Medical marijuana has become a major issue in the Democratic primary for Attorney General in Oregon– and the candidates have staked out starkly different positions on the issue, with former judge Ellen Rosenblum supportive of patients’ right to safe and legal access to medical marijuana, and former Interim US Attorney Dwight Holton sharply critical of the program. With no Republican having filed for the office, the winner of the Democratic primary will be the state’s next Attorney General, and the fate of Oregon’s medical marijuana program may hang in the balance. Oregon’s voting is done entirely by mail. Ballots went out on April 27 and must be posted by May 15.
Drug Policy Action, a driving force behind the initiative that first legalized medical marijuana in Oregon in 1998, has thrown its support behind the Rosenblum campaign.
Jill Harris, Managing Director of Strategic Initiatives for Drug Policy Action, who grew up in Eugene, issued the following statement:
“Drug Policy Action supports Ellen Rosenblum for Attorney General because she supports the rights of Oregonians who are medical marijuana patients to have safe and legal access to their medicine. Oregon voters approved the medical marijuana law 14 years ago, and it should be respected.
“Drug Policy Action worked with local activists to pass the Medical Marijuana law back in 1998. We are now acting to protect the law from a candidate who poses a major threat to it.
“Dwight Holton’s hostility to this landmark Oregon law is unacceptable. As a federal prosecutor and as a candidate for attorney general, Holton has made it clear that he does not respect Oregon’s medical marijuana patients and providers. We will not stand by and let Holton seize a new platform to undermine and attack a program that Oregon voters passed and continue to strongly support.”
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