California's Ballot Initiative: Proposition 19

Authors Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch of The Huffinton Post wrote a fantastic article on the up coming ballot initiative, Proposition 19 which calls for the legalization, and taxation of marijuana for individuals over 21 years of age. November 2nd proposition 19 will come up for a vote, as authors Gillespie and Welch indicate in their article, "Why Pot Legalization Is the Most Important Issue Before Voters This Election Day" this initiative is not just another vote - the authors suggest that this could mean some important steps towards states rights, however it could also mean a long legal battle between Federal Law, and State Sovereignty.

The article does a very good job of explaining how legalization in California will send not only local and interstate reverberations but also international repercussions. Experts are still unsure of how regulation will impact Mexican drug cartels across the boarders but many hope that if passed will stop violence happening in Southern California and Texas. One thing is clear however, marijuana continues to be a great cash crop in states like California, Alabama, Kentucky, and Colorado. I would not be surprised to see states that have already decriminalized marijuana to begin taking the first steps toward legalization like California's Proposition 19. The authors suggest that given marijuana's presence in the United States, legalization is not a question of if but when.

Nick Gillspie writes on this issue saying, "It may start in California, but the legalization of marijuana will also mean that schoolkids in Oklahoma won't have to pee in a bottle in order to be on quiz bowl teams and online vendors of bongs won't be prosecuted in Western Pennsylvania and medical marijuana patients in Florida will be able to concentrate on their cancer rather than their legal defense. It means covert farmers in Kentucky and Texas and Washington who generate billions of dollars worth of crops will fully enter the economy. It means that federal and state prisons all over the country will have room for violent prisoners. It means that cops will be deprived of their favorite means for shaking down "suspicious" low-income minorities, and it means that all Americans, even those who never use marijuana, will be more free."