Is Prop 19 Bad For California?
Joe | Aug 21, 2010 | Comments 6
An article was posted yesterday on The San Francisco Chronicle website, one which was basically a laundry list of things opponents of CA Prop 19 say are wrong with the measure. It is so full of lies and half-truths that to comment on them all would take a 5,000 word article. So I will just point out the most egregious errors.
“Drugged driving” incidents are on the rise, and this initiative does not establish standards for driving under the influence of marijuana. Law enforcement will have very little recourse to keep those drugged drivers off the road.
Transit drivers and everyday commuters will be able to drive while under the influence of marijuana. That fact alone should be enough to oppose this measure.
This is blatantly false. The same laws against driving under the influence of drugs will apply in California under the passage. This is fear-mongering at its worst. Consider this from the language of the measure:
2. This Act is not intended to affect the application or enforcement of the following state laws relating to public health and safety or protection of children and others: Health and Safety Code sections 11357 [relating to possession on school grounds]; 11361 [relating to minors as amended herein]; 11379.6 [relating to chemical production]; 11532 [relating to loitering to commit a crime or acts not authorized by law]; Vehicle Code section 23152 [relating to driving while under the influence]; Penal Code section 272 [relating to contributing to the delinquency of a minor]; nor any law prohibiting use of controlled substances in the workplace or by specific persons whose jobs involve public safety.
The author of the Chronicle article also somehow argues that legalization will be good for the drug cartels.
The truth is the production and distribution of marijuana is already big business and controlled by violent drug cartels. Should this initiative pass, the cartels are well positioned and eagerly awaiting a greatly expanded marketplace. We need only look at the violence occurring among warring drug cartels along our border with Mexico to imagine what California might experience.
This paragraph shows an incredible lack of economic and social knowledge. Besides the fact that the “marketplace” will not greatly expand, the drastic drop in prices will cut the cartels out of the business as corporations who can produce cannabis better and cheaper move in and take over the market. And lastly I will mention this claptrap:
Then there are the social and health costs. Law enforcement officers see countless emergency room cases where drugs containing anything from pesticides to rat poison have been known to cause severe health problems, yet Prop. 19 offers no regulation, standardization or oversight to ensure safe, nontoxic marijuana would be sold, packaged or distributed. Because marijuana is addicting and people do seek treatment for it, increased use will lead to increased addiction and increased treatment costs. These costs would outweigh any potential revenue derived.
Not only doesn’t cannabis use lead to more ER visits, there is no evidence that it is addicting, and the majority people who “seek treatment” for it are forced to by the courts; a problem that will be remedied once marijuana is legal.
The lies of our opponents show their desperation. They know that Prop 19 has the momentum, and they know that if we work united, they can’t stop us.
Filed Under: Activism • Exclusive Web Content • Politics • The War On Drugs
Medical Marijuana Clinic Owners are selling Marijuana at a SUPER HIGH get rich Prices. The Clinic owners are going around telling people to vote no on Prop 19. These owners are only interested in their own Big profits. If PROP 19 passes, Marijuana will be much cheaper. What the Medical Marijuana Clinics charge $300.00 for , will be like $60.00 or less in a legal market. Why would anyone pay $300.00 for a bag of Marijuana from a Medical Clinic—when they could buy the same bag for $60.00 at the corner store/coffee shop? VOTE YES ON PROP 19 and get your MEDS for cheap.
To say that Proposition 19 is bad for California is patently false! To say that Cannabis plant does not have medicinal properties is the same as to say that the Earth is flat. The whole Nation should unite behind the CA Proposition 19, as the only Way under the circumstances, the only Way towards eventual abolition of this horrible and idiotic prohibition and towards stopping the brutal “drug war”!
People are ignorant. Fortunately majority will pass this and it becomes law as of Nov. 3rd. So don’t worry about it, and be patient
. Even the doctor posted here below.. I don’t see why clinic owners are tripping really. I don’t see the prices going down on premium smoke. Premium smoke has a monopoly. Not everyone can afford the Co2 tanks, the lighting, the premium genetics, etc. Good pot takes good horticultural skills. Not just any newbie can say “Welp I am going to invest $3000 into a 5×5 grow” and expect to turn out buds that beat storefront quality the first go around. These guys who operate the storefronts are already deeply established in the industry, and will have the edge of their businesses to benefit them when this passes.
Pragmatic libertarians (minimal-statists) and “true” Conservatives agree that many, if not most, of society’s problems are caused by government usurping choices that could better be made by individuals and that government is just about the worst way of doing almost anything. Where libertarianism normally parts company with “fake” conservatism is over moral issues. But a true conservative would have no problem with agreeing, that what people do with their own bodies, and especially in the privacy of their own home, should be supremely their business, and that anything else would entail ignoring the basic tenet of limited government.
