Pubdate: Sun, 29 Aug 2010
Source: Desert Sun, The (Palm Springs, CA)
Webpage: http://mapinc.org/url/R4TZc5l0
Copyright: 2010 The Desert Sun
Contact: http://local2.thedesertsun.com/mailer/opinionwrap.php
Website: http://www.mydesert.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1112
Note: Does not accept LTEs from outside circulation area.
Author: Lanny Swerdlow, Special to The Desert Sun
Note: Lanny Swerdlow, RN, can be seen on "Marijuana Compassion and
Common Sense" at 11 p.m. every Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday on
Time-Warner Cable channel 17.
Cited: Proposition 19 http://yeson19.com/
Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/find?272 (Proposition 19)

Yes: Legalizing Marijuana Would Add Revenue And Let Cops Fight Real Crime

With more than $300 million spent annually arresting more than 60,000
Californians, the majority of them young, black and brown, the
California Medical Association accurately labels marijuana
criminalization "a failed public health policy."

Proposition 19 allows police to concentrate on real crimes, unclogs
courts and reduces prison overcrowding. The California Board of
Equalization estimates legalization will raise $1.4 billion for
schools, health programs and essential government services.

Proposition 19 opponents point to the societal and health costs of
alcohol as proof there will be increased costs if marijuana is
legalized. Truth be told, health care costs will go down when
responsible adults are allowed to make the rational, safer choice to
use marijuana instead of alcohol.

Hospital beds are overflowing with patients with heart damage,
destroyed livers, pancreatitis, diseased brains -- costly and
debilitating ailments caused solely by their use of alcohol. You are
not likely to find a single patient in any hospital wing -- cardiac,
respiratory, cancer -- with any ailment related only to their use of
marijuana. Not one!

Contrary to allegations by narcotic law enforcement that admissions
to emergency departments for marijuana are going through the roof, a
2010 study published in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine
found that "marijuana was by far the most commonly used (illicit)
drug, but individuals who used marijuana had a low prevalence of
drug-related ED visits."

A 2009 study at Switzerland's Luasanne University Hospital and a 2006
University of Missouri study independently found marijuana inversely
associated with injuries requiring hospitalization. The Missouri
study concluded marijuana use resulted in a "substantially decreased
risk of injury."

An August 2010 RAND study reported fewer than 200 patients were
admitted to California hospitals in 2008 for "marijuana abuse or
dependence," but there were almost 73,000 hospitalizations related to alcohol.

Although opponents of Proposition 19 are quick to make misleading and
inaccurate statements about a few studies they purport demonstrate
the dangers of marijuana, even a casual reading finds the number of
people negatively affected in the low single digits with the reports
using scientific weasel words like "may," "might" or "suggest."

Fiscal conservatives should note a 2009 study in the British Columbia
Mental Health and Addictions Journal, which found health-related
costs eight times higher for drinkers than cannabis consumers with
most of marijuana's costs due to its illegal status.

Noting that "research on medical cannabis patients has alluded to the
use of cannabis as a substitute for alcohol," a June 2009 Harm
Reduction Journal study found "40 percent of participants reported
using cannabis as a substitute for alcohol."

Although driving under the influence of any substance should be
avoided, a 2007 study of U.S. drivers published in the Canadian
Journal of Public Health and a 2005 review of French auto accidents
concluded that drivers who test positive for alcohol, even under .08
percent blood-alcohol content, were three to four times more likely
to be involved in a fatal collision than those who use marijuana.

Revenue raised, police resources wisely used are excellent reasons to
support Proposition 19, but it is the ability of marijuana to replace
alcohol as a relaxant and mood enhancer without the liver destroying,
judgment impairing and violence inducing properties of alcohol that
makes the passage of Proposition 19 vital to the health of the
individual and the community.
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Pubdate: Sun, 29 Aug 2010
Source: Desert Sun, The (Palm Springs, CA)
Webpage: http://mapinc.org/url/Wj4rvhvr
Copyright: 2010 The Desert Sun
Contact: http://local2.thedesertsun.com/mailer/opinionwrap.php
Website: http://www.mydesert.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1112
Author: Donald S. Karvelis
Note: Donald S. Karvelis, Ed.D, is a wellness and nutrition
consultant who lives in Palm Springs.
Cited: Proposition 19 http://yeson19.com/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion)
Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/find?272 (Proposition 19)

NO: LEGALIZING MARIJUANA WOULD CAUSE MORE PROBLEMS THAN IT WOULD CURE

Legalizing marijuana will not solve state budget problems. Proposition
19 promises that legalization will produce billions of dollars in tax
revenue.

Not likely! Remember the promises of the California Lottery? If the
voters approved it, we were told "our schools would no longer be
strapped for funds. Education would be saved," etc.

On July 16, The Desert Sun reported that the Coachella Valley Unified
School District cut $10million from its budget this year, leaving it
with a $6 million shortfall. What happened? Are the politicians or
bureaucrats spending the lottery money on something else? Recently,
columnist Christopher Caldwell wrote that because of "the cost of
infrastructure and law enforcement, and the steep toll of gambling
addiction and its treatment, gambling takes much more out of an
economy than it puts in -- about three times as much, according to the
economist Earl Grinols." While that may not apply directly to the
lottery, the bottom line is that the finances of our schools are worse
than ever. The lottery is a bust.

Most likely, the result of the legalization of marijuana will be
worse. How will legal amounts be controlled? What will be required to
keep it unavailable to everyone under 21? No doubt a control and
enforcement bureaucracy will be needed. There will be higher police
and court costs resulting from increased driving under the influence
as well as illegal use by kids.

