California marijuana initiative qualifies for November ballot

A state wide initiative to legalize marijuana possession and regulate marijuana sales to adults qualified today for November's California general election ballot. Not only is this a landmark moment in the long crusade against draconian and absurd marijuana prohibition laws, but a victory in November could fundamentally change the North American legal and economic landscape.

Marijuana was outlawed in America in 1937 even before most people knew what it was. But in today's world, America now has the highest rates of marijuana consumption throughout the world. Approximately 26 million Americans used marijuana in 2009 and more than 100 million have also tried it. It is also the country's top cash crop, with a value of $14 billion in California, and California's Board of Equalization estimates that $1.4 billion would be generated every year by taxing marijuana like alcohol.

With these facts in mind, it is quite clear that marijuana is now a very a mainstream recreational drug. Much more common recreational drugs such as alcohol and cigarettes are surprisingly still more popular tan marijuana, despite that both are harmful and extremely addictive. Marijuana is arguably not an addictive drug and one cannot overdose from it. The so-called "gateway" myth regarding marijuana has been debunked by every comprehensive major study. Marijuana is also much more easier for anyone, specifically children to access, via friends or through other illegal means, while major barriers and safeguards exist in regards to the availability of alcohol and tobacco.

Since the Calderon government in Mexico declared war on drug cartels, 15,000 lives have been lost. Estimates according to the U.S. government surmize that marijuana produces 60% of their profits. In the aftermath of the murders of several American consular workers, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Mexico this week, and admitted that the American demand for drugs dominates this illicit market. However what the Secretary of State didn't admit was that the ongoing violence isn't a byproduct of marijuan, but rather the prohibition which results in a profit motive that criminals will kill for.

Marijuana prohitibion makes no sense whatsoever. It denies various levels of governments major revenue sources, while allowing murderous criminals to reap these profits from a drug far safer and healthier than alcohol and tobacco. Public attitudes regarding the drug are also drastically changing. Not only has a majority of Canadians long favoured legalizing marijuana, but a 2009 Gallup poll found that 44% of Americans favor legalization, a rise of ten points since 2001. And in California, a clear majority supports legalization.

While clear majorities support marijuana legalization on both sides of the border, the sad reality is that arrests for marijuana offenses have actually tripled across the U.S. since 1991. Even though California decriminalized small ammounts of marijuana possession in 1975, arrests have risen by an astronomical 127% in the same two decades that the criminal arrest rate declined by 40%. Approximately 850,000 marijuana arrests were made across the U.S. in 2009, which was half of all drug arrests combined and even more than all violent crime arrests made. There is no such law in America which is enforced so overwhelmingly yet so ridiculous.

California's marijuana laws are also enforced selectively with disturbing racial results: blacks are three times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana, despite comparable and lower rates of consumption. An expose by the Pasadena Weekly concluded that in the last five years, blacks (who constitute 14% of the city's population) represented more than half of all marijuana arrests.

The upcoming ballot intitiative this November will be a watershed moment and hopefully will be the beginning of the end of the stupid war on marijuana. Marijuana prohibition has proven to be a complete disaster, denying governments of key revenue streams which would benefit society at large with the strengthening of infrastructures and social spending, while putting violent criminals and drug cartels out of business. Billions of tax payer dollars have been wasted waging this senseles war, which has also made countless peaceful, law-abiding citizens into criminals. But hopefully this will all soon come to end, starting this November in California.