Our state is in the midst of what is shaping up to be the worst budget crisis in memory. It is time for concerned Californians to rally behind the Control and Tax Cannabis Initiative on the November ballot. The Initiative legalizes marijuana in California for adults over the age of 21 and empowers local governments to tax its sale.
Setting money aside for a moment, the Initiative makes sense on safety alone.
According to White House statistics, more than 60 percent of sales by Mexican drug cartels in the United States in 2006 were of cannabis. Even Red Ribbon Week, the massively popular school anti-drug movement, got its start after the tragic kidnapping and murder of a Drug Enforcement Agency agent by large-scale marijuana traffickers from a Mexican cartel. By legalizing and regulating the sale of cannabis, Californians remove the market for a large percentage of their business. It is within our power to cut these violent and deadly cartels off at the knees.
What's more, FBI statistics show that in 2008, more than 60,000 violent crimes went unsolved in California. During that same time period, some 61,000 Californians were arrested for misdemeanor cannabis possession. Literally thousands of hours and millions of dollars in law enforcement resources are siphoned away from protecting our families in the name of enforcing current cannabis laws.
Shouldn't we put our law enforcement agents back to work keeping us safe from truly dangerous violent crime?
Regulation of cannabis makes it infinitely safer, too. When cannabis is illegal, children become drug dealers to other children. The schoolyard and the playground become the marketplace. Drug dealers don't check ID, but a regulated, transparent cannabis market would. In addition, decriminalization would remove the social stigma that often prevents problem users from reaching out for the qualified medical or psychological help they need.
As if these myriad critical issues of health and safety weren't enough, the fiscal benefit to our state by passing the Control and Tax Cannabis Initiative would be simply staggering.
According to the California Board of Equalization, if cannabis were taxed like alcohol, we could raise $1.4 billion per year ---- That is "billion" with a "B," a truly jaw-dropping sum. California also would realize an annual savings estimated at $200 million by a recent NORML study by avoiding the arrest, prosecution and imprisonment of nonviolent cannabis users.
Just imagine what the Temecula Valley Unified School District, Hospice of the Valleys, Head Start, Boys and Girls Club and countless other worthy organizations right here in our own local neighborhoods could do with more than $1.4 billion per year to make real, meaningful improvement to our quality of life.
We have the power to take charge and make change. Now is the time to get educated about Tax Cannabis 2010 and to join me in voting for the initiative when we go to the polls on Nov. 2.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: North County Times
Author: JULIET GROSSMAN
Contact: North County Times
Copyright: 2010 North County Times - Californian
Website: Legal marijuana will cut crime, improve life
* Thanks to MedicalNeed for submitting this article
Setting money aside for a moment, the Initiative makes sense on safety alone.
According to White House statistics, more than 60 percent of sales by Mexican drug cartels in the United States in 2006 were of cannabis. Even Red Ribbon Week, the massively popular school anti-drug movement, got its start after the tragic kidnapping and murder of a Drug Enforcement Agency agent by large-scale marijuana traffickers from a Mexican cartel. By legalizing and regulating the sale of cannabis, Californians remove the market for a large percentage of their business. It is within our power to cut these violent and deadly cartels off at the knees.
What's more, FBI statistics show that in 2008, more than 60,000 violent crimes went unsolved in California. During that same time period, some 61,000 Californians were arrested for misdemeanor cannabis possession. Literally thousands of hours and millions of dollars in law enforcement resources are siphoned away from protecting our families in the name of enforcing current cannabis laws.
Shouldn't we put our law enforcement agents back to work keeping us safe from truly dangerous violent crime?
Regulation of cannabis makes it infinitely safer, too. When cannabis is illegal, children become drug dealers to other children. The schoolyard and the playground become the marketplace. Drug dealers don't check ID, but a regulated, transparent cannabis market would. In addition, decriminalization would remove the social stigma that often prevents problem users from reaching out for the qualified medical or psychological help they need.
As if these myriad critical issues of health and safety weren't enough, the fiscal benefit to our state by passing the Control and Tax Cannabis Initiative would be simply staggering.
According to the California Board of Equalization, if cannabis were taxed like alcohol, we could raise $1.4 billion per year ---- That is "billion" with a "B," a truly jaw-dropping sum. California also would realize an annual savings estimated at $200 million by a recent NORML study by avoiding the arrest, prosecution and imprisonment of nonviolent cannabis users.
Just imagine what the Temecula Valley Unified School District, Hospice of the Valleys, Head Start, Boys and Girls Club and countless other worthy organizations right here in our own local neighborhoods could do with more than $1.4 billion per year to make real, meaningful improvement to our quality of life.
We have the power to take charge and make change. Now is the time to get educated about Tax Cannabis 2010 and to join me in voting for the initiative when we go to the polls on Nov. 2.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: North County Times
Author: JULIET GROSSMAN
Contact: North County Times
Copyright: 2010 North County Times - Californian
Website: Legal marijuana will cut crime, improve life
* Thanks to MedicalNeed for submitting this article
