Alert: California Marijuana Legalization Needs Your Help NOW

Prop 19... By Oakland Dispensaries for Oakland Dispensaries... This Proposition screws all of the small growers who created California's marijuana industry.

So true @ BZ420.  MJ needs to be legalized, but not how Prop. 19 was written.  There are many holes and details that need to be ironed out.

The medical pot field should be ashamed of how it has conducted itself. It's all about profit. It just pays lip service to compassion. The whole idea that anybody should care about a bunch of self-important pot growers who have made money hand over fist on the backs of patients and faux-patients alike is ridiculous.

The medical pot industry perpetuates the black market, which can easily compete with the high prices charged by the dispensaries. The "small growers" who BZ420 says "created" California's pot industry have gouged us with $400+ pot for way too long. After prop 19 passes and its implementation gets ironed out, the price will come down and people like BZ420, will have to join the legal pot industry, or get a real job. Soon it will no longer be profitable to grow in homes in neighborhoods, or on remote public land; nor will it be profitable to sell it out of homes, or on the street. Then, the black market will disappear.

Money that previously went underground or over the border, untaxed, will remain in the legitimate economy. Pot industry workers who previously risked arrest and confiscation, will no longer have to live in fear of the government. Legal growers and sellers who would otherwise be in jail, will be able to work, pay taxes and be contributing members of society. It will no longer be necessary to hide growing pot, so it will be more easily grown outdoors, saving lots of electricity. Police will have more time for real crime, courts will be less clogged, and prisons will experience reduced overcrowding. Most importantly, users and legitimate patients won't have to spend huge amounts of money for medicinal or recreational pot, which is relatively easy to produce -- why do you think they call it weed?

Prop 19 isn't perfect, but its imperfections can be addressed as communities decide how to implement it. The only groups lobbying against prop 19 are those who make money because it's illegal -- you can be sure the cartels are against it too. That alone is enough reason to vote for it.

I realize that stopthedrugwar.com might be frequented by those invloved in the industry in one way or another, so my opinion is likely unpopular with some (like BZ420). But for those who really want to stop the drug war, pot is the gateway drug for doing so! We should start with prop 19 and its implementation by communities. Then when everybody sees how much better things are, the rest of the country will follow our lead.

For those pot purists out there who warn about R J Reneyolds, etc. coming in and ruining the product as we know it, a much better analogy is Annheuser-Busch. Just because budweiser has the biggest market share, doesn't mean that small craft breweries don't flourish. It would be the same with pot.

Unless it's too close to certify quickly, pot will be legal here in 20 days. Cities with smart governments which think ahead, already have plans to deal with it in place. I understand that Rancho Cordova decided to tax it so much that nobody will be able to afford it. On the other hand, Oakland is about to license four large commercial growing operations.

I so look forward to November 3rd!

Brown/Boxer/No on 23/Yes on 19! ?

Don't listen to the anti-Prop 19 propagandists. They are deceiving and/or self-deceived. None of the arguments against Prop 19 make any sense.

There are some honest people opposing Prop 19, but not for any well thought out reasons. A vote against Prop 19 is a prohibitionist vote, and the prohibitionists will thank you for it if the initiative loses.

See our who's for/who's against report for more information about this scurrilous anti-Prop 19 movement, with links to sites that have comprehensively debunked their arguments.

I think it is sad that at least 75% of Americans want marijuana legal but thanks to the all mighty green back our vote doesn't mean squat anymore . I'm thankful to Richard Lee for putting Prop19 on the ballot with $1.5 million of his own money but that exactly proves my point we shouldn't have to pay to get a Proposition on the ballot even more sad is all the live's this harmless herb has ruined because of the stupid laws designed to make the government money , to have 3 or 4 patents on pot (as our government does) and still say that "marijuana has no medical value" is just out and out lying to the people of the united states     

When this vote fails we can all thank Richard Lee for setting the movement back 10 years.  A simple decrim would have kept folks out of prison, not conflicted with the feds, and maintained the cottage industry that has grown up around Prop 215.

Instead, this initiative seems to invite conflict with the Feds in pursuit of consolidation and commercialization of the industry. A no win situation.

I won't vote against it, but neither can I find it in me to give it any support.

John420, your reasoning shows a real lack of knowledge about what matters most. We already have decrim which is a terrible purgatory of absurd contradiction. Not criminal to have and use but criminal to grow and sell. It's ridiculous. People are still arrested, their lives ruined and some go to jail and even prison. Production and sales have to be legalized. The "conflict" with the Feds is hot air, they cannot force the state to keep it illegal and the legislature cannot reverse a citizen initiative. The Feds can fuss and go after the a few big players but they can't stop the tide. Just like with beer and wine there are big commercial players and high quality small ones and they serve different consumers. You should vote for it. The symbolic power of it passing is extremely important to literally the rest of the world. It's passage will open eyes everywhere.

To Whom It May Concern,

Personally I think marijuana should be legalized for medical use for those who have the medical records to support their claim for the need. I have had three back surgeries and suffer from chronic pain. The Doctor's have me on morphine, Valium and an assortment of other medications to control pain and severe muscle spasms. I was on Methadone and this medication made me forget much on a day by day event as well as going to sleep while trying to drive. I have no one to drive me unless I pay them and I am not a rich man sitting in Congress or the Senate.

