Arizona chamber CEO: There’s ‘no upside’ to recreational marijuana

Glenn Hamer photo
Glenn Hamer speaks at an event hosted by the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry in Phoenix. (Photo by Gage Skidmore/Flickr via Creative Commons)

By Lauren del Valle
@News21

Posted: June 11, 2015

PHOENIX – The leader of one of Arizona’s most influential business groups on Thursday laid out his opposition to possible 2016 ballot initiatives to legalize recreational marijuana.

Glenn Hamer, president and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said he and the group came to the decision after “careful consideration of the experiences of other states.”

“Do Arizona voters want to make a major policy change that really only (affects) people who want to get high, and yet comes with such far-reaching implications for the rest of our society?” Hamer said in a release. “And keep in mind that today’s pot is not the same potency that was at Woodstock. Today’s marijuana contains over four times the THC that was in the pot of the 1960s and ‘70s.”

In April, the Marijuana Policy Project launched one of the initiatives, “Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol,” to put the issue on the 2016 ballot. The initiative requires 150,000 signatures by July 7, 2016, to become a ballot measure.

More than 20,000 people have signed the petition thus far – and it’s only been circulating for three weeks, campaign spokesman Barrett Marson said. He said the campaign expects more than 200,000 signatures.

“It in no way changes anything,” Marson said of the chamber’s opposition. “We are moving forward business as usual.”

He added that it’s a long campaign, that “it’s 18 months until people start voting.”

Barrett said the initiative would bring in millions of dollars into the state coffers if passed.

“Marijuana is out there,” Marson said. “The sales are going on today, right this minute. Marijuana is on the street. The idea here is to regulate it, to tax it, so that people understand what’s going on.”

The initiative is modeled after Colorado’s recreational marijuana program.

The chamber based its opposition on a recent study released by the Arizona Chamber Foundation, which conducts research for the chamber. While the analysis examines both the pros and cons of several state programs, it stresses the negatives regarding Colorado’s recreational industry like unmet tax revenue projections and the continuing presence of medical marijuana and the black market.

Arizona’s chamber is not the first of its kind to publicly oppose the legalization movement. The Colorado Association of Business and Industry and various chapters of the association opposed legalization despite the legislation’s ultimate success at the ballot box.

Florida’s chamber of commerce joined the opposition to the medical marijuana legislation that failed there in November 2014. California and Michigan chambers of commerce also announced their opposition against the similar legalization efforts expected to appear on the ballots in 2016.

The Arizona Republican Party said it opposes the efforts and will fund campaigns to defeat the legalization initiative.

A recent Rocky Mountain Poll conducted by the Behavior Research Center indicated 53 percent of Arizona residents surveyed favor legalization.

“There will always be individuals who want to get high, and many will figure out a way to do so,” Hamer said in a statement. “But Arizona should not calibrate a sweeping, untested public policy effort around them.”

Follow Lauren Del Valle on Twitter at @Lauren_delValle