When it comes to
California's Prop. 19, I've found there are roughly 3 types of people opposed to the initiative.
- Some politicians or law enforcement types who think it is in their best interest to oppose cannabis reform.
- People who have not read the initiative and have been relying only on hearsay and urban legends (or who misunderstand the language in the initiative).
- Those with investments in the medical marijuana industry who are more concerned about losing money if the price of cannabis goes down or if CA residents no longer have to pay MediCann $200 to get a doctor's note saying it's ok for them to use medical marijuana.
Below are parts of a post from
Opposing Views that includes a debate going on between Chris Conrad, NORML and Dragonfly de la Luz. Dragonfly is the author of a blog called "
Stoners Against Prop 19" in which she states mountains of misinformation and lies that were quickly and easily refuted by Chris Conrad and Russ Belville at NORML.
Dragonfly: Nowhere in my article do I claim that marijuana is more legal when it’s decriminalized. I said it is more legal now because it IS legal now. Marijuana has been legal in California since 1996.
NORML: Really, I’ll have to mention that to the 78,514 Californians arrested in 2008 for marijuana offenses. In fact, marijuana IS NOT legal in California and since 1996 a handful of Californians have only been exempted from criminal prosecution under Prop 215 (except, of course, Eugene Davidovich, Donna Lambert, James Stacy, Jovan Jackson, Felix Kha, and a whole bunch of other people who thought they were legal under Prop 215 yet still ended up in a courtroom and behind bars for a time).
Specifically in Prop 215:
…patients and their primary caregivers who obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes upon the recommendation of a physician are not subject to criminal prosecution or sanction.
Which means that criminal prosecutions and sanctions for marijuana still exist. Shorter: it ain’t legal.
You really have to
read the whole thing to believe this nonsense. She even goes so far as to speak on behalf of Jack Herer, a man who died months ago. We're assuming she hasn't seen the
statement that the Herer family released calling on people like Dragonfly to stop using Jack Herer's name to spread lies about Prop 19.
Unfortunately, Jack passed away before Prop 19 made the 2010 ballot; so many people think he would still oppose it. We don’t believe that, and we ask that everyone stop saying he would cling to that position as we move toward the Nov. 2 vote.
As his family, we want the world to know that the last thing Jack Herer would want is for Californians to vote to keep Cannabis illegal. He was smart and had the political savvy to know that once a measure is on the ballot, the time for bickering has passed. That is why he campaigned for Prop 215 despite its shortcomings. That is why, were he able, he would now be telling voters to rally around and Vote Yes on Prop 19.
Dragonfly calls herself a marijuana activist because she "
travel(s) the world, find(s) the best ganja, smoke(s) it, and write(s) about it for pot magazines."
I'm sorry Dragonfly, that's not called activism, that's called partying. And while you're busy partying, nearly
900,000 people are being arrested for marijuana charges every year in this country and about 10% of those arrests are coming from California.
Step aside and let the real activists do our work.
Parents of a student in the Delaware Valley School District have threatened a law suit over the student drug testing policy that requires all students to be tested if they want to participate in sports, extra curricular activities or have campus parking permits.