While politicians are fighting a medication that the State DEA told me to have my Doctor issue due to my medical problem's I was told that the Sheriff's Department delivered marijuana almost daily in the county I live in. I refused the prescribed marijuana and was issued Dronibinol (Marinol), pure THC jell capsules, how ever after the Veteran's Hospital issued this THC form of medication for five years all of a sudden this medication was removed from the formulary so it could not be prescribed again. This was NOT for the patient's that have a true need but it was based on the fact that Roxann Lab's of Dayton, OH is the only company in the US authorized to produce it and when the Marinol was dropped fron a Class 2 to a Class 3 narcotic the price went from an average of $115.00 a bottle of 25 pill's to $245.00 a bottle for the same 25 pill's. It's all about money people and WHO is making it. I personally know of a small Southern town that the Police and local DEA have their own drug dealers and every week the Police or their representative drop by the drug dealer to pick up their cut of the weekly profits. I contacted the local FBI and the FBI in the State I live in, for I was charged with distributition, along with all of my own prescribed medication's all with the additional charge of a fire arm (I had a legally issued Concealed Carry Wheapon (CCW) Permit at the time). My CCW would not even be reviewed by the arresting Officer's and my pistol was locked in my vehicle away from children. The State in question was also considered a reciprocal recognition State for the recognition of the CCW, but in this case since there was no illegal drugs in my vehicle I had marijuana thrown in as a charge in the charges. NO WHERE in the transcript was marijuana mentioned nor was it found on my person, in my vehicle and I was refused a drug test. I did take a drug test as soon as I returned home (3 days later) and passed with no problem.

To many people of money and political or in the legal system are making money for them to pass any form of legalization of marijuana. The people in power do not want this medication to be legal for their off the table retirement money would be in danger of stopping and this they do not want. If one of you has a simular problem, you too may have ran into the same response as to the neglect and corruption with n the legal system. NO, the FBI, Homeland Security, Department of Justice, CIA nor the Governor's Office would do a thing to help a 100% Disabled Veteran keep his name clear. I held a Top Secret Clearance for over 20 years and if I had gotten into any form of trouble I would have lost my job working for the Government in Department of Defense systems. Now I have four felonies on my name, three of which are prescribed medications, with a fire arm, and one for marijuana, with a fire arm. I did have my medication's but no where did I have marijuana. I was told to plead "Guilty" by my attorney because the option's I was given in court for this Southern State was two choices as follows: (1) 198 years prison and a $250,000.00 fine and (2) Plead guilty to false charges and receive five years probation and a small fine. INNOCENT was NOT on the table due to the corrupt Judge, who wanted $20,000.00 to walk free with NO charges. Aditionally, the DA in this matter was about up for some office and he wanted NO ripples in his small pond, and I did rock the boat because I was charged with false charges. Any innocent person, man or woman, who is Not Guilty would fight to have their name cleared and not have a criminal record, just as I did. I did learn one thing how ever, "Justice is what a person can pay for and how much you can pay is the key as to being charged or walk away free and with out a criminal record.

Boycott dispensaries which don't support 19!

Brown/Boxer/No on 23/Yes on 19!

What's wrong with this country?  Why wouldn't you want to legalize marijuana?  If anyone looks at other countries that has legalization of marijuana, you'd see that it actually helps control the widespread abuse.  The US is also talking about taxation of it, which means our kids don't have to go to run down schools with ancient textbooks.  For those idealists I have news for you, people are getting pot anyway.  The war on drugs is not a war on drugs, it's a war on people.  Potheads are being put in jail which my tax money is paying for.  Does anyone see the irony?  That individual could sell marijuana, pay taxes, stay out of jail, and my tax money can go towards a REAL need.  This is the 21st Century folks, get with it.

I do not live in California, so Prop 19 does not apply to me. However, Of Californian's I ask this :
            1. Please keep in you minds the Damage done not ONLY to California but to the rest of us who isPlagued by the Violent Gangs that Plaque’s our streets.

          2. To keep in mind We are also oppressed by government.

         3. To keep in mind the Horrible Killings of thousands of Mexicans, that is still on going.

         4. To keep in mind our Economy and what help that Prop 19 can give is better than Spending Money that we don’t have on a War that we can’t win.

1. 5. To keep in mind that in this Issue you DON'T stand alone.
2. And Finally I ask you to remember that When you Go Vote on Nov. 2 That Our hopes and hearts go with you. If I was Californian, I would Say “YES ON PROP 19″
3. Go California Lead us into a Better way of Life.

The proof that war and prohibition are a racket is bringing the scams to an end now.

Prohibition is a racket bringing its own swift demise.  Mr. Castillo and Mr. Emery are correct.

Screw you greedy prohibitionists voting no.  You are so selfish and can only think about yourselves and not california or the rest of the country that this prop will eventually benefit.  You are on the wrong side of history, and in a few years your corrupt greedy selfishness will be gone when legalization occurs.