cannabisnews.com: Voting Yes on Prop. 19 Only Way To Regulate
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Voting Yes on Prop. 19 Only Way To Regulate
Posted by CN Staff on October 24, 2010 at 11:12:09 PT
By Nate Bradley
Source: Reporter
CA -- California voters this November will decide on Proposition 19, which legalizes the private-adult possession and use of limited quantities of marijuana, and allows local governments to regulate its commercial production and retail distribution.Proposition 19 is endorsed by a broad range of leading criminal justice, civil rights and religious organizations. These include the National Black Police Association, the California Council of Churches IMPACT, the California National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the California League of United Latin American Citizens, the Latino Voters League, the Progressive Jewish Alliance and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), Western States Council.
These groups, as well as dozens of others, back Proposition 19 because it will impose common-sense regulations and controls to an illicit market that is currently out of control. Only through legalization and regulation can we control who produces marijuana, who distributes it, and where and when it may be lawfully consumed.Marijuana prohibition has created a violent criminal market run by international drug cartels. Proposition 19 will eliminate the involvement of these criminal enterprises, including Mexican drug traffickers, from the California marijuana market.According to a just-released study by the nonpartisan RAND Drug Policy Research Center: "Legalizing marijuana in California would effectively eliminate Mexican DTOs' (drug trafficking organizations) revenues from supplying Mexican-grown marijuana to the California market. ... even with taxes, legally produced marijuana would likely cost no more than would illegal marijuana from Mexico and would cost less than half as much per unit of THC."Thus, the needs of the California market would be supplied by the new legal industry."Proposition 19 is carefully written to promote public safety. It maintains strict criminal penalties for driving under the influence, increases penalties for providing pot to minors and bans its consumption in public, including on school grounds.It also would put police priorities where they belong -- away from targeting adults who use marijuana responsibly and toward targeting violent crime and gang activity.Passage of Proposition 19 will potentially raise billions of dollars in new and desperately needed revenue. Today, California faces historic deficits that could lead to higher taxes and fees for the public and more cuts to vital services. Yet, right now, there are $14 billion in marijuana transactions taking place in California. Proposition 19 enables state and local governments to tax these transactions to fund and preserve vital services. According to the state's tax collector, the Board of Equalization, taxing marijuana like alcohol would generate $1.4 billion in annual revenue -- monies which could fund jobs, health care, public safety, parks, roads, transportation and more.Tens of millions of Californians agree that it is time to change our outdated and failed marijuana policies. Outlawing marijuana hasn't stopped an estimated one in 10 Californians from using marijuana, nor has it reduced the public's access to it. Proposition 19 will control the production and distribution of marijuana, make it harder for kids to get it, weaken the cartels, focus police resources on violent crime and generate billions in revenue and savings.We've tried prohibition. Now let's try common sense. Vote yes on Proposition 19.Nate Bradley, is a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition and a former police officer in Wheatland.Source: Reporter, The (Vacaville, CA)Author:  Nate BradleyPublished: October 24, 2010Copyright: 2010 The ReporterContact: letters thereporter.comWebsite: http://www.thereporter.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/wdZhR6yKCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml 
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Comment #2 posted by firedog on October 24, 2010 at 21:13:23 PT
Oops...
Link got cut off. Here it is in full...http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/24/marijuana-legalisation-california-proposition-19
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Comment #1 posted by firedog on October 24, 2010 at 21:08:59 PT
Prop 19 article from the UK
Enjoy...
From The Guardian
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