Should Marijuana be legalized Should Marijuana be legalized? Legalization of Proposition 19 Celestino Fernandez Dr. Kimberley Garth-James CCJS 201 November 16, 2010

Yes on Prop 19 There is about fourteen billion dollars in cannabis transactions every year in California. Since cannabis is still illegal, our state receives no profit that would come from controlling and taxing it. The Board of Equalization estimates that controlling and taxing cannabis could produce one point four billion dollars in profits each year. The BOE will be able to get income by charging fifty dollars of tax per ounce of cannabis. Profits would benefit drug education, awareness, and rehabilitation programs. The money could also open up new businesses creating more jobs and tourism. Revenue would also come from café’s and the tourism that would come from the coffeehouses. If the controlled taxed marijuana was just as effective as the wine industry it would generate around 60,000 to 100,000 jobs and therefore adding two point five to three point five billion dollars for workers each year.

Police arrests Millions of taxpayer dollars are being wasted yearly by arresting non-violent cannabis consumers. According to the FBI, in 2008 61,000 people in California were arrested on the account of possessing misdemeanor amounts of marijuana. Also in that year, 60,000 violent crimes were not solved in California. A study by Florida State University economists Bruce Benson and David Rasmussen, violent crime increase when police are more focused on enforcing the drug laws, mainly on the prevention of marijuana use. They found that for every one percent increase in drug arrests it would lead to a point one eight percent increase in violent crimes.

Drug Cartels Proposition 19 will help cut off a major source of money going to the drug cartels. Marijuana ban has led to cause a violent criminal market run by violent drug cartels across our border. Just in 2008, the cartels killed 6,290 people in Mexico. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy stated that in 2006 more than 60 percent of the money made by Mexican drug cartels came from illegal marijuana dealings in the United States.

No on Prop 19 Michael R. Keitz (2010), states that the legalization of marijuana should not be legalized. One reason is because a person who uses marijuana has a greater chance of weakening their health, as stated by NIDA. Throughout the first hour after smoking marijuana, a person's chance of having a heart attack is four times greater. The smoke of marijuana has a mixture of gas toxins that could lead to lung problems. Marijuana smoke also has a greater possibility to cause cancer of the lung system, because it has up to seventy percent more irritants and carcinogens than tobacco smoke. Marijuana is also considered a gateway drug, leading to the consumption of harder drugs.

References Dale Gieringer, Ph.D. (2009). California NORML. Retrieved Oct 29, 2010 from http://canorml.org/background/CA_legalization2.html Debra A. Waltz, Ronil Dwarka, Margaret S. Shedd (2/23/09). STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION STAFF LEGISLATIVE BILL ANALYSIS, Marijuana fee. Retrieved Oct 28, 2010 from http://www.boe.ca.gov/legdiv/pdf/ab0390-1dw.pdf Kit OConnell, (2010, October 30). On cannabis and proposition 19. Retrieved October 27, 2010 from http://my.firedoglake.com/kitoconnell/2010/10/30/on-cannabis proposition19. Michael R. Keitz (2010, October 22). Vote ‘no’ on Prop 19. The Sierra Star. Retrieved October 28, 2010 from http://www.sierrastar.com/2010/10/22/53868/vote-no-on-prop-19.html. S.K. Seymour Oaksterdam University (2010). Yes on Prop 19 control and tax cannabis November 2, 2010. Retrieved October 20, 2010 from http://yeson19.com/node/97 Teo Ballve, Winnipeg Free Press (2010, October 26). Prop 19 Would Help Defuse Mexico's Drug War. Retrieved October 29, 2010 from http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/content/2010/10/26/Prop-19-Would-Help-Defuse-Mexicos-Drug-War. Tom Evans, CNN (2010, February 2). Former Mexican official urges legalizing marijuana. Retrieved October 28, 2010 from http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/02/02/us.mexico.marijuana/index.html?section=cnn_latest. USA Today, (2009, February 26). Mexico: 1,000 killed in drug violence so far in '09. Retrieved October 27, 2010 from http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-02-26-mexico-drug-violence_N.htm. YouTube - TV Ad - Police Chief McNamara: Vote YES On Proposition 19. (2010, October 24). YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Retrieved November 18, 2010, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_oIpIyZRu0 Lies about marijuana and Prop 19. (2010, August 12). YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Retrieved November 18, 2010, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgJNjPOXysQ