19 REASONS POT SHOULD BE LEGAL

California's Prop 19 will be the most talked-about ballot initiative
in the November election. This measure would make lawful the
possession and sharing of one ounce of marijuana outside the home and
allow for personal cultivation of a small marijuana garden and
possession of its harvest in the home. California cities and
counties would be able to opt-in to commercial sales, regulation, and
taxation of marijuana. Existing prohibitions against driving under
the influence and working under the influence would be maintained and
prohibitions against furnishing marijuana to minors would be strengthened.

After almost 100 years of marijuana prohibition in California,
marijuana is more popular and accepted than ever. Prohibition has
clearly failed. Prop 19 gives us another choice, one that benefits
not just those who enjoy the herb, but the entire state of California
and ultimately, the nation and the world. Whether you are a regular
marijuana user now, an occasional toker back in the day, or you've
never touched the stuff, there are many compelling economic, social,
public safety, and civil libertarian reasons to support its
legalization. Here are nineteen reasons for six distinct groups of
Californians to vote Yes on Prop 19:

For the Concerned Parents

1. To make pot more difficult for kids to buy. It might seem
counter-intuitive to some, but illegal marijuana is much easier to
acquire than regulated marijuana because weed dealers don't check
ID's. Four out of five high school seniors, more than three in five
sophomores, and two in five middle schoolers (8th grade) say
marijuana is "fairly easy" or "very easy" to get. One third of
16-17-year-olds say marijuana is easiest to buy, not cigarettes,
alcohol, or prescription drugs. Two out of five teens say they can
get marijuana in a day; almost one in four can get marijuana in an
hour. Obviously letting unregulated dealers control the marijuana
market is not protecting your kids from access to marijuana. On the
other hand, aggressive enforcement of ID carding for minors, combined
with public education have led to some of the lowest rates of teen
alcohol andtobacco use ever recorded. Prop 19 enacts the same common
sense ID carding for marijuana as we use for martinis and Marlboros.

2. To make pot more difficult for kids to sell in
school. Regardless of what regulations we put on marijuana, like
alcohol and tobacco, there will be some kids who manage to get a hold
of it. But part of what makes marijuana so easy for teens to buy is
that they can all find in their high school one of the one million
teens nationally who are dealing it. Legal access to marijuana for
adults removes the criminal risk markup that makes pot so
profitable. After all, when was the last time you heard of a beer
dealer in a high school hallway? Prop 19 eliminates the huge profit
that entices youngsters to sell marijuana.

3. To make pot less available for transfer from young
adults. Governor Schwarzenegger signed a decriminalization bill that
makes it an infraction, not a crime, to possess and share of up to
one ounce of marijuana between anyone 18 and older. Prop 19 adds a
stiff punishment of up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine for
any adult aged 21 or older who shares marijuana with anyone aged
18-20, just like we punish adults who furnish alcohol to those under
legal age. When it's tougher for those 18-20 to get marijuana, it's
tougher for them to share it friends under 18. Prop 19 treats
marijuana like alcohol as a privilege for age 21 and older.

For the Law and Order Crowd

4. To decrease the profits of violent criminals. Prohibited
marijuana brings with it the same problems as prohibited alcohol
did gangs and violence. We don't see bootleggers shooting up the
streets over whiskey distribution any more. We don't see clandestine
wine grape vineyards sprouting up in national forests. Providing
California's adults a legal way to grow or buy their own marijuana
means violent drug gangs lose customers. No, these gangsters won't
stop being gangsters, but they will become gangsters with lower
budgets and fewer associates. Prop 19 brings the dangerous
underground marijuana market into a safe, regulated, inspected, and
taxed legal market.

5. To increase public trust of law enforcement. Currently more
than 1 in 10 adult Californians smoke pot every year. It is unknown
how many of these 2.9 million annual users fail to report crimes for
fear of police interviewing them and discovering the marijuana they
possess or grow. Prohibition also creates fear and paranoia that
lingers long after the joint is smoked for these adults whenever they
see police, fear that even talking to police could end in a ticket or
arrest. Prop 19 allows otherwise law-abiding cannabis consumers to
trust and help law enforcement.

6. To prioritize our law enforcement. It is estimated that
including the arrest, jail, prison, court, and marijuana eradication
costs, California spends $200 million per year on marijuana law
enforcement. Then there is the time and space we can't afford in our
overworked court system and overcrowded prisons. Prop 19 alleviates
much of those problems while maintaining the current laws against
irresponsible use of marijuana, such as driving under the influence
and giving marijuana to kids. Prop 19 focuses police priorities away
from adults who enjoy marijuana responsibly and onto real crime.

For the Medical Marijuana Patients

7. To protect your medical collectives. Over the fourteen years
of medical marijuana in California we've seen numerous raids on
medical marijuana collectives, or "dispensaries". Many are conducted
by state or local authorities, some by DEA but always with the
cooperation and assistance of local law enforcement. Prop 19 forbids
state and local law enforcement from seizing, attempting to seize, or
even threatening to seize lawfully cultivated marijuana medical or
personal. Prop 19 makes it impossible for local law enforcement to
assist federal prosecution of medical marijuana collectives.

