Should people be allowed to smoke marijuana just because
they think it is fun? Or should they be forced to buy their preferred
intoxicant in illegal deals, or pretend to have an illness, or grow
their own and hope no one complains?
This November, California voters will likely have an opportunity to join voters in Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington in legalizing weed. Or not.
Whether voters support any initiatives that make it to the ballot, many believe there are good reasons to legalize recreational use. A sampling from issues examined over the past two years:
▪ “A majority of the country supports legalization. Support over the past 25 years has steadily increased. Just 16 percent surveyed by CNN/ORC in 1990 supported legalizing marijuana. Recent polling puts support over 50 percent.”
– Zeeshan Aleem, writing for policy.mic
▪ “If alcohol and cigarettes are legal, marijuana should be too. Legal consistency is important. I can buy huge amounts of vodka or menthol cigarettes nearly anywhere in the U.S., and we can attribute thousands of lost lives to those products, but I have to visit Washington or Colorado to legally purchase a joint, which is a far safer pleasure.”
– Jack Brewer, writing for The Business Journals
▪ “It’s time for one of the most liberal states in the United States to legalize the recreational use of cannabis.”
– Victoria Kernen, writing for the
Cal Poly SLO Post
▪ “The prohibition of cannabis takes a financial and social toll on society. There were 658,000 arrests for marijuana in 2012 alone, and the majority of these arrests were for non-violent, low-level offenders. Enforcing cannabis possession laws costs the U.S. approximately $3.6 billion annually. ... Marijuana enforcement is inherently biased. No matter which way you put it, when it comes to arrests for simple marijuana possession, black Americans are ... four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana, despite the fact that blacks and whites both use cannabis at similar rates.”
– Lisa Rough, writing for www.leafly.com
▪ “Safety controls: When a person buys marijuana off the street, there’s no way to know exactly what dangerous substances are cut into the drug. ... (Legalization) creates a framework for a safety-control system, which would work to eliminate some of the risk that comes from smoking a substance potentially laced with toxic ingredients.”
From www.drugrehab.us, a resource for treating drug addiction
▪ “If California decides to legalize marijuana for recreational use, the state will see a drastic rise in revenue. … The Colorado Department of Revenue said that the state had received nearly $70 million in tax revenue from marijuana from July 1, 2014, through June 30, 2015, easily beating the $42 million in taxes on alcohol the state received.”
– Victoria Kernen,
Cal Poly Post
▪ “Washington … estimates that the state will raise nearly $200 million over the next four years in marijuana taxes and fees. This means states that lag behind in the land of criminal marijuana are potentially denying themselves access to an opportunity that could lead to balanced budgets.”
– Jack Brewer,
The Business Journals
▪ “We can stop pretending that marijuana prohibition works.”
This November, California voters will likely have an opportunity to join voters in Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington in legalizing weed. Or not.
Whether voters support any initiatives that make it to the ballot, many believe there are good reasons to legalize recreational use. A sampling from issues examined over the past two years:
▪ “A majority of the country supports legalization. Support over the past 25 years has steadily increased. Just 16 percent surveyed by CNN/ORC in 1990 supported legalizing marijuana. Recent polling puts support over 50 percent.”
– Zeeshan Aleem, writing for policy.mic
▪ “If alcohol and cigarettes are legal, marijuana should be too. Legal consistency is important. I can buy huge amounts of vodka or menthol cigarettes nearly anywhere in the U.S., and we can attribute thousands of lost lives to those products, but I have to visit Washington or Colorado to legally purchase a joint, which is a far safer pleasure.”
– Jack Brewer, writing for The Business Journals
▪ “It’s time for one of the most liberal states in the United States to legalize the recreational use of cannabis.”
– Victoria Kernen, writing for the
Cal Poly SLO Post
▪ “The prohibition of cannabis takes a financial and social toll on society. There were 658,000 arrests for marijuana in 2012 alone, and the majority of these arrests were for non-violent, low-level offenders. Enforcing cannabis possession laws costs the U.S. approximately $3.6 billion annually. ... Marijuana enforcement is inherently biased. No matter which way you put it, when it comes to arrests for simple marijuana possession, black Americans are ... four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana, despite the fact that blacks and whites both use cannabis at similar rates.”
– Lisa Rough, writing for www.leafly.com
▪ “Safety controls: When a person buys marijuana off the street, there’s no way to know exactly what dangerous substances are cut into the drug. ... (Legalization) creates a framework for a safety-control system, which would work to eliminate some of the risk that comes from smoking a substance potentially laced with toxic ingredients.”
From www.drugrehab.us, a resource for treating drug addiction
▪ “If California decides to legalize marijuana for recreational use, the state will see a drastic rise in revenue. … The Colorado Department of Revenue said that the state had received nearly $70 million in tax revenue from marijuana from July 1, 2014, through June 30, 2015, easily beating the $42 million in taxes on alcohol the state received.”
– Victoria Kernen,
Cal Poly Post
▪ “Washington … estimates that the state will raise nearly $200 million over the next four years in marijuana taxes and fees. This means states that lag behind in the land of criminal marijuana are potentially denying themselves access to an opportunity that could lead to balanced budgets.”
– Jack Brewer,
The Business Journals
▪ “We can stop pretending that marijuana prohibition works.”
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