GIVE PROPOSITION 19 A CHANCE

I WISH TO COMMENT on the silly things people are claiming about
Proposition 19, the measure to legalize pot for those over 21.

First, Proposition 19 is in addition to Proposition 215 and SB 420
laws. It does not take away any of our unlimited medical cannabis
rights whatsoever.

It allows someone over age 21 to grow a 25-square-foot area of
marijuana and carry an ounce of pot for personal use. It allows
employers to screen their employees, but does not allow jobs to be
lost simply due to a positive drug test for pot, unless that person
is involved in a driving job or handles heavy machinery.

It is utter nonsense and fear-mongering that a school bus driver
could be legally stoned when driving under Proposition 19.

Just as the end of alcohol prohibition ended the career of Al Capone
and his ilk, so will the regulation of cannabis end the grip of the
cartels upon our society.

Our park lands will no longer be a target for illegal pot growers
when everyone can grow a closet full at home.

It will drop the price of pot so that the black market disappears.

If someone gives an underage kid alcohol, that person gets in big
trouble. The same thing will happen if someone gives a kid pot.

The punishment is exactly the same, legally, under Proposition 19.
Unless that young person is suffering through chemotherapy, for
example, and has a doctor's recommendation.

In the Netherlands, where there are cannabis coffee shops on every
corner, the teenage use of marijuana is less than half of our
American teen use.

Illegal drug dealers never check IDs, and have harder drugs to push.
We will remove pot from the grips of the thugs, and place it into
regulated outlets instead.

Proposition 19 gives cities and counties the option to license
marijuana as friendly businesses -- or not.

Either way, every adult will have the right to grow and possess some
cannabis. I believe that the areas that license cannabis outlets will
see an enormous jump in their sales tax income. There will be less
alcohol-driven violence. There will be less hard drug addicts, since
pot helps them by substituting cannabis to calm the brain receptors
addicted to harder drugs.

The new law does not allow driving under the influence if there is
evidence of impairment.

Proposition 19 will save hundreds of millions of dollars in legal
costs paid by our tax dollars. It will free up our police to
investigate serious crimes.

Legal growing jobs will pay well, have benefits, be safe and
stress-free with no helicopters to run from. We will all have better
schools and health care for our families.

We will be able to provide thousands of union jobs statewide, with
benefits, for expert growers, budtenders, and trimmers who will not
have to work illegally anymore.

I am working with a farmworkers union leader to make sure that job
creation occurs, lifting our non-violent and nice people out of jails
and the terrible underground, into the light of a new day.

Our state will save hundreds of millions in tax dollars, generate
thousands of jobs, receive billions in revenue, increase safety,
protect youth and reduce violence.