My thoughts on Proposition 19

[kaysho]

October in California is the start of two seasons: the rainy season and the proposition season.  The first is a result of Mother Nature.  The second is a result of our penchant to want to vote on everything.  I happen to think both are pretty much all wet, but that's another story.

At the top of the ballot this year will be Proposition 19, which

Comments

[jurann]

Tricky issue, and yeah, I agree that it's not as straightforward as it could be. So a couple things I should be forthright about from the start: I am not a California citizen as I have decided to upkeep my Washington residency and registrations for personal reasons so I will not be voting on this issue and secondly I am -highly- allergic to marijuana.

That being said, I think I would personally support the proposition, and here's my reasoning: The illegal trade of drugs and drug importation in the United States is a (I believe this is the statistic I read) over $180 BILLION per year industry, with at least 2/3 of that cash flow leaving our borders. In addition to the atrophy of our finances within our borders, we're spending some estimated $30B per year or more specifically in the "war on drugs" both at home and abroad.

In a nutshell, if we could produce the drugs here and regulate them then sell them under heavy "sin tax", we would not only be keeping that money in our borders and defusing the violent foreign cartels, but also give the government a much-needed boost financially. Hell, maybe they could lower the income tax levels after that. ;D And that $30B/yr spent on fighting a war on drugs could be spent on social programs to help addicts fight their personal war of loss due to them, and help make a more productive society for us all.

The proposition won't fix a damned thing in the big picture, or in the long run. But it's a good first step and works towards a better end goal. I just hope it doesn't mean my neighbor's pot smoke could waft into my bedroom window and send me into migraines/seizures. =P

[kaysho]

The value of items, like illegal drugs, that are inherently pushed onto the black market, is usually greater than people think, both because the illegality pushes the price up (the reason why current marijuana growers tend to oppose Prop 19!) and because it makes it difficult to get really good statistics, so it tends to put it out of people's minds. But I have read that marijuana is actually California's highest-value "export crop", worth more than any of the produce grown in the Central Valley, and I believe it. Well, heck, there were people in the early 1930s who were concerned that the economy of the city of Windsor, Ontario would collapse if the US repealed alcohol prohibition, since the town was pretty much surviving on revenue from alcohol smuggling. :)

And I wouldn't worry about your neighbours' pot smoke any more than now. After all, like cigarette smoke, once it's legal, it can be regulated.