Why I think Marijuana should be legalized in California...maybe

This blog is tentative. I'm not sure if I've reached a final conclusion on this issue.

Today it was officially announced that legalizing recreational marijuana use will be on the State ballot this fall. Here's an article about it.

First off let me say that I have never smoked or eaten pot, and I won't regardless of if it becomes legal or not.

I agree with the general premise that legalizing marijuana is not going to drastically increase the number of people smoking pot, but will increase the amount of money in the local economy. It also will mean that police officers don't commit resources to stopping underground marijuana sales, since it will be available through legal means.

Think about how prohibition didn't really do anything for alcoholism, but in fact created more crime as moonshiners and speakeasies came into existence.

However, my main concern is that the full slate of laws which apply to cigarettes and alcohol should also immediately go into effect with pot. I'm not sure if that's how the proposed law is set up.

One of my concerns is that there is a medical marijuana dispensary near my apartment, and it is less than a half mile from my elementary school. It is illegal to advertise for alcohol or tobacco within a certain distance of a school, but currently it is legal for "Medi-Cann" to have a big sign with a pot leaf in front of their building, when it would take a child less than 5 minutes to walk there from two different elementary schools.

That means kindergarteners are now more likely to become aware of the existence and popularity of marijuana.

I hope that the law includes some sort of stipulation that all tobacco and alcohol laws will just be copied over to marijuana by default.

If it does, I will vote for the law. Right now there is no way to regulate things like the sign, and since local governments have authorized medical marijuana dispensaries, it's already in our neighborhoods legally (sort of). I also think that the doctors who are currently writing prescriptions for marijuana for anyone who's willing to pay enough are abusing their medical license, and it will be well-deserved that they are out of work when people no longer need a prescription.

Currently the California medical marijuana system is set up to make people try to bend rules so they can make money or get high. I think the situation can be fixed in a way that gives the economy a boost, and won't increase marijuana usage. I'm just not 100% sure that the proposed law is the right way.