California's Prop. 19 Would Bring Real Reform, Converting a Black Market into a Legitimate Industry With Jobs, Tax Revenue and Economic Development. Schwarzenegger's 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. [continues 551 words]
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. [continues 552 words]
We've tried marijuana prohibition for three-quarters of a century, and all-out war in the last four decades. These policies manifestly don't work. What's next? Let's try something that heralds a new era of pragmatic, reasoned policies Proposition 19. Here is what it will do and what it will not do. Prop. 19 treats marijuana more like alcohol, letting adults possess or grow small amounts for personal use. And it authorizes local governments only if they choose to regulate and tax production and distribution. What Prop. 19 does not do: it doesn't authorize any employee to use marijuana on the job, nor stand in the way of an employer firing someone whose work is affected by marijuana. Suggestions that Prop. 19 legalizes smoke-filled workplaces are simply uninformed and silly. The initiative clearly states that prohibitions on controlled substances in the workplace remain intact. Applicable court decisions underscore that. And several sections in the initiative explicitly preserve present laws against operating vehicles, in an employment context and otherwise. These provisions apply to consumption while driving or that renders the driver impaired. Assertions that these provisions allow use "right before climbing behind the wheel" are also silly. [continues 509 words]
"As Parents, We Know That Education Is Often More Effective Than Punishment, and in Some Cases Punishment Is Not Effective at All." My son just started kindergarten. So naturally, I have been thinking a lot about the type of world and community in which I want him and our seven-year-old daughter to live. I am involved in a project to improve school lunches in our district to reinforce the nutrition lessons we teach in our home. I am a founding board member of a community group trying to improve our city's parks. [continues 765 words]
A FEDERAL-STATE LAW INCONSISTENCY SHOULDN'T STOP CALIFORNIANS FROM LEGALIZING MARIJUANA No Law Is Infallible. As It Has Done in the Past, California Can Show Leadership in Driving Needed Reforms by Passing Proposition 19. The law is the law. If we unquestioningly accepted that maxim, imagine where we would be today. Jim Crow would be alive and well, rivers and skies would be polluted, and women wouldn't be allowed to vote. Yet such is the mindset of many of those who criticize Proposition 19, the marijuana regulation and taxation initiative on the November ballot. In his July 18 Times Op-Ed article, UCLA public policy professor Mark A.R. Kleiman declares that state legalization "can't be done." He points out, correctly, that if the initiative is successful, the federal marijuana prohibition laws will remain in place. What he assumes, incorrectly, is that federal agents will swarm into California, busting farmers and arresting distributors and shopkeepers, to say nothing of the garden stores that sell them equipment and supplies, the accountants who do their books and the municipal tax officials who delight in assessing and collecting the new tax revenues. [continues 717 words]
