California voters say "Light 'em if ya got 'em"

[marmar]

:smoke:



via AlterNet:



Posted by Daniela Perdomo at 8:48 pm
April 21, 2010

New Poll: 56% of California Voters Want to Legalize Marijuana


This November, Californians will be the first in the nation to vote on a statewide initiative to legalize marijuana for all adults over 21. Tonight, the first poll conducted since the initiative, known as Tax & Regulate Cannabis 2010, officially qualified for the ballot on March 24 was released.

The third-party, independent poll conducted for California media outlets shows that 56 percent of Californian voters believe marijuana should be legalized in the state; 42 percent opposed that statement.

Recent polls have shown that a steady number of people here in California think legalization is the right solution to this particular segment of the drug war. A poll in April showed 56 percent support for legalization. And Tax Cannabis’ internal polling in March found 44 percent support among likely California voters in non-presidential elections. This was followed by an August internal poll that found 52 percent support by likely November 2010 voters.

This newest poll broke down support by various important demographic groups. Unsurprisingly, those aged 18 to 34 support legalization at 74 percent, compared to 45 percent among those 50 and over. Men are for it at 65 percent, compared to 46 percent of women. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/04/21/new-poll-56-of-california-voters-want-to-legalize-marijuana/

[xchrom]

1. Cali needs the goddamned tax money. Nt

[marmar]

2. I'll be the first visitor to San Fransterdam if you guys vote "Oui."

:smoke:

[Statistical]

4. We usually go on cruise every couple years.... sometimes out of Port of San Diego.

If CA legalizes it they will get more than my tax dollars.

[OnionPatch]

9. I think tourism will get a big boost here.

I know so many people who are saying the same thing as you, and even know people planning to move out here if they legalize. The nationwide poll says that most Americans don't want to legalize it, but here in CA they do, so we should have the corner on the pot market, tourism and all! :) At least for awhile. I really hope this passes. This might be what saves California.

[Hubert Flottz]

3. Nothing wrong with pot.

Viagra is a gateway drug...some folks who use it go on to the hard stuff.(no pun intended)Stuff like Clapp shots.

[Uncle Joe]

24. Breast milk is the first gateway drug, calcium is a natural sedative.

Infants becoming addicted to it, sleep a good part of day away, and when the breast is taken away, they have temper swings with prolonged crying, screaming and pouting.

That's about the time, the little toddlers graduate to sugar, thanks in large part to the corporate media pushing this insidious second tier gateway drug during it's Saturday Morning cartoon programming, brainwashing the little children's minds as to what constitutes happiness.

At some point the child may be introduced to their first caffeine rush from carbonated beverages, to coffee, tea and chocolate, there is some scientific research which suggests that for females chocolate can serve as almost a substitute for sex, for males that usually comes in the form of porn.

Of course these hyped up kids need a calming down, that's where Ritalin, Prozac and who's knows what else is marketed to their parents and prescribed to the children as being the answer.

Now these young teens seek other escapes from their conflicted world, that's where alcohol, tobacco and raiding their parent's medicine cabinets, Marijuana along with the other illegals enter the picture.

The other gateway drugs are the legal ones produced by Big Pharma and relentlessly pushed during the news hour by the corporate media for every ailment under the sun. Usually people taking one for an ailment also receive adverse side effects as a result which requires another one and before long they have an entire pharmacy on their living room end table.

The final gateway drugs were those administered illegally by Dr. Kevorkian when he allowed people to escape their misery or by the state when it executes someone.

The upshot is, there is no "gate way" because human existence lives on drugs or altered states of consciousness from beginning to end.

[awoke_in_2003]

26. "when the breast is taken away...

they have temper swings with prolonged crying"
I still do ;-)

[lunatica]

5. I'm voting to legalize it

It's time has come.

[NikRik]

6. More like about time !

The biggest block to this movement is the prison systems fear of losing money due to less prisoners to lock up ! Its a shame in a country that claims to be the land of the free has a segment that still wants to continue to lock people up for a harmless weed that has many medicial applications ! We need to take a close look at the privatizing of the prison system making it a for profit private bisneess to lock people up and the force them into slave labor is absolultey discusting and anyone involved in supporting privatizing the prison system should be sent to a country were they have been doing this for yeas and see the horror of it ! On the other side of the legalization of pot ,you have a excellent way to raise revenue for the goverment thru taxation ! Those who still believe pot is a gateway drug needs to open thier mind to how ridiculious it is to cliam this . In my exprience drinking is what usally leads people to use cociane, crank and other stimulants. Pot smokers are usally non violent and content watching a good movie with a bowl of ice cream ! I use to smoke pot everyday when I was in my twenties now at 52 I have not smoked it for years and dont plan on it . However I strongly support the right of others to do so if they wish ! After all those years of daily use the only thing when I quit was a few night restless sleep only because the pot will help you sleep lilke a baby ! Its really one of mother natures gifts to the human race !
IMHO ,NicR

[robdogbucky]

23. NikRik you hit on a big factor

Welcome to California politics. The corrections workers' union is, and always has been, one of the largest single political contributors in California elections. It is no wonder that Sen. Boxer's ignorant and onerous quotes on the Tax & Regulate Cannabis 2010 parroted the self-interest of this huge and powerful union.

