Supporters of legalizing recreational marijuana in Arizona kicked off their “Yes on Prop 205” campaign Thursday — the same day the Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan affirmed they had officially gathered enough signatures to put the issue on the November ballot.
The campaign collected an estimated 177,258 signatures, Reagan said, more than the needed 150,642.
Advocates of the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Campaign came together Thursday to talk about why they support the measure. They included a local doctor, a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent, and Lisa Olson, a mother of five with multiple sclerosis (MS). She said marijuana has helped her shed all her MS drugs.
While Olson uses pot medicinally, she thinks it should be available to all adults.
“It’s a gentle, loving plant, that has healing properties. And I never would have believed it had I not walked through my own life experience that brought me to this place,” she said. “I probably would have been on the side of Bill Montgomery.”
Olson was taking about the Maricopa County Attorney, who is one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit trying to block recreational pot from the November ballot. The case is set to go before a Maricopa County Superior Court judge Friday.
