Legalization of cannabis should be on Biden s to-do list
Dale Sky Jones
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Marijuana grows at an indoor cannabis farm in Gardena.Richard Vogel / Associated Press 2019
In the “day of history and hope” that President Biden articulated in his inaugural speech, many in the cannabis industry hoped his new administration would absorb the words from our American treasure, Amanda Gorman, who told us “what ‘just is’ isn’t always justice.”
Nothing makes the young poet laureate’s point better than the federal government’s cannabis policy, itself a monument to injustice.
We know that President Biden’s immediate focus needs to be on the nation’s crisis agenda: turning back the pandemic, restoring our economy and repelling the attacks on our democracy. We only expect that once the administration gains the upper hand in the American renewal, it can find the time and create a space to unwind the drug war, starting with a rethinking of national cannabis p
again, you know, the states, sorry, the counties and the cities would have to opt in as she mentioned. they d have to figure out whether or not they d want to regulate. the things that will be legal. regardless of where you live. you ll still be able to use marijuana. you ll still be able to possess it. you d still be able to transport it, grow it. and you still and do all of those things without paying taxes on them. and again, without having to have some sort of control over those things and then the cities can come in and regulate those things. again, it s a backwards approach and i don t think it s one california ms. jones, i want to ask you this as simple as possible here. what are we saying to our kids? in this country if we have been telling them i mean since i was a kid, since all of us were kids to stay away from drugs. we ve been told that marijuana
is going to go up. if you make it legal and more accessible to people, you know, all be guaranteeing that youth drug use is going to go up and that s not something that anybody wants. roger, i want to ask. you laid out arguments for how are we going to get this together get a system in place, a regulatory system in place. and your concerns there. are you concerned that what we ve been told our whole lives, don t smoke weed, it s now going to be okay. california is telling everybody it s okay and it s legal to smoke weed. do you have a problem with that? yeah, there is a strong very strong concern about that. again, the analysis, they said that usage would, you know, would double, go back to 1970s levels. that s something that s let s not kid ourselves, that s something that the proponents of proposition 19 want. these are folks with big marijuana operations here in california. you know, the person who pushed this initiative, ms. jones employer put $1.5 million of his own money
seven minutes past the hour now. the debates going on right now in california over prop 19 about legalizing marijuana for recreational use. we ve got leadi ining spokes pe right now for both issues. i want to bring in roger salazar and on the other side, dale sky jones. joining me both this morning. thank you guys, both, for being here. ms. jones, let me start with you. is the argument for legalizing marijuana for recreational use. is it primarily for you an economic argument? well, frankly current policy has failed across the board. and we have an opportunity to have safer communities. if we simply choose to control tax and regulate cannabis for adult use. this will also allow us to
this thing because he s going to generate tremendous profits from this thing. they want use to go up, they want usage they believe that this is a benign drug. they think that you should be able to use it just like caffeine and coffee, you know, smoke a little to take the edge off. they re not interested in the traffic safety concerns that we have, the public safety concerns that we have, or the revenue concerns that we have. well, ms. jones this thing won t be able to generate the revenue. i have to let you respond. he did make a direct accusation that your employer and others on your side have a financial stake in this. indeed, it s unfortunate that we continue on with the disingenuous remarks, not only about my employer who does not have any personal stake. in fact, it s really up to the cities and counties to opt into regulation of medical or adult or, in fact, finally the hemp market, which is a non-psycho active version that will finally offer, food, fiber, and clothin