, there's nothing on the opposition to the proposition. I was hoping to find the dire predictions that people had before the proposition passed, but there's nothing on the page. (please feel free to correct me if there was no No on 215 campaign, but it seems like the kind of issue where there would be an opposition)Bigben987 (talk) 12:17, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Unfortunately, 72.171.0.138 (talk · contribs) appears to have made up a lot of nonsense and added it to this article.[2] As a result, this article needs to be completely rewritten, possibly reduced to a stub. Viriditas (talk) 03:33, 11 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]