We can all agree that this election has been a bit of a slow-mo car wreck, can’t we? But while the presidential election is on the forefront of everyone’s minds, Election Day is about more than that—by heading to the polls (or mailing in your choices), you’re also voting on a number of statewide issues and electing local officials. For California, a number of exciting Propositions are on the ballot that deal with the death penalty, single-use plastic bags in grocery stores, and gun possession.
Prop 64 is particularly intriguing. The proposal would legalize marijuana under state law for adults 21 and older, incorporate state taxes on sales and cultivation, and would establish standards for products containing marijuana. If it passes, it not only means that anyone 21 or older can grow, possess, or use marijuana legally, but it also ensures that businesses that grow and sell non-medical marijuana would be regulated and taxed.
We could wax poetic about the health benefits of a natural plant like marijuana and also inform you that alcohol is more addictive than marijuana, but Prop 64 is not without concerns. Primarily: by making marijuana legal, what’s to say it won’t get into the hands of a teen or, worse yet, accidentally in the hands of a young child?
