PROP. 19 FAILURE MEANS ADVOCATES HAVE CLEAN SLATE

The passage of Proposition 19 in California would have marked the
beginning of the end of the drug war in the United States. Sadly, the
ballot initiative failed, but even the fact of it making it to the
ballot, not to mention garnering over 40 percent of the vote in a
non-presidential election year is a success. Even if we have not the
found the beginning of the end, we have started chipping away at the
mentality that led us to this irrational and immoral place.

Prop. 19 was a bill whose passage would have legalized and regulated
marijuana as well as allowed for the use, cultivation, and sale of
marijuana with some limitations.

The initiative would have also allowed cities to allow and tax sales,
though the proposed statute did not provide a mechanism for state taxation.

The initiative also indicated that employees should not be subject to
discrimination in hiring practices nor be fired on the sole basis that
the employer is able to ascertain that they use marijuana. Nothing
permitted marijuana use by employees at work or in any way that
impaired work. In fact, under the statute, any industry could decide
that use was a safety issue and arguably be immune from the general
language of the statute.

Unfortunately, the message did not get out about Prop. 19, at least
not the correct one. Many in the medical marijuana community voted
against it. Some did for greedy reasons, thinking that legalizing
recreational use and sales would cut into their businesses. Others
were offended by the proposed increase in criminal penalties for
furnishing marijuana. Prop. 19 proposed an amendment to Section 11361
of the California Health and Safety Code that would have created a new
misdemeanor for those persons aged 21 or over who furnish marijuana to
persons aged 18, 19, or 20. Currently, furnishing under an ounce of
marijuana is a misdemeanor punishable by no more than a $100 fine.

I believe that the next time around, the legalization bill should
completely legalize the cultivation, use, and sale of marijuana.
Furthermore, it should be written by attorneys and marijuana
legalization advocates who appreciate the current hurdles in the law
regarding marijuana and understand how they can be overcome.

I believe that we have the inalienable right to alter our
consciousness and that criminalizing drug use and sales is not the way
to deal with the public health effects of drug abuse.

Currently, people face life sentences in federal court and in some
states for drug crimes. The federal law still has severe mandatory
minimum sentences for drug offenders, including some marijuana
defendants. Defendants with only one prior misdemeanor can face
potential sentences of ten years to life for growing over 1000
marijuana plants and can only avoid these penalties by informing or by
negotiating a plea that generally involves prison time of over three
years.

The Controlled Substances Act currently classifies marijuana as a
Schedule I drug, a drug with no medical purposes . Cocaine, likewise,
is a Schedule I drug. We need to make it clear to our federal
legislators that they should reschedule marijuana and that no one on
either side of the political fence can really challenge providing
marijuana to those who need it and immunizing those who grow for aid
from prosecution.

The next Prop. 19 campaign in California needs to focus on the sadness
of the mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, and sons and
daughters of those incarcerated for drug offenses. We must not forget
the incarcerated themselves. These individuals, some of whom must
spend time in custody when they can't afford bail, face sub-animal
conditions, cops on steroids, and, of course, the violent defendants
they are housed with.

Drug use and abuse are social and pubic health issues. But these drug
laws started as purity laws in a progressive effort to stop
pharmaceutical companies from addicting their unknowing customers to
substances like heroin and cocaine added to common products like cough
medicine and soft drinks. We have lost sight of these original goals.

The idea of families being forced to turn on their friends and
neighbors and other members of their community, is the 1984-esque
reality of mandatory minimums and misguided policy. Unfortunately, the
stigma against hard drug and even marijuana use has led to a political
reality where those most affected by drug laws are disenfranchised.
That's why we need to rally for them and end the human suffering that
constitutes the drug war.