Posted on 09/28/2010 2:38:56 PM PDT by La Enchiladita
TO truly consider the merits of Proposition 19, you must check your morals at the door. Because the heart of the Nov. 2 ballot measure is not about whether marijuana is no worse than alcohol or whether the law should allow for small amounts of personal pot.
The real question of this initiative is whether California wants to take on the federal government and allow any and every city in the state to make up its own rules about selling, manufacturing and transporting an illegal substance.
And the Daily News thinks the answer to the question is an emphatic "no."
The Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 is a poorly crafted initiative that would set the scene for a regulatory nightmare in California. Besides, permitting anyone over 21 to possess, grow or transport up to an ounce of marijuana, it would also allow local governments to regulate and tax production, distribution and sale of marijuana in a way that suits their jurisdiction. This patchwork approach to regulation is the most alarming aspect of the measure. With every city and county in the state coming up with different marijuana laws, the resulting confusion could make the lawless and explosive growth of medical marijuana dispensaries in recent years seem like the good old days.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailynews.com ...
This is what I keep explaining to the liberals here at FRee Republic.
They are so eager to legalize pot. They also claim that they want less government.
When I suggest they simply look at the specifics of Prop 19, they call me a nanny-stater who wants to return to Prohibition.
Oh well. I predict Prop. 19 will fail miserably at the polls.
I can't wait til health care, energy policy, and everything else is completely centralized so we don't have to deal with a patchwork of confusing laws that increase the cost of doing business and decrease the control of our elite officials over the inferior masses.
/sarc
If your idea of less government is one set of rules drafted in DC then count me in favor of more ... local ... government.
lolol
I clicked your FReep page. And as I suspected, you’re a Californian.
As bad as the politics are in DC, at least they’re not as screwed up as they are in Sacremento.
But hey.... if you’re happy to live there.... more power to you.
If half the population of California weren’t getting stoned all these years, maybe the place wouldn’t have become the hellhole it is now. Which brings up another point, why legalize something for a group who already flaunt the laws?
It sounds perfect for California. Its proponents should add another argument, that legalizing marijuana will protect the environment. A majority of California voters will vote for anything with a green label on it. They also believe that bond issues are free money and that they can vote themselves into paradise.
Nothing compared to the Medicare Advantage rules and regs. It is truly set up by Rube Goldberg himself.
I am almost certain this will pass only because unions are starting to horn in on the marijuana industry.
I noticed that SEIU already endorsed Yes on 19. Media are pushing it too. Legalization would give them lots and lots of exciting “stories.”
Have you looked at Mexico? Why would you support the Cartel...
Why would you support the Billions being spent on the 'war'...
Why would you support NO help for addicts?
Do you have your head completely in the ground?
Why are you so eager to give billions to the government that has absolutely no history of success - except for killing or putting into prison dopers?
Absolutely no road map to success?
before calling us Libs...have some semblance of an argument?
doesn't matter to me if the dog-gone thing passes or fails...this is California you are talking about.
I would like to have ONE intelligent conversation - rather than attacks....(Of course I am just as guilty, huh?)
Shouldn’t a decsion to make a substance illegal be left up to the inhabitants of a region, and not up to t gigantic federal beauracracy?
>Media are pushing it too. Legalization would give them lots and lots of exciting “stories.”<
They’re already running the “battle for marijuana rights” into the ground. Media is all for anything that will give them lots of fodder for stories.
You’re right-they’ll get even more mileage out of this issue now.
Jon Walker says “I’ve noticed a consistent but baseless distortion being spread by opponents of California’s Proposition 19, which would legalize, regulate and tax cannabis. They complain that Prop 19 is poorly crafted and/or would produce an unenforceable “patchwork” of regulation. The reality is that, compared with most propositions in California’s history, Prop 19 is very sensibly written, with the express purpose of giving state and local governments maximum flexibility to make legal marijuana workable. The fictitious, nightmarish “patchwork” of regulations caused by allowing local governments to craft local ordinances is no different than how local governments handle almost everything in our economy, including alcohol, parking, pizza ovens, farmers markets and building codes.
The “poorly crafted” and “patchwork” myth is often pushed by people who can’t think of any other argument for maintaining the failed prohibition against marijuana. So instead, opponents try to push nonsensical, technical-sounding arguments to scuttle Prop 19.
Corrupt local governments are no doubt eager for the tax revenues provided for in the “legalization,” public safety be damned.
And, to illustrate the media bias in favor of the side YOU are on, try doing a search on google for NO ON PROP 19 articles and commentary. They block it.
It’s about cha-ching, MORE government corruption, and a civil law-abiding society be damned.
I've escaped several times, but the men in the white coats eventually track me down and return me to my fellow inmates.
And we're really not all that focused on marijuana. We just ask that no one mess with our daily dose of thorazine.
MADD is a fascist organization that has lost touch with its original mission.
I was on the fence with regard to 19, but knowing that MADD is on the NO side, I will be voting confidently on the YES side.
Proving once again that politics makes strange bedfellows.
uh.....just a sec........whhhhhhhhhoooo.....there.....y’know,dudes & dudettes, I think...justa sec........whhhhhooooo.....hhaaa...I’m a for.....a......what were you talking about dude? OH yeah. I’’m for it. yeah that’s what was sayin’
By my count, there are 835,237 million pot smokers in the US. Can you imagine kumbaiya(sic)being sung in 835,237 part harmony? Not so good, though.
And a question for those of you that are finger wagging at CA for doing questionable things: Where have you been?
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