Roger McNamee, cannabis reform advocate and Moonalice founder, whose
"first and driving motivation on Prop 64 is about civil rights," started the evening by explaining why he is so strongly supportive of
Prop 64, saying, “This is California and this year on November 8th there is at
least one really good thing that can happen. That is that we can pass
Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act. This is something that is long
overdue and absolutely I think essential to the welfare of our state."
Describing the negative impact of the black market in cannabis, Roger said, "As you
know, we have an enormous black market in cannabis in California. It takes
place outside the economy. It has huge negative environmental consequences. It
has huge negative consequences for employees. It has huge negative consequences
for everybody who's involved because it's a felony. We have a chance to fix all
of that. We have a chance to address the civil rights violations of people of
color who are arrested and incarcerated at three times their rate of usage. We
can do a lot of really good things.”
Prop 64 – Not
perfect, but a really essential next step
In introducing Steve DeAngelo, Roger said, “Folks have sent
us a ton of questions on Facebook and on Twitter saying, "Hey, we don't
understand this thing." There's been a lot of disinformation in the
marketplace. The guys on the other side of this thing are people in the opiate
business, people in the hard liquor business whose businesses are threatened by
the legalization of cannabis. They've spread a lot of disinformation.”
Steve DeAngelo began by saying that to him Prop 64 was also
a compromise, but one that needed to be made, “Let's think about what is this
thing 64 in the first place. It's a law. It's a law that's going to be passed
by the people as opposed to the legislature, but it's a law. Like most laws,
it's a compromise. There were many, many different groups who got around the
table to help draft Prop 64. Some of them had interest A or interest B. There
were a lot of different opposing interests that needed to come together around
that table to put together a team that could get this initiative on the ballot,
and compromises were made in the process of drafting.”
Steve continued, “The result, from my point of view, is
there is stuff in there that I love. One of things is that people like me who
have felony cannabis convictions will be able to be licensed in the legal
cannabis industry under Prop 64. There's things in there that I really, really,
really don't like, like the power of local governments anywhere to overrule the
will of the voters of California and say that, "Just in our little city,
in our little town, in our county, we're not going to allow a legal cannabis
industry. Even though the voters of California approved this law." Is
there stuff I like? Yeah. There's stuff I like. Is there stuff I really find
distasteful? Yes, absolutely.”
“That's generally the way it is with almost all laws in a
democratic society,” Steve said. “That's what we do. We come around a table. We
have disagreements. We have different interests. We trade things off, and we
come up with compromises. Prop 64 is very much a compromise. We need to
understand that it's not perfect, but it is a really essential next step. It comes at a really, really critical time in
our country. We can disagree from now until eternity about the details of Prop
64, what you like, what I like. The reality is we are in the midst of an election
season that we do not know how it's going to turn out.”
With the results of the election on November 8 uncertain,
Steve stressed the importance of not losing the vote on Prop 64, saying, “If we
don't pass Prop 64, to the only west coast state where cannabis is still
illegal under state law, they will come to California, and they will unleash a
reign of terror on the Emerald Triangle and in our cities and on our
manufacturers and on our patients that will make what happened in 2011 look like
a practice rehearsal. We can't afford to lose this one. This is not an election where we know what is going to be the outcome.”
“Best thing ever for
small growers of the Emerald Triangle”
Many of the concerns that people have about Prop 64 are
about the impact that it will have on small growers. Steve addressed this
saying, “I've heard questions from folks like: What will happen to small growers?
Is Monsanto coming? Is there going to be a corporate take over? The answer to
most of those really, really scary questions, in my opinion, is mostly no.
Mostly no.”
Talking about the need of “letting go” and “one last
sacrifice” that needed to be made by the community of cannabis growers, Steve
said, “We won't do it alone, we're not going to do that alone. There's not
enough hippies in northern California, there's not enough of us, our arms
aren't long enough to reach all around the world. We need to welcome new people
who have just heard this call that we've called for so long, that we followed
for so long into this community, and allow them to help us carry this plant forward.”
Set the cannabis
culture free
Steve stressed that there is “enough room in the new
cannabis industry for everybody who wants to be there,” and that Prop 64 will
be “the best thing ever for the small growers of the Emerald Triangle who are
the folks that are probably the most nervous about Prop 64 right now.”
