Pubdate: Sat, 30 Oct 2010 Source: Marin Independent Journal (CA) Copyright: 2010 Marin Independent Journal Contact: http://www.marinij.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/673 Author: Lynnette Shaw Note: Lynnette Shaw heads the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana in Fairfax. Cited: Proposition 19 http://yeson19.com/ Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/find?272 (Proposition 19) 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. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake