The Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis act has gotten enough voter signatures to be on California’s November ballot. California Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act: Part 1 summarizes the arguments for passing this voter initiative. While polls show a 59 percent majority of California voters who have decided to support the marijuana legalization measure, there are opponents of the voter initiative that say the tax pay day is not worth the problems the act will create. Detractors of the bill have one of two major arguments – either how the Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis act will cause more crime, or how the act will take away from the quality of grown marijuana.
The medical argument against legalizing cannabis
While the medical uses of marijuana are under debate, several doctors agree there are some medical uses for the drug. Public health could be harmed if marijuana is made legal for recreational use.
For the most part, marijuana is smoked – and smoking anything long term can seriously damage lung tissue. Studies have also found that heavy pot smoking can permanently harm short term memory and reaction time. These opponents argue that legalized recreational marijuana would increase the use of marijuana, which would be a hazard to public health.
Among the voices ın opposition to legalized marijuana, The California Peace Officers Association has been very loud. The Association lobbyist has been quoted in several news outlets as saying “We have enough problems with alcohol and abuse of pharmaceutical products. Do we really have to add yet another mind-altering substance to the array?”
No matter what California voters do, opponents point out that marijuana is nevertheless considered a Schedule I illegal drug by the federal government. The possession, sale, and distribution of marijuana continues to be a serious federal crime, even if enforcement against medical marijuana states has been greatly reduced. If marijuana were to be legalized in California, it could draw organized crime and drug cartels to the state.
Arguments against legal marijuana – Quality
While many marijuana smokers and growers usually stand at odds against those who want to keep marijuana illegal, a small coalition is emerging. Some marijuana growers are speaking out against the voter initiative, saying that legal pot could be economically damaging. There is a fear that if the act passes, the expense of marijuana will drop, limiting the profit growers can make from their cash crop. This would put their livelihood and the economic base of much of Humboldt county at risk, sending many of them to credit counseling. Additionally, various growers are concerned that if marijuana does become legal, large corporations would move to the market. Like lots of other small-scale growers in America, the growers would be forced to compete against agribusinesses, which could drive up the cost when driving down the price of their crops.
There are lots of arguments both for and against the passage of California’s Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis act. The debate about legalization has been raging for over a hundred years, and when California voters go to the polls in November, the result will be closely viewed and hotly discussed for a long time to come.
