VOTING YES ON PROPOSTION 19 ONLY WAY TO REGULATE MARIJUNA USE

California voters this November will decide on Proposition 19, which
legalizes the private-adult possession and use of limited quantities
of marijuana, and allows local governments to regulate its commercial
production and retail distribution.

Proposition 19 is endorsed by a broad range of leading criminal
justice, civil rights and religious organizations. These include the
National Black Police Association, the California Council of Churches
IMPACT, the California National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP), the Service Employees International Union
(SEIU), the California League of United Latin American Citizens, the
Latino Voters League, the Progressive Jewish Alliance and the United
Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), Western States Council.

These groups, as well as dozens of others, back Proposition 19
because it will impose common-sense regulations and controls to an
illicit market that is currently out of control. Only through
legalization and regulation can we control who produces marijuana,
who distributes it, and where and when it may be lawfully consumed.

Marijuana prohibition has created a violent criminal market run by
international drug cartels. Proposition 19 will eliminate the
involvement of these criminal enterprises, including Mexican drug
traffickers, from the California marijuana market.

According to a just-released study by the nonpartisan RAND Drug
Policy Research Center: "Legalizing marijuana in California would
effectively eliminate Mexican DTOs' (drug trafficking organizations)
revenues from supplying Mexican-grown marijuana to the California
market. ... even with taxes, legally produced marijuana would likely
cost no more than would illegal marijuana from Mexico and would cost
less than half as much per unit of THC.

"Thus, the needs of the California market would be supplied by the
new legal industry."

Proposition 19 is carefully written to promote public safety. It
maintains strict criminal penalties for driving under the influence,
increases penalties for providing pot to minors and bans its
consumption in public, including on school grounds.

It also would put police priorities where they belong -- away from
targeting adults who use marijuana responsibly and toward targeting
violent crime and gang activity.

Passage of Proposition 19 will potentially raise billions of dollars
in new and desperately needed revenue. Today, California faces
historic deficits that could lead to higher taxes and fees for the
public and more cuts to vital services. Yet, right now, there are $14
billion in marijuana transactions taking place in California.
Proposition 19 enables state and local governments to tax these
transactions to fund and preserve vital services. According to the
state's tax collector, the Board of Equalization, taxing marijuana
like alcohol would generate $1.4 billion in annual revenue -- monies
which could fund jobs, health care, public safety, parks, roads,
transportation and more.

Tens of millions of Californians agree that it is time to change our
outdated and failed marijuana policies. Outlawing marijuana hasn't
stopped an estimated one in 10 Californians from using marijuana, nor
has it reduced the public's access to it. Proposition 19 will control
the production and distribution of marijuana, make it harder for kids
to get it, weaken the cartels, focus police resources on violent
crime and generate billions in revenue and savings.

We've tried prohibition. Now let's try common sense. Vote yes on
Proposition 19.