YES: LEGALIZING MARIJUANA WOULD ADD REVENUE AND LET COPS FIGHT REAL CRIME

With more than $300 million spent annually arresting more than 60,000
Californians, the majority of them young, black and brown, the
California Medical Association accurately labels marijuana
criminalization "a failed public health policy."

Proposition 19 allows police to concentrate on real crimes, unclogs
courts and reduces prison overcrowding. The California Board of
Equalization estimates legalization will raise $1.4 billion for
schools, health programs and essential government services.

Proposition 19 opponents point to the societal and health costs of
alcohol as proof there will be increased costs if marijuana is
legalized. Truth be told, health care costs will go down when
responsible adults are allowed to make the rational, safer choice to
use marijuana instead of alcohol.

Hospital beds are overflowing with patients with heart damage,
destroyed livers, pancreatitis, diseased brains -- costly and
debilitating ailments caused solely by their use of alcohol. You are
not likely to find a single patient in any hospital wing -- cardiac,
respiratory, cancer -- with any ailment related only to their use of
marijuana. Not one!

Contrary to allegations by narcotic law enforcement that admissions
to emergency departments for marijuana are going through the roof, a
2010 study published in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine
found that "marijuana was by far the most commonly used (illicit)
drug, but individuals who used marijuana had a low prevalence of
drug-related ED visits."

A 2009 study at Switzerland's Luasanne University Hospital and a 2006
University of Missouri study independently found marijuana inversely
associated with injuries requiring hospitalization. The Missouri
study concluded marijuana use resulted in a "substantially decreased
risk of injury."

An August 2010 RAND study reported fewer than 200 patients were
admitted to California hospitals in 2008 for "marijuana abuse or
dependence," but there were almost 73,000 hospitalizations related to alcohol.

Although opponents of Proposition 19 are quick to make misleading and
inaccurate statements about a few studies they purport demonstrate
the dangers of marijuana, even a casual reading finds the number of
people negatively affected in the low single digits with the reports
using scientific weasel words like "may," "might" or "suggest."

Fiscal conservatives should note a 2009 study in the British Columbia
Mental Health and Addictions Journal, which found health-related
costs eight times higher for drinkers than cannabis consumers with
most of marijuana's costs due to its illegal status.

Noting that "research on medical cannabis patients has alluded to the
use of cannabis as a substitute for alcohol," a June 2009 Harm
Reduction Journal study found "40 percent of participants reported
using cannabis as a substitute for alcohol."

Although driving under the influence of any substance should be
avoided, a 2007 study of U.S. drivers published in the Canadian
Journal of Public Health and a 2005 review of French auto accidents
concluded that drivers who test positive for alcohol, even under .08
percent blood-alcohol content, were three to four times more likely
to be involved in a fatal collision than those who use marijuana.

Revenue raised, police resources wisely used are excellent reasons to
support Proposition 19, but it is the ability of marijuana to replace
alcohol as a relaxant and mood enhancer without the liver destroying,
judgment impairing and violence inducing properties of alcohol that
makes the passage of Proposition 19 vital to the health of the
individual and the community.