cannabisnews.com: Our View on Marijuana: If California Goes To Pot
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Our View on Marijuana: If California Goes To Pot
Posted by CN Staff on October 19, 2010 at 17:51:15 PT
Editorial
Source: USA Today
California -- Supporters of legalizing marijuana make interesting arguments about respecting adults' personal liberty, choking off a major source of drug cartel profits, and saving law enforcement resources for higher priorities.Interesting, but not enough, in our view, to offset the even more compelling reasons why voters in trend-setting California would be wise to reject legalization when they go to the polls Nov. 2.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently signed a law making possession of up to an ounce of marijuana equal to a traffic ticket, but if Proposition 19 passed — and polls suggest it has a decent chance — California would go even further. It would be legal for adults to possess, smoke and grow pot for recreational purposes.What's the harm? More than you might suspect.One key problem is that California, or any other state, can't fully "legalize" marijuana. It would still be an illegal substance under federal law, and Attorney General Eric Holder said last week that he'd make it a priority to arrest and prosecute violators. Not individual users, most likely, but people who tried to grow or sell it in large quantities.Nor would the impact of legalization be confined to the Golden State. A RAND Corp. study suggests that legalizing California crops would slash the cost of pot from some $300-$400 an ounce to as little as a tenth of that, potentially flooding the rest of the nation with cheap supplies and driving up use.Even some Californians sympathetic to the idea of legalization worry that Prop 19 is a flawed vehicle. It would empower the state's hundreds of city and county governments to set their own regulations for growing, selling, using and taxing marijuana. That, as most of the state's leading newspapers have pointed out in editorials opposing the ballot measure, is a recipe for regulatory chaos.More worrisome than tangled bureaucracy, though, are concerns about what legalizing another intoxicant besides alcohol could do to public safety and health. Snipped   Complete Article: http://drugsense.org/url/6EJGGuW3Source: USA Today (US) Published: October 20, 2010Copyright: 2010 USA Today, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.Contact: editor usatoday.comWebsite: http://www.usatoday.com/CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml 
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Comment #13 posted by FoM on October 20, 2010 at 18:48:11 PT
charmed quark
That's great! I'll be looking for your wave! Jon Stewart is really good on Larry King Tonight but he is always good in my opinion.
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Comment #12 posted by charmed quark on October 20, 2010 at 17:42:48 PT
I'll wave
My daughter is insisting I go with her to the rally in DC.I'll wave at you all!
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Comment #11 posted by FoM on October 20, 2010 at 09:50:02 PT
dongenero
I have never seen such off the wall people running for something or another. I am not a witch to Aqua Buddah and everything in between. Crazy stuff.
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on October 20, 2010 at 09:47:43 PT
dongenero and ekim
I am really looking forward to seeing the rally. I will turn on Larry King tonight. Thank you.
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Comment #9 posted by ekim on October 20, 2010 at 09:29:14 PT
Jon Stuart on Larry King tonight-
larry king dir tv ch 202 9pm
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Comment #8 posted by dongenero on October 20, 2010 at 09:02:05 PT
FoM
Me too. I'll be at home holding a sign that says, "I couldn't get a sitter, and have stuff I need to do".I hope they have a big turnout. It would be a relief after a couple years of rallies with imbeciles shouting and brandishing weapons.I always wondered how it was all these Tea Partiers had time to hang around rallies?
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Comment #7 posted by b4daylight on October 20, 2010 at 09:00:17 PT
Yea they got it
1. respecting adults' personal liberty, 
2. choking off a major source of drug cartel profits, and 
3. saving law enforcement resources for higher priorities.Interesting, but not enough1. can't fully "legalize" marijuana. 
2. crops would slash the cost of pot from some $300-$400 an ounce to as little as a tenth of that
3.It would empower the state's hundreds of city and county governments to set their own regulations for growing, selling, using and taxing marijuana.So basically just what we want, cheaper prices, less money to cartels, let cities (the lowest form of government) have their personal freedom. 
