Lloyd Ringrose has never smoked marijuana. Not even a hit. Yet, he is trying to legalize the substance.
After two and a half months sitting outside the Minnehaha County Courthouse with a stack of clipboards and petition sheets, Ringrose has collected the names of nearly 1,000 South Dakotans willing to let voters decide if the state should legalize medical marijuana.
A signature on Ringrose’s petition only helps put the measure on the 2010 ballot. For many, agreeing that the issue should go to a public vote is the same as an endorsement of the drug.
Six months ago, someone asked Ringrose to sign the medical cannabis petition. He flatly refused.
“I tuned them out as soon as I heard the word ‘marijuana,’” Ringrose said. “People feel very strongly about this issue one way or the other. There aren’t a lot of fence-sitters … not a lot of people who don’t already have an opinion.”
The 44-year-old describes himself as “politically conservative,” and he looks it. He’s short and nondescript, wears tinted prescription glasses and keeps his graying brown hair neatly parted. He looks more like a couch potato than an activist, but he’s practically a career petitioner.
He’s helped to push plenty of potentially contentious issues into the public consciousness for 20 years, beginning in his home state of California. There aren’t many issues he wouldn’t fight for–except abortion, which he staunchly opposes.
Ringrose began to rethink his position on the topic of medical marijuana after learning that a neighbor with multiple sclerosis smoked pot to ease the pain.
When that neighbor offered Ringrose his pipe a few weeks back, he politely declined and said he would happily accept a shot of brandy from a nearby decanter.
“I’m a goody two shoes, you know? I like to obey the rules,” he said. “One guy told me, ‘You just want to get high.’ It’s ironic as heck.”
He’s been surprised at the number of people willing to sign in what is commonly considered a pretty conservative part of the country.
Ringrose grew up in Marino Valley, Calif., 50 miles outside Los Angeles. He now considers Sioux Falls his hometown. He moved here in 1994 after “Money” magazine named the city America’s number one place to live.
Earlier this year he worked a petition to guarantee the right to vote by secret ballot. That’s how he found out about the move to legalize medical marijuana in South Dakota.
Now Ringrose is circulating the petition on behalf of the South Dakota Coalition for Compassion and the South Dakota Safe Access Act.
South Dakotans defeated an initiative to legalize the medicinal use of marijuana in 2006. Advocates came close, but ultimately fell short, collecting 48 percent of the vote.
Now supporters need 16,776 valid signatures of registered voters by April 6 for a second try in 2010.
When he’s not circulating petitions, Ringrose works as a substitute teacher and security guard. He won’t say how much he makes to collect signatures, or even if he gets paid.
He sits outside the Minnehaha County Courthouse or Sioux Falls library several days a week for hours at a time. Ringrose prefers the courthouse for its traffic flow, which he calls the best in the city for his purposes.
“If I could, I’d be doing this in front of Target,” Ringrose said. “I would get as many signatures in two hours as I get here all day.”
He aims for 100 signatures for a full day – roughly, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“That’s my goal. If I get any less than that, I’m really not satisfied,” he said.
Ringrose is persistent without being pushy, with a voice that’s rehearsed without sounding phony. It’s an intelligent delivery, which seems to work.
He begins by asking the passerby if they are registered to vote. If so, “would they like to sign a petition?”
On a recent Thursday afternoon, several stopped or paused to hear his pitch.
“We’re trying to get this bill on the ballot,” Ringrose begins. “What this would do is change the law in South Dakota to allow for the medicinal use of cannabis. It would allow doctors to give it to patients with cancer, AIDS, MS. This just puts it on the ballot.”
He purposefully uses the word “cannabis.” The moment he says “marijuana,” he said, some simply tune him out.
In November, the American Medical Association helped boost the cause when it affirmed the therapeutic benefits of cannabis and called for further research. Studies have shown the drug to aid in the treatment of multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, HIV, spinal cord injuries and cancer.
Lately Ringrose been playing what he calls “the chemotherapy card,” but he says he has to be careful. Occasionally, he encounters someone who’s been through treatment.
“Don’t talk to me about chemo,” they’ll say.
“I know then I’ve touched a nerve,” Ringrose said. “So I’m just careful how I play that card.”
Though Ringrose has been called a “pothead” and “cracked,” he rarely takes a response personally. It takes a lot to rattle him, which he attributes in part to four years living abroad in China.
Upon discovering the nature of Ringrose’s petition, an occasional passerby will immediately hop on a soapbox. Ringrose simply rides it out.
“I’m willing to listen to a point. If they drone on and on, I lose patience,” he said.
One man, a retired cop, told Ringrose he wouldn’t sign because he scrapes too many dead bodies off the streets. Others reach for the pen as soon as they hear the word “cannabis.” Some talk about doing it “back in the day.” Ringrose doesn’t comment much or become too involved. Of the people who stop and talk to him, he estimates about half actually sign.
“Most people aren’t going to sign to put something on the ballot that they don’t agree with. I wouldn’t. Some people just don’t care – they’ll sign anything to put it on the ballot. Some people won’t sign anything,” he said.
Of the people in that category, Ringrose figures some are concerned about identity theft; others feel like if they sign one, they have to sign them all.
His views the cannabis issue through a conservative lens. He says he supports the Obama administration’s move to allow states to regulate the legalization of medical marijuana, rather than the federal government.
“I’m a big states’ rights person,” he said.
Ringrose is careful to stress that he’s not a pot smoker. His own health has worsened and his views on medicinal marijuana have changed, but he’s still not considering taking up the habit.
“I wouldn’t absolutely 100 percent rule it out, but it’s not something I’m giving serious consideration to at the moment,” he said. “I’m not there yet.”
Jamie Gibson can be reached at gibson.jamiecamille@gmail.com.
Banner Photo: Stock