Fake-Conservatism on the other hand has much in common with socialism; Both Leftists and Fake-Conservatives appear to harbor the belief that nature does not exist and that any human can be anything he wants to be, or can for the “greater good”, be “re-educated” into being. Leftists therefore think little boys can be conditioned into preferring dolls over toy soldiers, and similarly Fake-conservatives believe that adults can be coerced into choosing alcohol over marijuana. A true conservative, just like a pragmatic libertarian, would immediately reject both ideas as nonsense.
The war on drugs is a tale of a once great and free nation which fell down a rat hole into a fantasy world riddled with peculiar and dystopian logic. Based on the unalterable proviso that drug use is essentially an unstoppable and ongoing human behavior which has been with us since the dawn of time, any serious reading on the subject of past attempts at any form of drug prohibition would point most normal thinking people in the direction of sensible regulation.
By its very nature, prohibition cannot fail but create a vast increase in criminal activity, and rather than preventing society from descending into anarchy, it actually fosters an anarchic business model – the international Drug Trade. Any decisions concerning quality, quantity, distribution and availability are then left in the hands of unregulated, anonymous and ruthless drug dealers, who are interested only in the huge profits involved. Thus, the allure of this reliably and lucrative industry, with it’s enormous income potential that consistently outweighs the risks associated with the illegal operations that such a trade entails, will remain with us until we are collectively forced to admit the obvious.
Because Drug cartels will always have an endless supply of ready cash for wages, bribery and equipment, no amount of tax money, police powers, weaponry, wishful thinking or pseudo-science will make our streets safe again. Only an end to prohibition can do that! How much longer are we willing to foolishly risk our own survival by continuing to ignore the obvious, historically confirmed solution?
Why on earth does anyone think it’s acceptable to want to control certain behaviors, such as the bedroom habits or choice of poison of fully grown adults? Isn’t it high time we evolved enough to get past this crap? Debating whether a particular drug is harmless or not is missing the whole point. are drugs dangerous? I simply don’t care. If another adult wants to destroy their lives with drugs such as alcohol, tobacco, heroin or meth thats their business, not anybody else’s. Their lives aren’t ours to direct. Surely we need to accept, that the only way to truly be free, is that you agree, in return, to allow other people to be free, even if it offends your personal sensibilities. What’s more; if it’s not directly hurting you and you forbid it, then you can be sure that it will create unforeseen circumstances, which WILL have an adverse affect on YOUR wellbeing! — Actually, a large proportion of those arising circumstances may not come as such a surprise to those of us who are capable of paying due attention to historical precedent.
If you support prohibition then you’ve not only a socialist or fake-conservative, you’ve also helped trigger the worst crime wave in history.
If you support prohibition you’ve a helped create a black market with massive incentives to hook both adults and children alike.
If you support prohibition you’ve helped to make these dangerous substances available in schools and prisons.
If you support prohibition you’ve helped raise gang warfare to a level not seen since the days of alcohol bootlegging.
If you support prohibition you’ve helped create the prison-for-profit synergy with drug lords.
If you support prohibition you’ve helped remove many important civil liberties from those citizens you falsely claim to represent.
If you support prohibition you’ve helped put previously unknown and contaminated drugs on the streets.
If you support prohibition you’ve helped to escalate Theft, Muggings and Burglaries.
If you support prohibition you’ve helped to divert scarce law-enforcement resources away from protecting your fellow citizens from the ever escalating violence against their person or property.
If you support prohibition you’ve helped overcrowd the courts and prisons, thus making it increasingly impossible to curtail the people who are hurting and terrorizing others.
If you support prohibition you’ve helped evolve local gangs into transnational enterprises with intricate power structures that reach into every corner of society, controlling vast swaths of territory with significant social and military resources at their disposal.
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You all are ignoring the negative effects of marijuana. There actually is a reason why it is illegal, and regardless of whether it remains illegal or not, that reason will always remain.
Maybe you “just started” or can “control it”, but I know plenty of people who smoke weed and can’t. Simply put, it’s addictive in the sense that it’s fun, and hard to leave because it is fun.
Not only does it have harmful effects on the lungs (and smell horrible), but it does do damage to the brain. People claim “it doesn’t kill brain cells like alcohol does” but they forget to understand that the use of marijuana does slow down how the brain processes things. Your synaptic gaps between neurons go further apart – the “5 second delay” is thus caused.
If you are seriously ignorant enough to believe that marijuana is the most wonderful thing ever and it should be legalized because everyone is “trippin” about it, then you are just providing another reason why it should remain illegal. I don’t want to live in a world where everybody is stupid.
Now, onto the people with the medicinal properties claim. I agree with this. But you can’t use this as a claim of why it should be legalized for public use. Yes, it does have medicinal properties but so does Tylenol, and yet we all know teenagers found out how to get high off of that too. However, just like alcohol, which can be actually good for you if used in low doses, it can be abused, which is where the problems arise. And if you honestly think the general public has the ability to “control” themselves and not “abuse”, then you don’t understand the human race at all.
Stop being dumb.