Pubdate: Tue, 12 Oct 2010
Source: Orange County Register, The (CA)
Copyright: 2010 The Orange County Register
Contact:  http://www.ocregister.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/321
Author: Hanna Liebman Dershowitz
Note: Hanna Liebman Dershowitz is Co-chair of the Proposition 19 
legal subcommittee
Cited: Proposition 19 http://yeson19.com/
Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/find?272 (Proposition 19)

POT'S AN INFRACTION, BUT WE NEED PROP. 19

Reducing marijuana to an infraction is great, but it doesn't go far 
enough. Prop. 19 would bring real reform, converting a black market 
into a legitimate industry with jobs, tax revenue and economic development.

SB1449, which reclassifies present penalties for small amounts of 
marijuana as an infraction rather than a misdemeanor, is a signal of 
the true necessity of Proposition 19. It is an acknowledgment by the 
legislature and the governor that marijuana prohibition has failed 
and is not worth spending scarce law enforcement resources on.

SB1449 means that if a guy is caught smoking a small amount of 
marijuana, he is subject to the same $100 fine as has been the 
penalty since 1972, under a different name. Prop. 19, in turn, would 
eliminate the catching and fining part for adult petty possession, 
freeing up more police resources to devote to crimes that pose a real 
threat to public safety. Prop. 19 would also address the pressing 
need to bring our $14 billion per year marijuana industry into the 
light of day and control and regulate it, taking it out of the hands 
of violent criminals and drug cartels.

Reclassification is not a negative, but it does not allow the state 
or localities to tax marijuana, and it does not end law enforcement 
involvement in possession of marijuana, a widely consumed commodity 
that is objectively less harmful than alcohol and tobacco.

Reclassification also leaves marijuana distribution in a completely 
unregulated environment, with no consumer protections in place, even 
as it fails to redirect the revenues from its sale to our 
cash-strapped cities, counties and state. We need Prop. 19 to convert 
the prohibition-generated black market into a legitimate industry, 
replete with jobs, economic development, taxes and innovation. So 
while it is great to hear the powers that be in Sacramento say 
marijuana prohibition is not a valid priority, SB1449 is just a step 
in the right direction that underscores the need for true reform.

And California voters are poised to make that real change, one that 
will start to repair decades of damage, including ruining countless 
lives for conduct that did not harm another person's body or 
property, incarcerating millions of people, and creating and 
fostering a violent criminal underground.

Prop. 19 is also needed to help reverse the shameless pattern of 
racially disproportionate enforcement that has been a hallmark of 
marijuana prohibition. We know from a recent study that in every one 
of the top 25 California counties, black residents are arrested two, 
three and even four times as often as whites, even though U.S 
government studies consistently show that usage patterns are lower 
among young blacks than young whites. SB1449 would not ameliorate 
this problem. In fact, police could still target communities of color 
and may even be motivated to issue more citations than in the past, 
since they won't cost as much under SB1449. Prop. 19, by contrast, 
will end futile practices of subjecting otherwise law-abiding 
consumers to detention, citation and collection of personal data, 
while wasting law enforcement effort and cost; SB 1449, by contrast, 
preserves these practices.

All told, Prop. 19 moves the ball forward to reject the failed relic 
of a system under which we operate today. If it passes Nov. 2, it 
will be the harbinger of a new era in which it is truly possible to 
thaw fossilized debates and rethink policies based on evidence, 
rationality and fair administration of justice.

SB1449 shows that California is ready to make changes to the old, 
broken-down, wasteful, ineffective and harmful policy of marijuana 
prohibition. Prop. 19 will show that California is willing and able 
to make the change meaningful, to build a new, common-sense system of 
control and taxation. Anything less than that is more of the same.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake