Marc Emery Agrees: Marijuana Activists Who Oppose Prop 19 Are Wrong

From Cannabis Culture Magazine:

But first, let me explain that opponents of Richard Lee's initiative fall into three groups. The first group is the police and prison industry, represented by their unions and spokespeople...The second group includes the cartels, thugs, street gangs, large commercial growers, commercial medical marijuana growers and their dependents that make exploitative profits taking full advantage of prohibition-inflated prices...The third group is the so-called old guard of the cannabis or medical marijuana movement. The wonderful Proposition-215 pioneer Denis Peron is one, but there are many others.

A brilliantly articulated defense of Proposition 19, he takes on the "marijuana activists" and "professional stoners" who claim to be insiders but have the most to lose by a change in the status quo.  If a pro-cannabis individual you know has bought into any of these myths, please show him or her this article.  We have a chance to make history in November.  It will be a sad day indeed if we are defeated not by the law enforcement special interests or the puritanical moralists but by the greed and selfishness of our own.

Marijuana, Accutane, and the Suspension of Science By the Cultural Left

From Townhall.com

Townhall columnist Hugh Hewitt attempts to argue against Proposition 19 by painting Prop 19 proponents as ignorant, and the younger demographic that tends to support it as impulsive risk-takers.  I'll more fully explore the health risks and benefits of cannabis in another post, but for now, I'll just point out that, as he says, "Anyone with a bookmark to Google can quickly access the studies that detail the known long term and serious side-effects of chronic marijuana use," but they can also see all the counter studies that show no greater mortality for cannabis users, and that cannabis (even smoked) does not cause cancer.

The Politics of Cannabis and Color

Norm Stamper, a 34-year veteran police officer and former chief of police in Seattle, speaks out in support of Alice Huffman, leader of the California NAACP, after she came under attack from Bishop Ron Allen and other California African-American leaders for endorsing Proposition 19.

From The Huffington Post

Steven Greenhut: Can GOP quit weed whacking?

Very well written opinion piece from the director of the Pacific Research Institute's CalWatchdog Center and former Orange County Register coumnist Steven Greenhut.  He makes excellent arguments why true small-government conservatives and classic Republicans should be supporting Proposition 19 (and why the lack of support from gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman and the California Republican Party may be a tactical error).

From the Orange County Register