California in The News
California continues to stay in the news when it comes to marijuana. Liberal drug laws seem to keep the state in constant disarray from dispensaries to grow operations. Recently nearly 1.7 billion dollars worth of marijuana has been confiscated by the Drug Enforcement Administration due to the overwhelming increase in grow operations. This illegal, industrial farming in California's state and national parks has had devastating effects on the environment. The toxic pesticides and other chemicals used in clandestine farming and manufacture destroy our natural resources.
Pro-drug advocates claim that the legalization of marijuana will make grow operations as well as drug cartels disappear. However, with limited regulations on the manufacturing and distribution of marijuana in Proposition 19, an initiative that would legalize marijuana for all purposes, common sense would tell you that the farming of marijuana would only get worse. As for drug cartels, it is highly unlikely they will give up their 1.7 billion dollar business gracefully and go home.
How can we preserve our natural resources from the trauma of toxic grow operations?
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The National Black Police
The National Black Police Assn., which has about 15,000 members, is the second African American organization to back the measure. The California NAACP has also endorsed it, citing the disproportionate arrest and incarceration of African Americans caught with marijuana.
Ron Hampton, the police association’s executive director, said he decided the group should get behind the measure because it would eliminate laws that have a negative impact on the black community.
“It means that we will be locking up less African American men and women and children who are using drugs,” said Hampton, a retired Washington, D.C., police officer with 25 years experience. “We’ve got more people in prison. We’ve got more young people in prison. Blacks go to jail more than whites for doing the same thing.”
Hampton said that the money being spent on the war on drugs could be better spent on education, housing and creating jobs. “It just seemed like to me that we have been distracted in this whole thing,” he said. “We can take that money, and focus and concentrate on things that really make a difference in our community.”
To those who say Prop 19
To those who say Prop 19 won’t bring jobs and revenue to California:
When prop 19 passes, myself, along with hundreds of thousands of other Americans will:
1. Get online and book plane tickets (revenue for airline industry) (jobs in transportation and customer service)
2. Rent a car (revenue for rental companies)(jobs in rental industry)(potential for new small business)
3. Stay at your local hotels (revenue for hotel industry) (jobs in hospitality management)(potential for new small business)
4. Eat at your local restaurants (revenue for local small business) (jobs in service industry and small business potential)
5. Go buy legal herb from dispensaries (revenue for local dispensaries) (potential for MORE dispensaries to open to support my habit)
6. Go see other local attractions you have to offer (Revenue for Disney, sporting venues, theaters, bars, etc) (Jobs in tourist related industry)
And I will repeat this process several times a year. This is only a SMALL example of why this is a good thing.
If you really don’t think prop 19 is going to bring revenue and jobs to Cali, please go take an Economics 101 class at your local community college (revenue for local schools)
The customer is king
Where is the common sense in saying that legal pot would continue to be grown clandestinely? What would be the incentive to grow in public forests if there were no risk of one's land being seized? And why would cannabis consumers continue doing shady street deals for inferior product when there are nicely-lit storefronts with a wide selection to choose from? As Walmart and K-mart will tell you (from opposite ends of the spectrum of success) - the customer is king.
By all means, though, please keep publicizing the $1.7B bust... it will only make Californians wonder why their state isn't getting a slice of the pie.