I’m NORML’s Deputy Director, a Californian, and a parent. This why I told my local newspaper that I’m voting ‘yes’ on Proposition 19.
Why you should say ‘yes’ to Proposition 19
Seventy-eight years ago this November, Californians overwhelmingly voted to repeal a morally, socially, and economically failed public policy — alcohol prohibition. Voters did not wait for the federal government to act; they took matters into their own hands.
On Nov. 2, California voters have an opportunity to repeat history and repeal an equally bankrupt public policy — marijuana prohibition.
California lawmakers criminalized the possession and cultivation of marijuana in 1913, some 24 years before Congress enacted similar prohibitions federally. Yet today some 3.3 million Californians acknowledge using pot regularly, and the Golden State stands alone as the largest domestic producer of the crop. Self-evidently, marijuana is here to stay. The question is: What is the most pragmatic and effective way to deal with this reality?
Proposition 19 — which legalizes the adult possession of limited quantities of marijuana in private, and allows local governments to regulate its commercial production and retail distribution — offers voters a sound alternative to the inflexible and failed strategies of the past. The measure acknowledges that adults should not be legally punished for their private use of a substance that is objectively safer than alcohol or tobacco, while simultaneously enacting common sense controls regarding who can legally consume it, distribute it, and produce it.
Critics of Prop. 19 … express concerns that passage of this initiative will lead to increased marijuana use and send a mixed message to children. Both arguments are specious at best.
Virtually any Californian who wishes to obtain or consume marijuana can already do so, and it is unlikely that adults who presently abstain from pot will cease doing so simply because certain restrictions on its prohibition are lifted. Further, it must be acknowledged that unlike alcohol, marijuana is incapable of causing lethal overdose, is relatively nontoxic to healthy cells and organs, and its use is not typically associated with violent, aggressive, or reckless behavior. Why then are we so worried about adults consuming it in the privacy of their own home?
Critics’ concerns regarding marijuana and youth are also not persuasive. Young people already report that they have easier access to illicit marijuana than they do legal beer or cigarettes. Why? It is because the production and sale of these latter products are regulated and legally limited to a specific age group. As a result teen use of cigarettes, for example, has fallen to its lowest levels in decades while, conversely, young people’s use of cannabis is rising. In short, it’s legalization, regulation, and public education — coupled with the enforcement of age restrictions — that most effectively keep mind-altering substances out of the hands of children.
Further, a regulated system of cannabis legalization will make it easier, not harder, for parents and educators to rationally and persuasively discuss this subject with young people. Many parents who may have tried pot during their youth (or who continue to use it occasionally) will no longer perceive societal pressures to lie to their children about their own behaviors. Rather, just as many parents presently speak to their children openly about their use of alcohol — instructing them that booze may be appropriate for adults in moderation, but that it remains inappropriate for young people — legalization will empower adults to talk objectively and rationally to their kids about marijuana.
The Bottom line? For nearly 100 years in California the criminal prohibition of marijuana has fueled an underground, unregulated, black market economy that empowers criminal entrepreneurs while having no tangible effect on the public’s access to pot or their use of it. A “yes” vote on Prop. 19 is a first step toward allowing lawmakers and regulators to seize control of this illegal commercial market and turn it over to licensed business. A “no” vote continues to abdicate command of this market to criminal gangs and drug traffickers.
The choice is up to us.
I say YES
It is our time and choices
GOD BLESS AMERICA
The Land of the Free and the Brave
I am not a Californian, but I am pretty geeked about the upcoming election. A yes vote on 19 would be a major step in clearing the path for the rest of the states to follow. The feds are going to have a hissy fit. Fuck the ONDCP, DEA and all the past slimeball drug czars. History will judge them harshly. I hope legalization eats at them
Thank you Mr. Armentano for talking about hemp and cannabis with truth, honesty and compassion.
The choice is up to us!
http://www.jayselthofner.com/wordpress/
I seriously hope that Prop. 19 passes. I personally believe this will be the first stepping stone to a NATIONAL legalization of Marijuana, just as it did during alcohol prohibition. We can only hope that enough people see the light and vote “YES” on Prop. 19.
