NORML PAC is pleased to announce its endorsement of Democratic State Senator Connie Johnson in her campaign to be the next United States Senator representing Oklahoma.
“Sen. Johnson has been an outspoken supporter of legalizing marijuana for medical and recreational use during her tenure in the Oklahoma legislature,” stated NORML PAC Manager Erik Altieri. “Few state legislators have rivaled her passion and acumen on marijuana law reform and, if elected, Sen. Johnson would be an invaluable ally in the fight to legalize marijuana nationwide.”
“We encourage Oklahomans to support her campaign and send Sen. Johnson to Washington, D.C. to work toward ending our country’s failed prohibition on marijuana.”
“I’m incredibly thankful for NORML’s endorsement, ” said Sen. Johnson. “After years of stonewalling in the state legislature, I’m taking this fight to the people. It’s time for the people of Oklahoma to speak on this issue.”
Sen. Johnson began circulating a petition in early July to put marijuana legalization and commercialization on the Oklahoma November ballot.
“As taxpayers, we’re spending over $30 million each year policing, jailing, and incarcerating our citizens on marijuana-related offenses—often on simple possession. Yet, marijuana is almost universally available,” Sen. Johnson stated. “It’s time for a smarter approach, particularly in regards to how we spend our taxpayer dollars.”
“We have teacher shortages in Tulsa and Oklahoma City public schools, as well as in our smaller school districts. Why? Because Oklahoma pays teachers some of the lowest salaries in the nation. How many Oklahoma teachers does $30 million a year pay for?”
While serving in the state legislature, Sen. Johnson introduced measures to legalize marijuana for recreational and medical use and has been the outspoken champion of marijuana reform in the Sooner State.
The Oklahoma Democratic Primary will have a runoff election on August 26th. You can click here to check the status of your voter registration and to find your polling place.
To learn more about Sen. Johnson’s campaign, you can view her website here or follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
good luck, cj! by the way, the website link in the article is malformed
It’s not time for a smarter approach on marijuana, Ms. Connie Jackson. After all these horrible years of prohibition, in which the government has terrorized individuals for growing, possessing, or using a plant God created, now is the time to legalize freedom.
In a nation where growing a natural plant on their own property is a crime, the people are slaves.
In a nation where possessing the dried flowers, peacefully and non-violently obtained, the people are slaves.
In a nation where the government controls, under threat of abduction and imprisonment, the right of adults to choose what plant matter they can put into their own body – medically or recreationally – the people are slaves.
In a nation where the founding documents were written on cannabis, the founding fathers personally grew cannabis, and presidents have smoked cannabis, yet the plant is prohibited – the people are slaves.
This is not a matter of intelligence or trying to determine the best solution to our problems. Nor is it a social experiment. This is a desperate push to restore our basic and fundamental right to use any plant God created for any purpose – peaceful and non violent – we see fit so that we can break loose from the chains of prohibition and tyanny in order to finally declare ourselved free.
You go, girl!
Johnson is right on target; tax and regulate and use the revenue to educate. Even if she loses, hitting the target of schools with marijuana revenue will help Democrats with pro marijuana policies everywhere. Especially considering that Coburn wouldnt even create revenue for schools after a tornado destroyed two elementary schools! He actually used the incident as a political opportunity to REFUSE federal funding. He could have gathered corporate sponsors to build shelters. Americans are so sick of Republicans using humanitarian crisis to politically attack Obama instead of DOING their JOB.
Still, Oaklahoma is a socially conservative state, so Johnson needs to tell Oaklahoma that weed is conservative; keep the school theme, just add industrial hemp to the equation; explain that hemp conserves and cleans water contaminated and depleted by fracking. Remind Oaklahomans of the Dust Bowl and 2011; tell them the alternative is to create sustainable jobs while producing soil and conserving water supplies by diversifying crops with drought resistant hemp. Hemp is conservative; it produces twice the protein and fiber than corn or cotton while using less water, no pesticides or herbicides and little fertilizer. Or do we want to do what Republican lawmakers want and wait until the next bug drought so corn ethanol plants shut down and the cost of feed soars?
If Republicans – especially police officers – thought that their access to alcohol would be denied if marijuana prohibition continued, weed would be legalized almost instantly. The number of Republicans in my area that drink is enormous. They need to have it shoved in their heads that a six pack of beer is more dangerous in every way that a gram filled joint of pot. Currently, most of them are ignorant that marijuana has no LD50, has almost zero physical addiction, protects brain cells, causes less impairment than alcohol when someone is driving, and does not cause lung cancer.
Ignorance – although some of it is deliberate – is the number one reason why cannabis prohibition continues.
NORML, have you ever had a campaign urging law enforcement to treat alcohol and pot equally? For example, challenging police to start arresting alcohol purchasers, since it is a far more dangerous drug?
[Editor’s note: NORML sees no upside to protesting lawful alcohol use. Cannabis prohibition is ending in America not because of the obvious hypocrisy in government allowing alcohol sales, but not safer cannabis products. Cannabis prohibition is ending because it is a failed public policy that a majority of the public no longer supports.
It is practically pointless for direct advocacy towards cops/narcs as they almost uniformly oppose any degree of cannabis law reform (even industrial hemp!) and cops don’t make the laws, elected policy makers do.
If you’re not already aware of the Law Enforcement Against Law Enforcement (http://www.leap.cc), this group’s focuses exclusively on trying to recruit more law enforcement professionals to publicly support ending cannabis prohibition. Their work is important and worthy of refomers’ support.]
A real desire for drug law reform from a political figure in Oklahoma? Well, I guess there is hope for our cause after all if an uber-conservative state like Oklahoma is home to a viable reformer!
Her petition was nothing more than a political ploy. She refused to surrender the collected signatures to be turned in to the Secretary of State and won’t even tell the volunteers who collected signatures how many signatures she withheld. The volunteers turned in what signatures they still had to the Secretary of State but Johnson’s people never showed. They entered the withheld signatures into a data base for her campaign use.
NORML should really pull its endorsement over Johnson’s withholding petition signatures from the Secretary of State.
Oklahoma was last state to legalize tattooing…why would any one think it wants to offend the Bible belt legalizing what most grew up to be labeld….loco weed
I only pray they will…reality check themselves…it’s a naturally grown herb…that our Lord created.