I’m going to go a bit further than Patrick McGreevy in Sacramento and actually refute some of the bullshit in this article. For one thing, there is a large community of law enforcement officials who are very much in favor of legalizing marijuana. You can find them here.
Now let’s take these bullshit arguments one by one.
Assemblyman Danny Gilmore (R-Hanford), a former CHP commander, said the $50 tax on each ounce of marijuana sold to pay for drug education and treatment is not worth the grief that will be caused by legalization.
What grief is that? How about not having to arrest every casual user police officers encounter in routine traffic stops? How about not having to pay for law enforcement raids that take down someone who has raised less than ten pot plants for their own use? How about not having to ruin the lives of people who had no direct connection to the pot growing industry? How about the money saved from not having to battle Mexican cartels on the border due to the market falling out for foreign pot?
“We’re going to legalize marijuana, we’re going to tax it and then we’re going to educate our kids about the harm of drugs. You’ve got to be kidding me,” Gilmore said. “What’s next? Are we going to legalize methamphetamines, cocaine?”
This argument is so ridiculous I’m surprised anyone within hearing distance could keep a straight face. First of all, we educate everyone on the harm of drinking alongside selling it at grocery stores. Alcohol is a poison compared to marijuana. I can get Ambien more easily than I can get marijuana, and legally, and that stuff is way more dangerous than marijuana. But guess what - I don’t take Ambien in dangerous amounts because I know it will kill me, as sure as alcohol will kill me easily if I drink too much of it. But we keep that shit out of the hands of kids, and we allow adults to kill themselves with it. Why? Because the small amount of people who will is enough of a risk compared to keeping it out of the hands of responsible people who either just want to have a good time or need it for medication. I won’t even go into the ridiculousness of the claims regarding meth and cocaine. I bet both of those would be useful in extreme cases, such as hospitalization. If you treat that crap the same as you do any extreme drug, such as morphine, you could still restrict the use but not have the ridiculous law enforcement reaction to people who need help.
The measure was opposed in testimony today by several police chiefs and law enforcement officials including Bob Cooke, former president of the California Narcotics Officers Assn., who predicted it would lead to an increase in crime.
Really? Amsterdam is the top-known city for having legalized drugs. It also has legalized prostitution. It’s the 13th best city to live in, despite having the top crime rate in Holland (due to the difficulty of refugees and immigrants integrating, not to drugs or prostitution). The first American city to hit the liveability list comes in at #29, Honolulu.
Additionally, you would think some of these guys would know about law enforcement history, especially regarding the time during alcohol prohibition. Some of America’s bloodiest chapters in history stem from that period. Being from Chicago, I certainly can’t forget about the Valentine’s Day Massacre.
“The mere consideration of an attempt to trade human misery for tax dollars smacks of the cynical throwing away of countless human beings,” Cooke told the committee.
Fuck you and let us make our own decisions. You’ve thrown away countless human beings for casual use in our for-profit private prisons. Instead of reversing the misery of thousands of Californians who will be thrown to the wolves because of the budget deficit, you’re going to fight for a law that began due to racism towards blacks and Mexicans.
I’m hoping the next stage in this process is for people to be brought in who have some semblance of common sense, but I’m not holding my breath.
