PROP. 19 A BAD LAW FOR CALIFORNIA

Legalizing and taxing marijuana will not only fail to solve
California's budget mess as its supporters would suggest, it will
burden our state with additional problems, added costs and unintended
consequences.

There is no evidence that legalizing and taxing a dangerous drug will
make our communities safer. In fact, law-enforcement professionals in
California believe the opposite will occur.

The legalization of marijuana will increase demand and create new
users. Those not wanting to pay the taxes on the drug will grow their
own or look to the black market. The violent drug cartel will have an
open and legal market in California to sell their marijuana.

There will be no way to determine taxed legal marijuana from cartel
marijuana. Drug dealers do not pay taxes now and they will not pay
taxes if marijuana is labeled legal.

There is ample evidence that, like alcohol and tobacco, the social
costs associated with legalizing and taxing marijuana will far
outweigh the tax revenue raised.

Currently, for every $1 collected in taxes on alcohol and tobacco, $9
is spent in social costs, according to a study by the Center on
Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

Do we really need additional drug users and additional social problems?

Marijuana is a harmful and addictive drug that has ostensibly been
labeled medicine by some. Even though it requires a "legal"
prescription, the abuses have been profound and it has brought
violence to many neighborhoods.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca recently stated, "The medical
marijuana program that voters authorized has been hijacked by
underground drug-dealing criminals who are resorting to violence to
control their piece of the action."

His comments were made in the wake of a triple homicide in Los
Angeles tied to the medicinal marijuana industry.

We also know that the legalization of a dangerous drug will increase
impaired drivers on the roadway. Proving impairment by people under
the influence of marijuana is presently difficult and there is no
roadside breath test which can provide presumptive proof to law enforcement.

For that matter, there is no test which can be used for a heavy
equipment operator, an airline pilot or a school bus driver. Do you
really want marijuana legalized?

It is ironic that in a state that bans trans fats, soda machines in
schools and wants to ban smoking cigarettes in private residences
that we would somehow have a ballot initiative to legalize a
dangerous drug that has 50 percent to 70 percent more carcinogens
than tobacco, harms the brains of the adolescent and chronic users,
impairs the judgment of drivers and puts the public at risk.

Legalizing marijuana will put a tremendous burden on law enforcement,
community safety and our healthcare system. Mental health officials
who understand the problems of addiction and mind- altering drugs
agree that legalizing marijuana would have disastrous effects on public health.

There are obvious reasons why marijuana is illegal and it should stay
that way. We do not need more bad laws in California.

Vote no on Proposition 19.