Below herein is just a recent example of the juice this union has in the state. I fear the political opposition to this initiative though will make the Prop 8 outside and special interest interference look like child's play. This is just too emotionally-charged of an issue and when the fundies get cranked up with the "don't make another dope legal," "it will ruin our kids," rhetoric to charge up the opposition, this will be a dogfight to the end, economic good sense and social justice notwithstanding:


CCPOA (CA Prison Guard Union) Pays Perata $260,000
Robert Gammon — Tue, Feb 2, 2010

The powerful California prison guard’s union paid Oakland Mayoral candidate Don Perata and his son, Nick Perata, at least $260,000 to work as “campaign consultants” last year. According to recent filings with the Secretary of State’s Office, a significant portion of that total — $180,000 — came after Perata began actively running for mayor of Oakland. The most recent payment to the former state senator was $20,000 on December 9, 2009.

It’s not clear why the prison guard’s political committee needed to pay Perata and his son so much money as campaign consultants, because it did not mount any official political campaigns last year, according to its own disclosure forms. And if the union hired Perata and son to fund-raise, it may want to rethink that decision, because the union’s political committee did not receive any donations in 2009 — other than transfers from other prison guard committees.

Wayne Ordos, treasurer of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association Issues Committee — the political committee that paid the Peratas $260,000 last year — did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment. And Perata spokesman Jason Kinney did not have an immediate comment on the issue.

But last September, Kinney told the Oakland Tribune — after it reported that Perata had received $100,000 from the prison guard’s union — that the ex-senator was “applying his vast experience and unique understanding of public policy to help (the union) develop important inmate re-entry programs.” Kinney’s description of Perata’s work, however, does not appear to square with the usual definition of a campaign consultant, and instead, seems to describe the activities of a “private consultant.” Which raises the question — why did the union’s political committee, and not the union itself, hire the former senator?

Source: East Bay Express


http://prisonmovement.wordpress.com/2010/02/03/ccpoa-ca-prison-guard-union-pays-perata-260000/



Just my dos centavos


robdogbucky

[awoke_in_2003]

27. welcome to DU

:hi:

[Johonny]

17. Me too

Hate even the smell of it, don't want it around me, but see no possible benefit from the current laws. Just hope they are as restrictive of it's use in public as alcohol. I really don't want to walk through 15 people smoking pot to get into the restaurant. But I want less to pay to keep a pointless drug and prison system going that simply does society no benefit.

[Ganja Ninja]

7. Please do.

Once California legalizes and their legal pot is found in other states, those states will want the tax revenue California is making and will legalize it too.

[hughee99]

8. If they do, will it fall under the same smoking restrictions as tobacco? n/t

[Mudoria]

14. I would hope so..

Just as I wouldn't want a tobacco user blowing smoke around in my enviroment the same applies to a pothead spewing it out.

[customerserviceguy]

15. It would also come under the same rules as the use of alcohol

No puffing dope while driving, etc. And probably no use around children, either.

[Qutzupalotl]

25. Is it a difficult substance to test for impairment?

Breathalyzer? I'm not sure how that would work. A blood draw might do it, but that's pretty invasive. Maybe the testing methods would spring up once a need arises.

[krabigirl]

19. Yes, especially since you do not have to *smoke* it anyway.

[slackmaster]

10. I am very much looking forward to the initiative passing, and the ensuing train wreck

Bring it on!

[flyarm]

11. But don't you dare smoke a "legal" cigarette in Calif!! eom

[robdogbucky]

18. Yes, don't light up a cigarette near me

or in my transportation mode, or in a restaurant or bar where I am a customer, or where I work, or any other public space where I might inhale the fumes of someone's cigarette.

Lung cancer killed 70,000+ people last year in the US. Leading cause of lung cancer = cigarettes.

Marijuana deaths by any reason last year?

0




Questions?

[4lbs]

29. Furthermore, I don't care if a person lights up a cigarette in an open space, where I can move away

if I need.

However, smoking should be disallowed in closed spaces, where the A/C systems are usually closed circulation, so even walking away to another room has little benefit because the smoke will still get to you in a few minutes.

[flyarm]

30. Canadian Cancer society.... And World Heatlh Org.........begs a differ...

What evidence is there about the link between second-hand marijuana smoke and cancer?
In June 2002, a panel of experts brought together by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (an agency of the World Health Organization) determined that second-hand smoke causes cancer. And we know that marijuana and cigarette smoke contain as many as 50 of the same cancer causing substances. For these reasons, experts believe that exposure to second-hand marijuana smoke is at least as harmful as second-hand tobacco smoke.

[Ishoutandscream2]

12. Come on, California, you can do this!

And I will be heading your way for a wonderful vacation in the future. Count on it!

[Hepburn]

13. MJ should have been legalized long, long ago and in all states.

Rest assured, as a California, this Nov I most certainly will vote and vote to legalize!

:hi:

[Romulox]

16. Michigan would do well to follow suit.

Such a move might even be possible in these economically depressed times, if the measure were sold as a revenue-getter. The citizen-approved Michigan Medical Marihuana Act of 2008 shows that we the people are in front of the politicians on this.

[Andy823]

22. Yes

A lot of states would benefit from doing this. It would not only bring in money by way of taxes, but would save money by no having to arrest, prosecute, and jail those who get caught with pot. The money spent on the "drug" war could be used for far better things!

[krabigirl]

20. Well, hopefully the bigots who voted for Prop 8 won't win this one this time.

[GumboYaYa]

21. If California passes this..it will start a cascade of other states doing the same.

There is too much revenue to be lost. When every backyard in CA becomes a potential start-up marijuana farm, there will be no controlling the distribution of MJ across the country. The bible thumping states will hold back, but a whole lot of other states will follow CA.

[The Straight Story]

28. Next thing you know they will let adults come together and smoke in bars! God save us all

Can you imagine grown people actually smoking pot or cigs together and having a beer????

[ohheckyeah]

31. I shudder to think.

Oh, wait, I think I remember engaging in that behavior back in the 70's.