8. To provide easier access to cheaper medicine. Currently a
patient has to see a doctor and pay for a recommendation to use
medical marijuana. The patient has to carry around that
recommendation to prove medical use to the police. The patient can
designate a caregiver to grow for them or buy from a dispensary at
grossly inflated prices. After Prop 19, you can use marijuana simply
because you decide to, no doctors, no notes. Any number of your
friends could be growing marijuana for you. There may even be Prop
19 stores that open in your city. Prop 19 will lower marijuana
prices and provide greater access to patients without need for
permission slips.

9. To allow you to grow a lot of marijuana. For adults who
decide not to get Prop 215 recommendations, you will be allowed under
Prop 19 to cultivate a plot of marijuana not exceeding 25 square
feet. The DEA has concluded that the average yield of cannabis bud
per square foot is about one-half ounce that's over three quarters
of a pound from a 5'x5' garden. Prop 19 allows you to keep the
results of your harvests; the one ounce limitation only applies to
taking your marijuana out of your residence. Prop 19 does not impose
arbitrary plant and possession limits at your home grow site.

For the Business Community

10. To create much-needed jobs. California's marijuana market is
already the largest cash crop in the state at an estimated $14
billion annually. This estimate only includes the marijuana itself
and not all the ancillary industries a legal pot market would bring,
from accessories to fashion, from tourism to retail, and all the
incredible markets for marijuana's non-drug cousin, industrial
hemp. Prop 19 creates new job and business opportunities and opens
the door for industrial use of hemp.

11. To bring in much-needed tax revenue. It's true that Prop 19
allows localities to opt-in and regulate commercial cannabis sales
and some places may not opt-in, reaping no marijuana taxes. But
marijuana for personal use will still be legal and many of the
ancillary industries could flourish in a "dry county" (e.g.,
marijuana bed'n'breakfast) and that would produce tax revenue. Prop
19 brings in more tax revenue from marijuana than we're bringing in now.

12. To bring fairness to workplace drug testing. Prop 19
maintains an employer's existing right to address marijuana
impairment in the workplace nobody gets to go to work stoned any
more than they get to go to work drunk. But Prop 19 frees employers
from the burden of disciplining, firing, or not hiring safe,
productive workers for their personal use of marijuana away from the
job site. Prop 19 treats employees who use cannabis responsibly in
their private life like those employees who drink alcohol.

For the Latinos and African-Americans

13. To end the disproportionate arrest and harassment of people
of color. African-Americans in California's 25 largest counties are
arrested at rates two-to-four times greater than their white
counterparts, despite whites using marijuana at greater rates. In
the 25 largest cities, the arrest disparity ranges from
twice-to-thirteen times the rates for whites. Arrest rates for
Latinos also exceed the rates for whites. Prop 19 removes the
probable cause for law enforcement to harass people of color for
merely possessing marijuana.

14. To end street-level dealing of marijuana. Marijuana's
profitability and scarcity create the open-air street-corner dealing
that plagues many communities of color and utilizes juveniles to
perform the transporting and selling of small amounts of pot. The
profit enriches gangs and leads to violent confrontations over
turf. Prop 19 will reduce the cost of marijuana and provide a
regulated place to buy it that will undercut the street dealers.

15. To strike back at the murderous drug gangs in Mexico. Many
Latino Californians worry for the safety of friends and family back
in Mexico. Residents in northern border towns face violence and
murder rates usually only found in war zones. Law abiding Mexicans
don't know if their law enforcement and government officials are
corrupted by the wealthy gangs. Prop 19 is the first step in
nationwide legalization that can be the only solution to Mexico's
drug war violence.

For the People of All Political Ideologies

16. To energize and connect with the progressive Democratic
base. Prop 19 is overwhelmingly supported by the young, progressive,
liberal voters that are the base of support for Democratic
politicians. Many of these voters are not as enthusiastic about the
Democrats as they were in 2008 when they turned out in record
numbers. Prop 19's passage forces the Democratic Party to recognize
the get-out-the-vote potential of the marijuana legalization issue
for future elections.

17. To build a new, younger Republican base on conservative
principles. The Republican Party faces a decline in its numbers due
to the aging of its core base of white male supporters. Younger,
libertarian-leaning, "Tea Party" activists are calling for a return
to conservative principles of states' rights, less government,
personal responsibility, and cutting wasteful government
spending. Prop 19 affirms the right of states to set their own
policies and begins to dismantle the most ineffective government
program of all time the War on Drugs.

18. To show the traditional political parties they aren't
responding to the people. Candidates for the highest offices in
California from both major political parties refuse to endorse
marijuana legalization even though more than half the citizens have
used marijuana and support its legalization. Prop 19 reminds the
major parties that they are the servants of the people and the
people's will is sovereign.

For the Future

19. To change the world. Prop 19 is not just another California
initiative. Prop 19 is being watched in all fifty states and
throughout the hemisphere as the "shot heard round the world" in
ending the prohibition of marijuana.

It's up to you, California, to take that one small step for your
state that will be one giant leap for the nation. Vote Yes on Prop 19!