If you’re wondering what happened to Prop. 203 after its passage last November, 2010 and its implementation, here’s your chance to learn more.

Panelists will be:

Tom Salow, Manager of the Office of Administrative Counsel and Rules, Arizona Department of Health Services;

Mike Rankin, Tucson City Attorney;

Amelia Craig Cramer, Pima County Attorney’s office;

District 5 Pima County Supervisor Richard Elias;

Andrew Myers, Arizona Medical Marijuana Project.

For more info, contact Addy Bareiss at ACLU of Arizona: abareiss@acluaz.org or call 602-773-6015. Tucson contact is Paul Barby, ACLU-AZ Southern Chapter Board Member, at pmbarby@earthlink.net.

Proposition 203 passed by a margin of 4340 votes in the AZ general election. See results from Sec. of State’s website:
Yes 50.13% 841,348
No 49.87% 837,008

Arizona is the 15th state to approve medical marijuana for people with chronic and debilitating diseases. For more information, including FAQs and current legislative updates on medical marijuana issues, visit: http://stoparrestingpatients.org/home/

http://www.azdhs.gov/medicalmarijuana/

Earthquake Relief Fundraiser
Southern Arizona Association for Japanese Education (SAAJE) is selling limited edition t-shirts for $20 with a message of hope from Tucson to Japan.

100% of the sales will go to the Consulate-General of Japan in Los Angeles for distribution to the affected areas. Click on the SAAJE website here as to how to order the t-shirts (and other ways to help the disaster relief efforts).

The t-shirt image is of Hannya, a traditional Noh theater mask, which refers to “tragic or evil circumstances”, and to the Heart Sutra, which teaches that “understanding and acceptance can triumph over adversity” such as this earthquake/tsunami, which occurred on March 11, 2011.

The top line reads “Be Strong Japan!”, “Be Strong Tohoku! (northern Japan).
The bottom line reads “From Tucson, Arizona”.

Shirts will also be available at:
9th Annual Tucson Japanese Speech Contest
Saturday 4/23 at Pima Community College’s Downtown Campus
12:00 – 5:00pm

The March 11, 2011 9.0 earthquake immediately caused up to 10 meter high tsunami waves which went 6 miles inland, (excerpt below from wiwkipedia). It was probably Japan’s strongest earthquake.

The Japanese National Police Agency has officially confirmed 8,450 deaths,2,701 injured,and 12,909 people missing across eighteen prefectures, as well as over 125,000 buildings damaged or destroyed. The earthquake and tsunami caused extensive and severe structural damage in Japan, including heavy damage to roads and railways as well as fires in many areas, and a dam collapse. Around 4.4 million households in northeastern Japan were left without electricity and 1.5 million without water.Many electrical generators were taken down, and at least three nuclear reactors suffered explosions due to hydrogen gas that had built up within their outer containment buildings. On 18 March, International Atomic Energy Agency Chief Yukiya Amano described the crisis as “extremely serious.” Residents within a 20 km (12 mi) radius of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant and a 10 km (6 mi) radius of the Fukushima II Nuclear Power Plant were evacuated.

And I still haven’t heard any word of 2nd cousins in the Sendai area. My maternal grandparents Chuzo & Chiyo Koseki immigrated to the Trust Territory of Hawaii from the Miyagi Prefecture in 1910. Pray for the victims of this tremendous tragedy and please help if you can.

3/22/11 UPDATE: My 2nd & 3rd cousins & their families are fine, but worried about reports of the radiation levels from the Fukushima nuclear plants. Thank you for those who have expressed concern.