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Originally Posted by hevusa
Now that I know it is only your opinion and nothing else I respectfully disagree. Not a single pro legalization organization has raised issues with the way the law is written and it has a majority lead at his point. Instead of being that horribly anal you could look at it as the best stepping stone we have to date, unless you are against legalization that is...
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call it just my opinion all you'd like, but much like many ballot measures of all kinds of laws, this one is not drafted correctly and will never be implemented, even if it were to pass the election.
For example, it does not specify how many plants you can possess, and only suggests but does not specify how much cultivated cannabis you can possess. Prop 215 is much more specific, it tells you how many plants you can have growing and how many mature, budded plants you can possess, and how much drying herb you can possess. Since Prop 19 does not in fact specify, lawyers and courts will naturally interpret what it does say which is an
ounce, and if you ever grew any herb in your life you would no that by limiting it to an ounce basically makes growing pointless. Further, how much
fresh cannabis can I possess? Is it part of the ounce? So can I have only an ounce of fresh (ie, on the plant) and dried cannabis together? Prop 215 elaborates just the answer to this question saying exactly how many vegetative plants you can grow (irregardless of weight) and how many mature plants you can possess (irregardless of weight) and how much drying cannabis you can possess (specifically by weight, usually a pound or less), where as Prop 19 leaves an enormous, illegal and impossible hole..
It contradicts itself in several other places..
I'm telling you, there is nothing necessarily wrong with legalization legislation, however Prop 19 specifically is a bogus law.
I am not against legalization, I am against wasting our time or hope on Prop 19. If anything, the best thing they could have done was simply re-draft several aspects of the existing Prop 215 to say "for personal/recreational use" rather than just "medical" and then the law would be fine and dandy.
In other words, try again next year. With legalization, we have been fighting this fight for 80 odd years, and we shall keep fighting, and Prop 19 is not a good weapon in the fight, it is a blade of brittle steel that will break on first contact with the hard edge of the opposition. Where as, incremental decriminalization as a proven history of success, and will surely be the route for future success. Aim for cannabis to be similar in American law to alcohol, which is not necessarily legal, it is in fact restricted. Americans would never suggest out-right legalization, but they can swallow decriminalization which will inevitably lead to legal but restrict use and possession. And the law which Arnold signed today leads us exactly in that direction. yesterday a misdimeanor, today a minor infraction, tomorrow free and legal but restricted possession/use.
I am honest and pragmatic about my cannabis cultivation and consumption, and I understand how slow and steady it takes to move the hearts and minds of people to accept cannabis as perfectly normal and legitimate as a bottle of wine.. (which doctors say to drink 2 glasses a day for health alone, just as some folks should consume two spliff a day for their mental health instead of a potent concoction of anti-anxiety/anti-depressants)