Proposition 19, the ballot measure that would regulate, tax and legalize marijuana in California, looks like it is going pass this November. The state’s most powerful unions have endorsed it, and it has broad support among many diverse groups. The initiative is presently leading in a new poll, with 47% in favor, 38% opposed and 14% undecided, even though the alcohol industry has been spending millions in an attempt to squash the popular measure.
David Sirota has just written a most insightful column analyzing why cannabis legalization is so incredibly threatening to certain factions of our society. He discusses how much less dangerous marijuana is, as opposed to other drugs like alcohol, and also illustrates the utter hypocrisy of our nation’s alcohol and drug policies:
“According to most physicians, pot is less toxic – and has more medicinal applications – than a legal and more pervasive drug like alcohol. Whereas alcohol causes hundreds of annual overdose deaths, contributes to untold numbers of illnesses and is a major factor in violent crime, marijuana has never resulted in a fatal overdose and has not been systemically linked to major illness or violent crime.
So this ballot measure is no public health threat. If anything, it would give the millions of citizens who want to use inebriating substances a safer alternative to alcohol. Which, of course, gets to what this ballot initiative really endangers: alcohol industry profits.
That truth is underscored by news this week that the California Beer and Beverage Distributors is financing the campaign against the legalization initiative. This is the same group that bankrolled opposition to a 2008 ballot measure, which would have reduced penalties for marijuana possession.”