History often repeats itself, sometimes in odd ways.
Proposition 19 on the California ballot will not be the first time California voters had an opportunity to legalize marijuana and the previous effort carried the same proposition number. Proposition 19 in 1972 qualified for the ballot by volunteers attempted to legalize the drug but fell at the polls winning only 33% of the vote.
The 1972 measure would have allowed personal pot growing and use but forbade selling the weed. Today’s Proposition 19 would allow legal, recreational use.
It’s obvious to say times have changed in weighing the chances of the new Proposition 19. Since the 1972 defeat, Californians voted to support marijuana use for medical purposes. And arguments for and against the measure have changed over the years.
After yesterday’s press conference by the Drug Policy Alliance featuring an endorsement of Prop 19 by the California NAACP, the fight over marijuana will be framed as a civil rights issue.
The civil rights argument might surprise, but so would one of the arguments made by the proponents thirty-eight years ago: President Richard Nixon’s Commission on Marijuana recommended decriminalization. Supporters took a libertarian approach in the state ballot arguments declaring, "It’s time to return to traditional American values and stop making criminals of normal people for personal behavior."
Opponents argued marijuana use lead to more severe drug use, was addictive itself and that, "No civilized nation on the face of the globe permits the sale and use of marijuana by law."
India was cited as learning the hard way.
"In India where marijuana was formerly broadly used with no legal restriction whatsoever, it was discovered that the drug was draining the moral fiber of the population." The argument goes on to relate India promptly forbade the use of the drug.
The 1972 arguments dealing with marijuana legalization did not touch on one argument that will get a lot of attention today: Taxes. Proponents say legalizing and taxing marijuana will help fill a $ 1-billion hole in the state budget. They will argue that is a big piece of the budget fix.
So, a few of the four-decade old arguments are the same, but many are fresh. Will promoting civil rights and taxes to help solve the budget deficit push this year’s Proposition 19 to the place where the other marijuana Prop 19 could never go?