Legalization of marijuana will most likely make our current budget
problems worse. Legalizing marijuana will have serious health and
medical cost consequences.

A 2001 Harvard Medical School study found that users over 50 may
temporarily boost their chances of a heart attack by 500 percent. A
2008 American Heart Journal paper reported that "marijuana users were
significantly more likely to die from cardiovascular distress ... than
those who didn't use illegal drugs ... especially those with incipient
heart problems."

Other reports indicate marijuana use triggers paranoia, depression and
addiction in some people, especially younger people.

Marijuana is a dangerous drug. It may have treatment value for some
conditions, but as with most pharmaceuticals, dangerous side-effects
are possible.

The fourth-leading cause of death in America today results from
reaction to prescription drugs. Recreational use of marijuana will
make this situation worse. Implementation of Proposition 19 will make
marijuana more readily available and lead to increased medical
treatment costs.

Legalizing marijuana will have negative social consequences.

Society prohibits juveniles from access to alcohol, tobacco and many
prescription drugs because it is medically acknowledged that these
substances are dangerous. Young minds and bodies not fully developed
are more vulnerable to damage than are adults.

Unfortunately, juveniles are attracted to these substances because
they perceive their use as adult activities. All of the Proposition 19
provisions will not change that fact. We can be certain that
legalization will make it more likely that juveniles will gain greater
access to marijuana.

Support for Proposition 19 reflects a self-centered adult population
consumed with its own pleasure and lacking regard for the impact of
their behavior on children. Nothing does more harm to our society!

In a recent debate, TV commentator Geraldo Rivera stated that
legalization of marijuana and other drugs had turned Amsterdam into "a
mess and a sewer." The other panelists, pro and con, agreed.

Is that the society we want in California? Not me! Vote no on
Proposition 19.
____________________________________

Pubdate: Sun, 29 Aug 2010
Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel (CA)
Copyright: 2010 Santa Cruz Sentinel
Contact: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/submitletters
Website: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/394
Authors: Tony Newman, Stephen Gutwillig
Note: Tony Newman is the director of media relations at the Drug
Policy Alliance. Stephen Gutwillig is the California director of the
Drug Policy Alliance.
Cited: Proposition 19 http://yeson19.com/
Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/find?272 (Proposition 19)

CALIFORNIA'S MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION INITIATIVE IS ALREADY A WINNER

Californians have a chance to make history in November when they vote
on Proposition 19, which would legalize marijuana for adults over 21.
Polls collectively show voters split but leaning toward this
momentous stand against failed marijuana prohibition. Ten weeks from
Election Day, it's clear how much Prop. 19 has already accomplished
for the drug policy reform movement.

Prop. 19 is arguably the highest profile voter initiative in the
nation and has unleashed a torrent of global interest. The initiative
has generated thousands of international stories, explicitly
discussing this alternative to our disastrous policies. In
particular, Prop. 19 has radically accelerated the public's
understanding of the relative harms of marijuana, tobacco and
alcohol, validating the widespread suspicion that a fundamental
hypocrisy lies at the heart of the outright ban on marijuana -- as
evidenced by the endorsement of former U.S. Surgeon General Dr.
Joycelyn Elders.

Prop. 19 has inspired an unprecedented coalition in support of
reforming our futile and wasteful marijuana laws. Students for
Sensible Drug Policy and Firedoglake.com organized students,
law-enforcement, libertarians and progressives to launch their "Just
Say Now" campaign.

The California NAACP, the state ACLU affiliates and the National
Black Police Association all endorsed Prop. 19, specifically citing
the chilling racial disparities Advertisement in the enforcement of
marijuana laws. Latino leadership, starting recently with Assemblyman
Hector De La Torre and the Latino Voters League, has just begun to
weigh in as well.

Finally, organized labor -- from longshoremen to food to
communications workers -- for the first time offered endorsements
because controlling and regulating marijuana will mean jobs and
revenue that the state currently cedes to criminal cartels and the
black market.

This coalition signifies that serious people take regulating
marijuana for adults seriously. Prop. 19 is now at the heart of
spirited debates at kitchen tables, in college classrooms and in
halls of power that once assumed the inevitability of the status quo.
In fact, former Mexican President Vicente Fox just endorsed marijuana
legalization precisely to address the prohibition-related bloodbath
in Mexico that has taken 28,000 lives since 2006.

In this country Prop. 19 has truly sped up the political debate on
marijuana policy overall, one that was previously dominated by
medical marijuana issues. The major candidates for statewide office
in California generally oppose Prop. 19. However professional
politicos, including California Democratic Party Chairman John
Burton, already identify marijuana legalization as a potential
game-changing issue to drive Democratic turnout among younger,
progressive voters in this and future elections. That's precisely why
nominee for lieutenant governor, Gavin Newsom, with a potentially
long future in state politics, publicly agonized over his decision,
saying, "I'm frustrated with myself on this one, to be truthful."

Even the California PTA has acknowledged these shifting winds by
taking a neutral rather than opposing position, signaling the
historic debate that must have occurred within its venerable ranks.

Prop. 19 has created opportunities that conventional wisdom simply
couldn't have predicted. Anyone sick and tired of our disastrous
marijuana prohibition has been handed a chance to make history.
California voters should not only go to the polls but also talk to
friends, family and neighbors about Prop. 19. Those of us outside of
California should support the campaign financially right now and help
get out the vote in November.

Prop. 19 is already a winner. Imagine when we make this the vote
heard around the world.
________________________________________

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