If you vote no on Proposition 19, nothing changes. Marijuana is easier for teenagers to get than alcohol or tobacco now. Marijuana is the No. 1 source of funding for drug cartels now. Marijuana has been used by more than half of the full-time work force now. Marijuana prohibition clearly isn't working. Concerns raised by opponents of Proposition 19 about the Drug Free Workplace Act are unwarranted. The U.S. Department of Labor Web site explicitly states: "The Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988 does not require drug testing." Additionally, concerns about driving under the influence of marijuana are unwarranted. We already have laws addressing driving under the influence for medical marijuana users and there has been no epidemic. The epidemic is with alcohol, which is responsible 39 percent of all traffic deaths. [continues 110 words]
In Time magazine's March 13 issue, Alison Stateman notes "Pot is, after all, California's biggest cash crop, responsible for $14 billion a year in sales, dwarfing the state's second largest agricultural commodity -- milk and cream -- which brings in $7.3 billion a year, according to the most recent USDA statistics." Economists Michael R. Caputo and Brian J. Ostrom explain in the American Journal of Economics and Sociology that "the total retail value of marijuana is virtually identical to potential tax revenue due to the low cost of production." [continues 470 words]
Here is why Solano County should tax and regulate marijuana: Regulation of marijuana would reduce organized crime and access to adolescents, just as the regulation of alcohol has. Teens report they have easier access to marijuana than they have to either alcohol or tobacco, according to a national survey released in 2002 by the national Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. The results marked the first in the survey's history that adolescents said it was easier to buy cannabis than cigarettes or alcohol. [continues 483 words]
Point No. 1. Regulation of marijuana would reduce organized crime and access to adolescents just as the regulation of alcohol has. Teens report they have easier access to marijuana than they have to either alcohol or tobacco, according to a national survey released on Aug. 20, 2002, by the national Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. The results marked the first in the survey's history that adolescents said it was easier to buy cannabis than cigarettes or alcohol. Similar to the failed prohibition of alcohol, marijuana prohibition creates organized crime to respond to the substance's demand instead of allowing law-abiding businesses to create revenue for the county. [continues 446 words]
