I asked my mother to write a Synopsis of the real facts of Prop 19 and why not to vote for it, in honor of her, I am publishing it first, She finished before me too...
So here is what she discovered:
These are the true facts about Proposition 19.
¨Prop 19 will increase marijuana arrests, and escalate the drug war.
¨Fines & penalties for possession of up to one ounce of marijuana will be eliminated only if it was obtained “legally“. (see below)
¨It will become legal for each residence (not each person) to grow marijuana in an area not more than 5’x 5’ on property you own or with your landlord’s permission. This is equivalent to 4 to 6 small indoor plants or 1 outdoor plant as long as it stays fairly small.
¨It will remain illegal to possess, process, share or transport more than 1 ounce of marijuana even for your own personal use.
¨It will become imprisonable for 6 months (plus $1,000 fine) for each offense for anyone 21 years or older offering marijuana to adults 18-20 years of age, possibly greatly increasing the number of arrests and law enforcement costs (current penalty for passing 1 ounce or less is a $100 fine according to NORML‘s website).
¨It will become illegal to possess, process, or transport marijuana (EVEN LESS THAN 1 OUNCE) that was not purchased in a licensed dispensary (keep your receipts on you) or grown by you in compliance with Proposition 19. Penalties are unspecified to be determined by subsequently adopted laws, and may further greatly increase arrests and fines.
¨Dispensary sales will be limited to 1 ounce to persons 21 years or older.
¨Cultivation for sale and distibution will be prohibited except jurisdictions which decide to establish expensive permit processes to allow it. Patients and users alike would have to travel to these jurisdictions (mostly big cities) to obtain 1 ounce. Buying or transporting more will be illegal.
¨The income from permits could (and would) be used to administer the programs and to enforce the increased limitations enacted by Prop 19. If anything is left over it might be used for things like schools and healthcare.
¨It does not protect your right to smoke marijuana in your own home if it is a “space” where minors are present. Space (room, home, backyard, apartment building?) is undefined and left to future interpretation by state and local law-makers, law enforcement officials or judges.
This is what I believe:
This proposition was created, promoted and financed (to the tune of millions) by a few wealthy businessmen (like Jeff Wilcox and Richard Lee) who want to monopolize marijuana cultivation and distribution in California.
Under current law marijuana distributed in dispensaries is mostly grown in small operations which are legal in their jurisdictions. It is mostly organically grown in small amounts by environmentally and socially conscious growers in communities that support and develop organic food production, sustainable farming practices, and renewable energy usage. These small grow operations play a major part in the economies of communities that are taking the lead in environmentally conscious living and increasing the availability of affordable, organic products and sustainable living.
Passage of Proposition 19 would eliminate small growers, put most now-legitimate dispensaries out of business, transfer nearly all of this income to a small of number large corporations and already rich individuals, turn the California medical marijuana supply over to agribusiness, and damage or even collapse the economies of many small, rural California counties.
As for limiting the supply of marijuana to children, this is already illegal. So is warehouse mass production of marijuana. This law won’t stop the criminals who are committing these crimes, only the legitimate medical marijuana growers and suppliers.
This law would not keep anyone out of jail, but would increase the number of “crimes” to be enforced, such as obtaining marijuana from anyone other than the big-business monopolies who wrote the proposition. Proposition 19 directly invites the creation of even more laws which could jail or penalize people for a variety of new offenses.
Although it does not directly change medical marijuana laws it may drastically limit availability for patients. Depending on interpretation, it may eliminate availability to patients under 21 altogether. The limitations on rights contained in Proposition 19 appear to substantially reduce the patient’s ability obtain sufficient amounts of medical marijuana and to use it as recommended. It appears also to reduce or eliminate patient’s/caregiver’s special rights to cultivate, possess, supply and transport larger amounts, leaving them almost totally dependent on the big-city monopolies brainstormed by Jeff Wilcox, Richard Lee, and their Agra-Med cronies.
This is not a step forward in the legalization process. It is a step back, increasing regulation and civil and criminal offenses. And once big-business has control of the flow of marijuana, it will be more difficult, not less, to return control to the people. You KNOW how it is…
PLEASE VOTE ‘NO’ ON PROPOSITION 19
With a grass-roots effort we can do better than to escalate the war on drugs and legalize another big-business monopoly for the benefit of a few greedy businessmen.
