Marijuana…Legal In Ca.?

California electorate is divided over an initiative on the November ballot that would legalize marijuana for recreational use.The Public Policy Institute of Ca. poll out Wed (05/19/2010) found t 49 percent of likely voters would support legalization of cannabis, while 48 percent oppose it. The poll has a margin of inaccuracy of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The state of California already allows medicinal use of cannabis, but would become the first state to legalize recreational use if voters approve the initiative.The poll found that Democrats and independents are far more likely to support the initiative than Republicans. Not overly surprising. Support also is higher in the Bay Area, while L.A. and the Central Valley remain divided.The survey found that men are more likely to favor legalization than women.

One of the biggest cash crops in the United States is marijuana. Several states have legalized it for sale for medical use. If you compare where “pot” is now to where alcohol was back in the days of prohibition, there are some similarities. Even though recreational use is illegal in most parts of the country, its use, like alcohol back in the twenties, is still very widespread.

The only difference is that marijuana has some use medically while you'd be hard pressed to find a medical use for booze. Back in the twenties, the use of marijuana was primarily confined to Black jazz musicians in the south. Since it wasn't used by many whites, propaganda films like “Reefer Madness” were put out by the government to discourage Caucasians from using it.

The films carried all kinds of dire warnings. Just one little puff on a marijuana cigarette would lead to madness and like the character in the film, murder. Of course, this has been proven not so by scientific research.

But the real reason for it being outlawed was because of DuPont Chemical Company. It was a business decision. Hemp fibers in many ways did a better job for making clothing than cotton and DuPont was right on the verge of developing synthetic fibers like nylon and rayon. They didn't want the additional competition from hemp.

The argument for legalizing marijuana has been around for a long time. Why waste all of those billions of dollars that are going underground when you can legalize it and tax it. It could potentially go a long way towards solving the national deficit.

What is the downside to using marijuana? The only thing that the government has been able to find so far is that excessive use might cause you to become apathetic. At least it doesn't cause an inability to drive an automobile alike alcohol does.

According to CNN, in states where medical marijuana is legal, many families are becoming growers and processors. There are even some mother and son teams.

With more and more states legalizing at least medical marijuana, I think that it won't belong before the prohibition ends. I don't use marijuana anymore. A lot of my friends do. When you get older the thrill of a long afternoon nap outweighs getting that buzz.

It might be a good idea though to legalize the pot and put more restrictions on alcohol, or prohibit its use all together. Then we can go after cigarettes and solve the national health crisis.

How many lives could be saved if people no longer smoked cigarettes and drove drunk? Not to mention the tremendous savings on health cost. At least the tobacco companies don't have the enormous sway with the politicians that it used to have.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2010/03/09/spellman.marijuana.family.cnn?hpt=C2

test Filed under Uncategorized | Tags: california electorate, central valley, democrats, inaccuracy, independents, initiative, legalization of cannabis, marijuana, medicinal use of cannabis, percentage points, poll, public policy institute, republicans, state of california, survey found that |