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Californians have a chance to make history in November when they vote on Proposition 19, which would legalize marijuana for adults over 21. Polls collectively show voters split but leaning toward this momentous stand against failed marijuana prohibition. Seven weeks from Election Day, it's clear how much Proposition 19 has already accomplished for the drug policy reform movement.
Conventional wisdom about changing marijuana laws previously called for waiting until at least 2012. It was assumed waiting would allow the reform movement time to build more support for the issue and to rely on the larger, younger electorate that inevitably accompanies a presidential election. Sensing the time was right this year, Oakland-based medical marijuana entrepreneur Richard Lee ignored that conventional wisdom. He brought together a top notch team to carefully draft an initiative, put up his own money to collect signatures, built an impressive campaign and took Proposition 19 to the people.
Today, Lee already appears remarkably prescient.
Proposition 19 is arguably the highest profile voter initiative in the nation and has unleashed a torrent of global interest. The initiative has generated thousands of international stories, explicitly discussing this alternative to our disastrous policies. In particular Proposition 19 has radically accelerated the public's understanding of the relative harms of marijuana, tobacco and alcohol, validating the widespread suspicion that a fundamental hypocrisy lies at the heart of the outright ban on marijuana – as evidenced by the endorsement of former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Joycelyn Elders.
Proposition 19 has inspired an unprecedented coalition in support of reforming our futile and wasteful marijuana laws. Law Enforcement Against Prohibition has coordinated an impressive array of cops, prosecutors, and judges who condemn the waste of scarce public safety dollars. Students for Sensible Drug Policy and Firedoglake.com organized students, law enforcement, libertarians and progressives to launch their "Just Say Now" campaign. The California NAACP, the state ACLU affiliates and the National Black Police Association have endorsed Proposition 19, specifically citing the chilling racial disparities in the enforcement of marijuana laws. And, organized labor – from service workers to longshoremen to food to communications workers – for the first time offered endorsements because controlling and regulating marijuana will mean jobs and revenue that the state currently cedes to criminal cartels and the black market.
This coalition signifies that serious people take regulating marijuana for adults seriously. Proposition 19 is now at the heart of spirited debates at kitchen tables, in college classrooms and in halls of power that once assumed the inevitability of the status quo. Former Mexican President Vicente Fox endorsed marijuana legalization precisely to address the prohibition-related bloodbath in Mexico that has taken 28,000 lives in over three years.
In this country Proposition 19 has truly sped up the political debate on marijuana policy overall, one that was previously dominated by medical marijuana issues. The major candidates for statewide office in California generally oppose Proposition 19. However professional politicos, including California Democratic Party chair John Burton , already identify marijuana legalization as a potential game-changing issue to drive Democratic turnout among younger, progressive voters in this and future elections.
All of us who have worked for years to educate and mobilize against the failed drug war owe thanks to Lee and the Proposition 19 campaign. The initiative has created opportunities that conventional wisdom simply couldn't have predicted. Anyone sick and tired of our disastrous marijuana prohibition has been handed a chance to make history. California voters should not only go to the polls but talk to friends, family and neighbors about Proposition 19. Those of us outside California should support the campaign financially and help get out the vote in November.
Proposition 19 is already a winner. Imagine when we make this the vote heard around the world.
NewsHawk: MedicalNeed:420 MAGAZINE
Source:The Sacramento Bee - California News, Local News - Sacramento CA
Author: Tony Newman and Stephen Gutwillig
Contact: Contact Us - sacbee.com
Copyright: The Sacramento Bee
Website: Viewpoints: Should Californians approve Prop. 19? Yes - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial | Sacramento Bee
Conventional wisdom about changing marijuana laws previously called for waiting until at least 2012. It was assumed waiting would allow the reform movement time to build more support for the issue and to rely on the larger, younger electorate that inevitably accompanies a presidential election. Sensing the time was right this year, Oakland-based medical marijuana entrepreneur Richard Lee ignored that conventional wisdom. He brought together a top notch team to carefully draft an initiative, put up his own money to collect signatures, built an impressive campaign and took Proposition 19 to the people.
Today, Lee already appears remarkably prescient.
Proposition 19 is arguably the highest profile voter initiative in the nation and has unleashed a torrent of global interest. The initiative has generated thousands of international stories, explicitly discussing this alternative to our disastrous policies. In particular Proposition 19 has radically accelerated the public's understanding of the relative harms of marijuana, tobacco and alcohol, validating the widespread suspicion that a fundamental hypocrisy lies at the heart of the outright ban on marijuana – as evidenced by the endorsement of former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Joycelyn Elders.
Proposition 19 has inspired an unprecedented coalition in support of reforming our futile and wasteful marijuana laws. Law Enforcement Against Prohibition has coordinated an impressive array of cops, prosecutors, and judges who condemn the waste of scarce public safety dollars. Students for Sensible Drug Policy and Firedoglake.com organized students, law enforcement, libertarians and progressives to launch their "Just Say Now" campaign. The California NAACP, the state ACLU affiliates and the National Black Police Association have endorsed Proposition 19, specifically citing the chilling racial disparities in the enforcement of marijuana laws. And, organized labor – from service workers to longshoremen to food to communications workers – for the first time offered endorsements because controlling and regulating marijuana will mean jobs and revenue that the state currently cedes to criminal cartels and the black market.
This coalition signifies that serious people take regulating marijuana for adults seriously. Proposition 19 is now at the heart of spirited debates at kitchen tables, in college classrooms and in halls of power that once assumed the inevitability of the status quo. Former Mexican President Vicente Fox endorsed marijuana legalization precisely to address the prohibition-related bloodbath in Mexico that has taken 28,000 lives in over three years.
In this country Proposition 19 has truly sped up the political debate on marijuana policy overall, one that was previously dominated by medical marijuana issues. The major candidates for statewide office in California generally oppose Proposition 19. However professional politicos, including California Democratic Party chair John Burton , already identify marijuana legalization as a potential game-changing issue to drive Democratic turnout among younger, progressive voters in this and future elections.
All of us who have worked for years to educate and mobilize against the failed drug war owe thanks to Lee and the Proposition 19 campaign. The initiative has created opportunities that conventional wisdom simply couldn't have predicted. Anyone sick and tired of our disastrous marijuana prohibition has been handed a chance to make history. California voters should not only go to the polls but talk to friends, family and neighbors about Proposition 19. Those of us outside California should support the campaign financially and help get out the vote in November.
Proposition 19 is already a winner. Imagine when we make this the vote heard around the world.
NewsHawk: MedicalNeed:420 MAGAZINE
Source:The Sacramento Bee - California News, Local News - Sacramento CA
Author: Tony Newman and Stephen Gutwillig
Contact: Contact Us - sacbee.com
Copyright: The Sacramento Bee
Website: Viewpoints: Should Californians approve Prop. 19? Yes - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial | Sacramento Bee