Good Luck california…hope Nov.3 makes history. peace and go vote!!!
to help the sick people who need there medicine.
i wish i could go vote in cali. i wish i could go rally in DC. im stuck in utah. i have a question though. the people who are anti-pot taht are in power, when it passes, whats next, a law on being high in public? a fine, or what? mgiht sound like a dumb question to some as far as how well cali is doing on changing the laws on it. but im in utah where it doesnt look like its changing any time soon.
well said…Ziggy Marley appeaered on MSNBC Dylan Ratigan Show last week and also articulated our fight very well hitting on all cogent point, even pushing the total agricultural economic benefits of Marijuana. We are on the precipice of major reform, and we have to seize this moment. I want it so bad for our country. THIS PLANT COULD BE A GAME CHANGER FOR AMERICA. Think of the industry that is ready to go right here in this country. Not just the fine quality flower but textiles, bio fuel, paper, food,, it’s right there for us and we are screwed by Anslinger and Hearsts greed and religious rhetoric from 70 years ago.
Good Luck California, WE’RE WITH YOU DUDES
Very well stated argument in favor of Prop 19.
We cannot wait (forever?) for the Federal government to break their inertial logjam and actually repeal Prohibition 2.0 and the War on Drugs. There are countless patients to treat and heal, countless “criminals” to liberate from prisons, and countless victims of the drug cartel wars to save from certain death for this insanity to continue.
No (or very few) politicians will touch upon the re-legalization of cannabis, and yet a simple Federal legislative act with minimal negative budgetary impact could do so much to stimulate this country’s economic stagnation and bring many new jobs, new industries, and tax revenues. All of this, and we haven’t even begun to discuss the positive economic impact of re-legalizing hemp, impacting even more renewable green technology industries.
Well, if the Federal government cannot or will not move off the dime, it is up to the States themselves, with California leading the way. Exactly how many States must enact Medical Marijuana laws before our obviously cowardly, bought-and-paid-for Federal politicians decide that Prohibition 2.0 isn’t such a great idea — 25, 30, or more than 66%, like a Constitutional Amendment? Do the Crony Corporate interests hold that much sway over our Federal government?
Voting YES on Prop 19 in California isn’t just about re-legalizing cannabis. It’s about States Rights overruling Federal mandates. It’s also about a return to the rule of law, personal freedom, individual liberty, and civil rights trumping the tyranny of a Federalized police state. Even if Californians don’t use cannabis, they should still be interested in their Constitutional rights. And jobs, did I mention jobs? Vote YES on Prop 19.
I can’t wait to see what happens, especially since I am not from Cali.
This will pass, I think it is obvious. Firstly, it will be interesting to see what the Fed does when it passes. And it will be interesting to see if the “stoners against prop 19” are correct. I have not made up my mind, and I can see merit in both arguments for and against prop 19 by pro-legalization folk. Unfortunately, there is a lack of dialog and discussion on both sides. Both seem dismissive, and I have yet to see an honest and calm discussion about prop 19 by those who both support and not but who are all pro-pot.
Here’s what I argue though without getting into the actual issues, which I am admittedly not familiar enough with to have an opinion either way: Laws can always be changed/fixed once passed. Prop 19 is a state law, not a federal law, so other states can do it better. So even if Cali blew it and gave too much power to the state, it at least paves the way for other states to do it better.
Thus, I support CHANGE, thus I support prop 19 in theory, but I definitely do not support the actual legislation written in prop 19.
Good luck Californians, you have a tough choice. Vote with your heart and godspeed.
a yes on prop 19 will be good for us califorians and a good leg to stand on, giving us a chance to turn our fiscal problems around. not only that, but it will help clear a path for the rest of the states to follow and help make it legally across the whole country, and help with their fiscal problems. someone has to stand up with a loud voice and demand what we need, what we want, it’s about dam time too.
I am calling for a pray dat this sat 12.00 pm your time pac.cen or easten high noon this will give falks a chans to pray 3 time if they wish pray for prop 19 pass pray for the ending of the killing in mexico
I’m voting yes – because – prohibition violates my Constitution. It’s just that simple.