What’s being billed as a town hall meeting on marijuana policy is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Tuesday at the Boise State University Student Union Building. The forum will include some influential figures with differing perspectives on the pot legalization.
Speakers include a pro-marijuana blogger, a pro-marijuana radio personality, someone from the Idaho State Police and Elisha Figueroa - the head of the governor’s Office for Drug Policy.
During last year’s legislative session, Figueroa led the campaign against making it legal for children with severe epilepsy to use a treatment derived from cannabis.
Another one of the speakers, Boise State criminal justice professor Cody Jorgensen, says having Figueroa there is significant.
“With policy makers there, with the police there, with the Drug Tsar there, it’s going to lend credibility to the event,” Jorgensen says. “You know, it’s not just a bunch of hippy potheads there talking about wanting to toke up and play in drum circles.”
Figueroa says she agreed to participate because organizers promised a balanced discussion. The event is organized by Students for Sensible Drug Policy with support from New Approach Idaho, a group that is trying to get medical marijuana legalization on Idaho’s ballot next November.
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