The Return of Reefer Madness [View All]

The Return of Reefer Madness
Marijuana, Prohibition, Prop. 19, California
In Crime, War, business, drugs, law, marijuana, money, police, politics, prohibition, propaganda, regulation, smoking, students on August 22, 2010 at 11:01 am

At this very moment on America’s west coast, there’s a war on and everybody’s picking sides.

The lines have been drawn in the battle over California’s Proposition 19, which would permit adults over 21-years-old to possess and cultivate marijuana for recreational use. As all such important political issues tend to develop in the run-up to an election, the pro and con arguments have already taken on media narratives of their own.

The line for pot, you’ve heard before: the substance is generally safer than alcohol and regulation would result in the accumulation of an enormous amount of tax revenue. Many argue that regulated sales in storefront environments would even make purchasing cannabis more difficult for teens.

Then there’s the very real and growing threat posed by the increasingly brutal and well-armed Mexican drug cartels, who’ve turned Mexico’s border states into one of the hottest war zones in the world … And their principle source of profits, according to all estimates, is the black market sales of marijuana in the United States.

Legalize it, regulate it and tax the sales, advocates say, and U.S. growers could rip the legs right out from under the cartels while generating funds for public services.