At the start of July, California’s Secretary of State announced that the Adult Use of Marijuana Act would officially be found on the November ballot. Officially, the initiative has been dubbed Proposition 64 – whether that is a coincidence or not, the similarity between this and Colorado’s famous Amendment 64 has not gone unnoticed. After months of petitioning, it is time for those running the campaign to ensure that the voters of California know why they are doing this – to end a failed war on drugs and implement a safer alternative.
As far as regulations go, California’s Adult Use of Marijuana Act is one of the most in depth initiatives being voted on this fall. They do their best to cover nearly every end of the spectrum when it comes to things that prohibitionists can use against them – the idea is to let everyone know that unlike the original medical marijuana act, this one would implement a strategically thought out system that will regulate the plant from all angles.
While there is a large number of California’s law enforcement who are dead set against seeing Proposition 64 pass, there is one group – whose word carries a lot of weight in the world of marijuana policy reform – who has decided they are ready to endorse the Adult Use of Marijuana Act. Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, or LEAP, is one of the oldest pro-marijuana legalization groups around. The group was established in 2002 and have been helping to spread the word for years, that there are more important issues for law enforcement to focus on.
The group is made up of a blend of police officers, judges, prosecutors and other criminal justice professionals, all of whom believe that if marijuana were legal, there could be better relationships between law enforcement and the residents they serve to protect.
“This initiative is the best chance California has to end a failed war on marijuana,” says Diane Goldstein, a LEAP executive board member and a retired lieutenant commander with the Redondo Beach Police Department. “It’s our best hope to reduce the power of cartels operating in our state, to generate much-needed resources for law enforcement and create a new system of regulation and control that will greatly improve public health and safety for all Californians.”
With the large number of groups backing Proposition 64, they are sure to get their word out to the voters of California – by the time November rolls around everyone will know that this is about more than simply allowing a number of us to legally consume pot. We will also be creating an industry that can open up jobs, entrepreneurial creatives can thrive in a new environment and law enforcement can focus on real crimes like robbery, rape and murder, rather than whether or not that guy was puffing a little reefer down the street.
