Conservative Donnybrook

The stage is set: In November, Californians will go to the polls and either legalize and tax marijuana or keep it decriminalized. Marijuana is the number one cash crop in California (and in several other states), grossing an estimated $14 billion per year! Grapes, by comparison, gross roughly $2.6 billion annually. Conservative estimates suggest that through legalization and taxation the cost would drop, tax would be applied and the net expense would be the same for the consumer, resulting in a windfall $1 billion for Sacramento. The time is right, the money is right and the resistance is small and shrinking.

Marijuana is relatively harmless as it is non-addictive, posses no substantial health threat, impairs users much less than alcohol and like alcohol, it comes in countless varieties and strains. Simply put, there is no reason to make this plant or its growth and consumption illegal. Legalization provides income to our strapped state, dramatically reduces its availability to minors and removes it from the control of sometimes violent criminal organizations.

The chief arguments against marijuana legalization are unfounded (think Reefer Madness). Those that clamor for its continued ban largely do so out of an over-inflated sense of “moral” superiority and ignorance. However, there are others that will not support legalization. Growers, organized crime and dealers will not want their source of income jeopardized by allowing government to regulate the business. You see, regulation means control. As it is marijuana is illegal and, thus, one of the last sources of truly free-enterprise. Nevertheless, applying criminal sanctions, banning its use and overcrowding our jails are a travesty. The time has come to undue almost 100 years of bad policy.