The Palace Flophouse: Marijuana Will Be Legalized in 2012, Oregon Ready or Not

Hollywood, CA – Polished newsmen with their cheeks blushing pink and eyes gently carved with mascara scurried around the driveway at the Law Offices of Bruce Margolin last Tuesday night beneath overhead billboard EXPRESS advertisements lit by the setting sun on Sunset Boulevard.

It’s the Yes on 19 celebration hosted by California NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. A seven-foot wooden fence divided the media tent and the party itself. “No cameras on this side; no medicine on this side,” Amanda Rain Bazel, the Coordinator of the Steering Committee explained to media. She says it’s not good PR for the campaign to show the plant itself or people using it, even for medical purposes. You especially can’t show the campaign leaders sharing a joint, but cameramen and curious reporters loomed like paupers at the edge of fence waiting for their chance.

Between 9 and 10 pm all the major networks broke the news: Marijuana Defeated! By 10:30 the media was packing up, but, on the other side of the fence nothing had changed—the party billowed.

"They got the proposition on the ballot; they got 46% of voters to support it, and two years from now, they’ll get it passed," stated Bruce Margolin, Esq., unphased by the defeat. "And, Proposition 19 was more of a draft; it had lots of problems. Many cannabis activists saw the writing as obtuse and ignorant of important topics."

For example, Proposition 19 allows for 25-square feet of personal growth but does not set forth larger commercial guidelines, which will cast commercial growers and law enforcement into the same gray-zone that they currently occupy.

Now it’s become a zeitgeist. Legalize Marijuana is on the lips of the whispering wind across the entire Western United States. On November 3^rd, the day after Prop 19 was defeated, the Colorado Marijuana Legalization 2012 campaign launched. The City of Boulder has already legalized it; the state will likely follow suit in 2012.

In 2012, the presidential election will bring out the big money as well. Prop 19 was hustled through the system grassroots-style by a very influential commercial grower from Oakland named Richard Lee. Now that he can guarantee 46% backing, gathering financial support will significantly easier.

That’s two states: California and Colorado. What about Oregon? What about Washington?

They’ll be there. But, as usual, they’re going at their own pace. Portland’s very own Green Goddess appeared in Hollywood for the party although her own marijuana initiative—OR Prop 74—was on the Oregon ballot that same evening. She believes that CA should be looking to OR. “Oregon is going to take the precedence because 74 would allow research and development of medical marijuana, which is currently illegal,” she explains. “It must first be respected as a medication,” she said, stretching the word to highlight California’s negligence of that particular view while standing in Attorney Margolin’s dim-lit office as Jackson Browne’s Doctor My Eyes played to the hazy patio-party outside.

* Portland's Green Goddess (right), "420 Comic" Jeffrey Peterson (middle) and the Sin City Kity (left) in Attorney Margolin's office during the party.

The Green Goddess was joined by Washington activist Sin City Kity and California’s very own “420 Comic” Jeffrey Peterson. They stumbled over themselves to articulate who exactly is making the big moves. The Green Goddess made it clear that, “It doesn’t matter what California does,” Oregon will continue to operate on “The next level”. Sin City Kity agrees, turns and says, “Now let’s go smoke it up Goddess-style, woman.” They depart for the patio, where cameras are not allowed.

The topic also stretches beyond Portland’s Saturday Market, beyond shower stalls in the Eugene dorms, beyond the Cannabis Clubs of Oakland or the Venice Beach Boardwalk. The presidents of Mexico, Costa Rico and Columbia all raised qualms with Proposition 19 and the confusing effects that it would have on the international war on drugs. After considering the murky criminal outcomes of Prop 19, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos asks, “Isn’t it time to revise the global strategy towards drugs?”

Long Time west coast cannabis activist Twista Jaye—the only name he uses—sees it as a “tipping point”. The country is on the brink of economic doom, the environment is suffering, quality of life is pitiful and the 2012 election is just around the corner. The only question now is which horse will take the inside track on that final stretch? Will it be California? Will it be Oregon? Or will it be South Dakota on a 30-1 longshot? You never can tell.

Twista Jaye arrived at the Yes on 19 party in the early afternoon. The Coordinator, Ms. Bazel, informed him that the party wasn’t set to begin until 7pm. He asked if he could be put to work.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

“Twista Jaye.”

“Oh,” she said with a smirk, “I’ve got a job for you.” She handed him a brown paper bag with the top neatly folded.

He took the bag with confidence. “Do you have any papers?”

The party lasted until the early morning and is still continuing today in various discrete locations across America.