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on October 20, 2010 at 08:54:31 PT
dongenero
They are going to broadcast the rally on Comedy Central for those who can't be there. I am looking forward to watching it.http://www.rallytorestoresanity.com/
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Comment #5 posted by dongenero on October 20, 2010 at 08:22:57 PT
another issue with this op-ed
The patchwork of regulation they assert is problematic, is precisely the way alcohol prohibition was lifted as well. This is why some states have 3.2 beer vs unregulated alcohol levels, state liquor stores vs private, why you may see dry counties or dry municipalities next to those that allow alcohol sales.Ah, but the sky is falling. Remember what the conservatives say, you are supposed to be filled with fear of....everything, except what conservative politicians and their apologists desire.Stephen Colbert has a rally expressly for them at the end of this month in DC, heh.http://www.keepfearalive.com/
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Comment #4 posted by dongenero on October 20, 2010 at 08:13:33 PT
Organized crime will reduce prices elsewhere?
"......potentially flooding the rest of the nation with cheap supplies and driving up use."This situation is very similar to the latter stages of alcohol prohibition when New York lifted alcohol prohibition but it remained illegal in most other states. The result, New York was spared much of the notorious organized crime violence that was so prevalent in Chicago and other areas that maintained prohibition.
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Comment #3 posted by museman on October 20, 2010 at 08:13:25 PT
Its obvious
That its all about money, so what are the SQAKs worried about?All they have to do is raise the fines and fees for everything, and they will be raking in about the same amount of illicit income that they have with pot, it's just that they will actually have to work a little harder.Instead of funding more toys for cops, maybe they should fund some workshops like 'donut-eaters anonymous' or yoga classes so the majority can actually get off their fat asses and protect and serve the people instead of the Status Quo. Hiring someone to change the acceptable psych profile on these guys wouldn't hurt any either-like returning to the 'civilian police force' idea instead of the war-trained thugs we are starting to get now.- those guys are a public menace!How about a little focus on learning our rights as humans and citizens, instead of the right of the power elite to arbitrarily toss out the constitution based on the presumed ignorance of the masses-who weren't properly educated in the SQAK institutions?Change is needed all across the political board, and cannabis (and its prohibition,) just by being there and looking good, is providing a good look at what is needed.LEGALIZE FREEDOM
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Comment #2 posted by charmed quark on October 19, 2010 at 18:51:53 PT
flooding the rest of the country with cheap pot?
This sort of fuzzy reasoning is why I sometime fear for our democracy. We need people to be able to think so they can vote and run the country. Apparently, anti-pot rhetoric causes a severe degradation of people's facilities. Perhaps this rhetoric needs to be made schedule 1 to protect us all...Cannabis will be a lot cheaper in California because it will be LEGAL. It will be cheaper to produce and sell because the legal risks will be removed. But in the rest of the country it will still be illegal and the cost of being illegal will still remain. Shipping the cheap California pot out of state will still be expensive because of the risk. Sellers will still jack up the price to compensate for the risk of their arrest.It's sad that even very simple concepts like this can't be understood by people writing in major newspapers
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on October 19, 2010 at 18:02:34 PT
Opposing View on MJ: Prohibition is a Disaster
By Joseph McNamara and Stephen DowningOctober 20, 2010California -- Proposition 19 presents California voters with a simple choice: Continue a policy that has failed completely, causes massive harm and can never work — or say yes to a common-sense approach that destroys a $14 billion black market run by violent thugs and replaces it with a legal, controlled market, all while eliminating enforcement costs and bringing in new tax revenue.As former big-city police officials, we're saying yes to the rational approach that regulates marijuana like alcohol and cigarettes.After decades of marijuana prohibition, with millions of arrests and billions of dollars spent, the results are in. Prohibition is a disaster.SnippedComplete Article: http://drugsense.org/url/vPB0Udr3
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