On Nov. 2, residents of California will vote on whether to approve Proposition 19, which would legalize limited recreational use and growth of marijuana for anyone over 21. The law would also allow the government to license distributors to sell limited amounts of marijuana within state borders.
Proposition 19 would limit personal possession to one ounce or less and restrict growth to no more than 25 square feet of cannabis, though the law allows for the local government to authorize the production of larger amounts of marijuana, including commercial production.
It would remain illegal for private citizens to sell marijuana. Similar to laws governing the sale of alcohol, sellers would be required to obtain a license from the state government to operate an establishment that sells marijuana, and such establishments would be subject to government regulation. The sale of marijuana would be limited to one ounce per transaction.
The Daily supports the passage of Proposition 19, as legalizing marijuana is a sensible step toward both expanding the civil rights of residents of California and improving the state's financial situation.
Like marijuana, alcohol consumption was once considered a vice so destructive that its use was banned in the United States. And as anyone who has studied U.S history knows, the Prohibition of 1920−33 was a spectacular failure that led not to a more temperate society but to a vast underground market for alcoholic beverages characterized by violence.
The prohibition of marijuana has similarly failed. Its criminalization in the United States has done little more than spur the creation of a massive black market. Rather than curbing the use of marijuana, prohibition merely prevents the government from collecting any potential revenue from marijuana's sale and taxation.
The legal status of other, significantly more dangerous substances like alcohol and nicotine creates a stunning hypocrisy when it comes to Americans' civil rights. Why is it within our rights to consume alcohol, which causes about 2 million deaths worldwide each year, but not marijuana, which several studies have shown to be minimally risky and unhealthy? The passage of Proposition 19 would be a significant step toward addressing this hypocrisy.
California already has some of the laxest marijuana policies in the nation. As in Massachusetts, possession of less than one ounce of marijuana has been decriminalized and is currently punishable only by a $100 fine. Use of marijuana in California is extremely common compared to in many states, and its recent decriminalization measures indicate that the state government takes no issue with it.
And yet, by failing to legalize — and therefore regulate — non−medicinal marijuana use, the government of California would fail to profit from this permissive attitude. Legalization would create a profitable new industry, creating jobs for sellers and commercial growers alike, while providing a new source of tax revenue for the state government.
The federal government is strongly opposed to the legislation, and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has said the federal government will continue to enforce in California federal laws that prohibit the sale or growth of marijuana. According to Holder, Proposition 19 would complicate the federal government's attempts to crack down on drug traffickers because many traffickers who deal in marijuana also deal in more dangerous substances like cocaine and heroine.
But Proposition 19 would legalize such small amounts of marijuana that prosecuting citizens who use or grow it within the boundaries stipulated by the new law would be a waste of federal law enforcement resources — it is highly unlikely that anyone caught with less than an ounce of marijuana is part of a major drug trafficking network.
Landmark legislation in the United States often appears in California before the rest of the nation catches on. If Proposition 19 passes there, you should expect similar propositions to crop up throughout the United States, as it may be the first step toward widespread legalization of marijuana, which has been a long time coming.
