And who are those people who pretend to know at your place what is good and bad for you?
I think the whole prohibition idea is a non sense.

By making illegal non dangerous but pleasant products prohibitionism creates gigantic black market.
By making illegal dangerous drug they abandon the selling of those dangerous products to those black markets. Prohibition makes all the danger of the drugs. It does not protect the children. It endangered the children. It can only be sustained by bandits.

First off, a flat tax would be far more intelligent than a 50 dollar per ounce tax. Marijuana’s expenses are relative to quality and it is something that varies more than almost any plant on earth. To tell someone that an ounce of low grade flowers that would cost 50 to 75 dollars is now going to be 50 dollars more is outrageous. Why should someone pay 50 dollars tax regardless of if they are shelling out 300 to 500 an ounce or whether they are shelling out 50 dollars. The whole concept is unreasonable. A percentage of the end cost would be far more sensible.

Secondly, there is nothing wrong with the present medical infrastructure with relation to taxation. Clinics must operate as non profit organizations (NPOs) which are required by law to donate 9.8% of the revenue generated to what ever facilities they choose. Would you prefer the 9.8% minimum going toward charitable avenues agreed upon by owners and local cities or lining the pockets of our corrupt higher ups in the state who are doing a very poor job managing budgets. Medical Marijuana dispensaries offer communities a unique way to finance local projects from a local revenue generator that is required to donate. How cool is it that a principle of a struggling school can contact these NPO’s and request assistance and actually get it, rather than getting drowned out in a sea of bureaucracy?

Marijuana is now recognized as something which treats over a hundred ailments. I have seen first hand many seniors who were able to come off arthritis medications and other pain meds, no longer damaging their stomach by curing their pains a natural way. Tinctures and olive oil mixtures as well as edible products are marvelous for regaining appetites for terminally ill patients and I know first hand as well of cases where lives were saved by marijuanas appetite stimulation; eating well led to a full recovery that otherwise may not have been possible-not to mention the savings the family was given by not needing IV feeding tubes which have astronomical costs.

Since the medical card system has developed nearly all illicit street sales of marijuana has dried up, save for a select branch of the black market tied closely with gangs whose world oddly does not cross with the medical world.

As far as taxation revenue goes, in order to take cash out of an NPO the most common legal option is to give the owner (whatever title they choose to place themselves under within the NPO is to take a salary, which is taxable income by the state. In addition the state already has heavy taxation matrices placed on all marijuana related items. If people for example want to buy any equipment for using medical marijuana on site at any dispensary a hefty tax is already in place. As these NPOs (like any) expand they require more man power to keep all ends of the operation running smoothly. LA several months ago reached a peak of over 450 clubs, all of which were staffed with full time employees both within the club and in the background labor required to keep things running. The present system created thousands of jobs, again all taxable and also getting currency back into circulation to allow for spending which is imperative in financial retractions such as these.

Since prop 19′s push for full decriminalization has began a war has been declared on Marijuana both by city counsels, concerned parents, and the religious right wing groups. Through varying avenues of attack LA has reduced from 450+ clubs down now to 41 legally operating with their doors open still. Thousands of people are now back on unemployment or minimum wage, likely facing losing their homes when several months ago such problems would not even have been on their minds. The most disheartening fact of all about this war against medical dispensaries is the fact that many of them are not major proponents of prop 19, some are strongly against it. By heuristic error, or guilt by association they have been targeted as the victim of the negative backlash prop 19 now faces. One club I was involved with personally sent much of its proceeds to special needs schools to compensate for Arnold’s budget cuts so that the school could remain open. Now prop 19′s negative backlash has caused that club to be bled white in court over a single form.

The final lesser discussed cons of prop 19′s passing are perhaps the most horrifying. Once fully decriminalized nothing can stop companies such as Phillip Morris (who is rumored to already have purchased land in preparation) from setting up puppet LLCs in order to attempt to monopolize the Marijuana Market; if this occurs California’s production will fall from a world leader in quality to another industry victimized by corporate bottom lines with no regard for quality.

In addition Marijuana, like most harmless non habit forming drugs is still Schedule I federally. Much of the DEA’s funding is justified by marijuana busts which inflate their activity figures (busts of cocaine, heroine, and Methamphetamine all combine to a meager fraction of their activity). Rescheduling Marijuana federally would make it very difficult for the DEA’s tens of billions in funding to be justified, it would be far more feasible to dissolve them into local law enforcement tasks force perhaps with some federal needs taken on by the FBI. The DEA will not stand for such a thing, they already violate our first amendment rights by their very existence and they are the strong arm of a second civil war within our nation. If prop 19 were to pass, the DEA would immediately begin to claim federal supremacy and viciously attack the existing infrastructure we have. What we save on state incarceration would quickly shift into costs in federal incarceration and we’d likely lose the few liberties we already have.

To summarize what I have seen from prop 19 thus far (and please don’t think I am not in favor of legality, I just know there is a time and place for everything and now is absolutely not the time): Prop 19 has thus far created new enemies disrupting the infrastructure we already have which works perfectly fine. Prop 19 would shift accessible donations which may be allocated locally where the city sees fit into the hands of inaccessible politicians who are hardly connected with the community the revenue is coming from. Prop 19 has already cost thousands of people their jobs which is presently losing the state money, our present infrastructure is by nature an injection to the bottom which is badly needed during retractions. Prop 19 allows big corporate entities to enter the industry which will destroy the ma n pop style production system we presently have which is enabling thousands of families to at least have a shot at achieving their dreams. Finally prop 19 will create a states rights versus federal rights nightmare, and caught in the middle of it all will be the avenues for obtaining marijuana, any tax revenue generated by sales will go to legal defense… assuming sales are able to continue at all.

My personal drug policies are perhaps as left wing as they can get, but I also understand the corruption backing the war on drugs. Between prisons and the corrupt bill of rights violating government agencies that thrive on this civil war full legalization threatens hundreds of billions of government money and contracts. If anyone is naive enough to think that will be dismantled without a fight they truly need to learn more about the issue.

I would love to see legality, but as far as prop 19 goes I’d rather see it removed from the ballot. The prop is far too disorganized and creating far to many enemies. Much more of the nation needs to accept medical marijuana before we can even think about full decriminalization, at least in a state and market share as large as California.

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