(opinion) Prop 19: Can it happen?

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Written by Paul Trent

Wednesday, 21 July 2010 11:48

2010 marks a shift in the attitudes of voters nationwide, and no issue makes that point better than California Proposition 19: the California Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010. For the first time since the enaction of federal anti-drug legislation in the early 20th Century, a state has decided to stand up to Federal authority and assert its constitutional rights to impose regulations and taxes on goods produced inside the state.

The marijuana issue is one that lingers into the modern paradigm, despite years of research on the drug, both in a laboratory and colloquially. If you've been to college since the 1960's, chances are you have, at minimum, been exposed to someone smoking cannabis at some point in your life. And everyone has a different perspective and story to offer about their experiences. None are more or less valid. Or, your mileage may vary.

If you're a recreational dope smoker, one can attest that the drug is a highly personal experience that varies from person to person. Some claim it to be a mood amplifier, taking whatever you're feeling at the moment and intensifying it. Feel like sitting around watching TV all day? Sure, a big ol' bong load will help you facilitate that. Planning to get out in the garden and weed that cabbage patch this afternoon? I bet there's more than one gardener who's lighting one up in advance. I've had the pleasure of working a summer job in menial labor where our boss would use a lunchtime smoke break to motivate the crew to dig the ditch faster. It worked, then we dug another ditch in the afternoon, happy to do so. This was also in a time before random drug testing and the assumption that all your employees are just out to screw you.

Not quite that far back, but close.

But all of that is colloquial, positive language that would serve to illustrate my point. For some, marijuana makes one lazy, unmotivated, "spaced out", anxious and any other number of negative side effects. The underground black market for production and distribution of the plant is both violent and dangerous and does add to America's ongoing middle-class drug problem. There are lots of drugs, legal and otherwise, that destroy lives. Daily.

I like to believe that we are, in general more educated and aware in this foul year of our Lord, 2010, than at any other point in history. Anyone remember the amphetamine crazy? Mother's little helper? True epidemics of people's drug problems on far more damaging and addictive drugs than cannabis, largely out of ignorance.

What Prop 19 attempts to do is to move the production and distribution of cannabis to public markets, with state oversight, regulation and taxation. In the 50 years since the "hippie" revolution, the marijuana issue has come and gone semi-regularly. Both sides have compelling and valid arguments for and against prohibition of the drug. The underlying issue at hand with this resolution is not only a question of personal choice, responsibility and moderation, but also a question of States' rights. It is quite curious that California of all places is the site of the battleground for these personal freedoms.

If California Proposition 19 passes, it makes anecdotal quips about public attitudes on the issue disappear as a constituency has voiced its opinion on the matter in a finite and tangible way. Over the years, many initiatives have started in California and moved East. If one that puts more freedoms back in the hands of the individual citizen takes root, my hope for humanity may be restored. West Virginia could benefit from studying this model, as boutique cannabis farming in the hills could be a very lucrative tax and employment stream for the State.