Recently in Arizona a ballot initiative was introduced to put the issue of Medical Marijuana on the November 2010 Ballot. Arizona has passed medical marijuana initiatives two other times in 1996 and 1998. Unfortunately the language in these previous ballot initiatives was poorly worded so they were never instituted. Fast forward over 20 years and with the help of the Marijuana Policy Project a new ballot initiative is on the table.
Arizona Medical Marijuana Act
Arizona has a long tradition of using ballot initiatives and you need 153,365 valid signatures to put a ballot measure up for vote. When this measure was introduced a month ago I signed up to gather signatures and went through the training and was basically turned loose to round up as many signatures as I could for $1.00 per name. As long as I keep a 65% rate of registered voters I'll be paid for all my names.
So my life as a petition gatherer started and I approached this as a job that I feel passionate about since I'm really an advocate for medical marijuana (as well as the full monty -- full legalization). My strategy is to collect the most valid signatures, educate the public about the ballot initiative and have fun. With these modest goals I decided to concentrate my efforts in front of libraries which welcome petition gatherers with open arms. Also the summer heat of Tucson is overwhelming and outside of libraries are shaded areas with benches for relief from the suffocating heat.
I bought a cheap table at Walgreens and made a really nice sign that was colorful and informative and as a prop I have a huge papier mache marijuana seed. I'm pretty sure this is the world's largest papier mache seed in the world from my search off Google images so it's really an ice breaker with the public. I set up my table with a folding chair and wait for people to approach me when they see my marijuana themed display. I wear my local chapter NORML shirt with a marijuana Mardi Gras necklace and I really present a friendly and approachable "storefront". Now I just kick back and let people approach me and I've been very successful.
I have found the overwhelming majority of people are more than happy to sign my petition and think the whole issue of medical marijuana as a no brainer. I've had folks from college-aged to senior citizens enthusiastically sign my petition and thank me for doing my civic duty collecting signatures. I never once try to reel people in since it's always easier to obtain signatures when people come over to your table on their own.
Since Tucson has so many libraries I making the circuit and setting up in front of different branches. I was at one branch on Friday that is a retirement community of Green Valley. One of the signers called Green Valley "God's waiting room" which is pretty fitting since the average age is probably 65 from what I saw working a two hour shift. The seniors in this community are very civic minded and are all registered voters so I was scoring a very good number of signatures during my shift.
You want to experience democracy in action I highly recommend you work gathering petitions. Since I'm a retired librarian I found this to be an easy transition from my other career and I answered lots of questions including time of day, where to find a Coke machine and directions to various retail stores in the vicinity.
I talked to several other petition gatherers who were using this as their full-time job because they need the work. MPP is committed to spending two million dollars on this initiative and this will help Arizona's economy in the short term as well as the long term once the ballot passes which I'm confident it will.