Talking about the multi-generational community in the Emerald
Triangle that is centered on the production of cannabis and that has developed
a culture that “lives by the lessons and the values that the plant teaches us,”
Steve said, “Set that culture free. Let that culture have wings. Let us bring an
avalanche, a river of tourists from all over the world. Let's bring them into
our communities, let's show them what a community that lives by these lessons
and values actually looks like. That's what 64 can do for the Emerald Triangle.”
Lose Prop 64 – Lose the
national market
Steve concluded his talk by describing what would happen if
Prop 64 did not pass, saying, “What happens if we don't pass 64? Two things.
One, the federal crackdown that I was talking about before. Two, other states
are moving forward. They're not going to stop. Today California has cannabis as
it's number one cash crop. Number one cash crop. We outproduce every single
other state in the country by far. If we don't pass 64, those states are going
to start gaining on us. Colorado, which has legal cannabis. Alaska even,
Washington, Oregon, they're not waiting. They will start claiming ever larger parts
of that national market. 90% of the cannabis in California is grown and sent
out of state. We all know that. We don't talk about it much but we know that.
We don't want to lose that market. We lose 64 then what happens is we also lose
... start eroding our share of that national market"
Perfection can't be the enemy of progress
Lindsay Robinson from the Marijuana Policy Project began her
talk by reinforcing what Steve had said about Prop 64 not being a “perfect law,”
saying, “As Steve was saying this is not a perfect law by any means. It took
many many months. Advocates were at the table, business leaders, concerned
parties, patients. There was a huge group represented that tried to come
together to make something that would work for California that would recognize
the long and incredibly diverse history that folks in California have with the
cannabis plant but also make something that could actually be passed.”
“We needed to find a middle ground between voters who live
in conservative areas and growers in the Emerald Triangle,” she continued, “I
think we have found that. One of the good things is that Prop 64 there are portions
of it that can be voted on again in other ballot initiatives. It is the will of
the people and parts of it can be changed. I think that we can't have
perfection be the enemy of progress. I really do believe that this is a step
forward.”
Addressing concerns
Addressing some of the concerns around Prop 64, particularly those about corporate take-over, Lindsay said, “There are going to be 19 licensing options
moving forward with Prop 64. They will work on cultivation, processing, retail,
testing, et cetera. One of the things that I think is really interesting is
that for the first five years the law will not allow really large cultivation
and it also won't allow those cultivations to be vertically integrated. I think
that will help with some of the concern of really large businesses and really
large monopolies forming in California. I know that is a concern for a lot of
people. There is some wording in there that I think will help with that.”
With respect to what is legal under Prop 215 and new
felonies, Lindsay said, “If they are right now legal under 215, they will stay
legal under Prop 64. That's really important to know. No new felonies will be
created.” She continued, “I think probably having a large quantity of marijuana
on you, that currently you could face six months in jail if you had over an ounce.
In almost anywhere in California realistically you could face six months in
jail, that will not happen under Prop 64. That's really exciting.”
She stressed that sales tax would not need to be paid by
medical card users saying, “There will be a new 15% sales tax on recreational
or adult use marijuana. That will not apply to people who still have medical
cards, they will be exempt from that sales tax.”
Regarding use of the tax fund, Lindsay said, “Annually
basically we're looking at ten million dollars going to the University of
California to study legalization, see its effects, understand the wide scale
issues that folks are dealing with, how the regulations are working, how
they're not. This is an interesting piece, 15 million dollars over five years
will go to studying and creating DUI protocols. That's a huge issue right now.
One that I don't think has been currently worked out in Prop 64. That's
something that's going to continued to be studied and worked on. We're looking
at 2 million dollars a year to medical marijuana research. That is incredible.”
She continued, “60% of the remaining money in the tax fund
will go to youth prevention, education, and treatment. Environmental
restoration, that's another one that's going to be receiving money from illegal
grows. Hugely devastating to certain areas. There is going to be money that
goes to that. There is going to be money that goes to law enforcement in
helping to enforce these regulations.”
With regard to losing Prop 215 protection, Lindsay said, “Prop
64 is not going to touch the protection that folks have under 215 now. This is
also incredible and super exciting. Upwards of 50 million dollars over the next
five years is going to go to grants for communities that have been
disenfranchised by this war on marijuana. That is bad ass so I hope that you
guys are exciting about because as an activist that is really meaningful.”
Lindsay concluded by taking about the benefits of Prop 64 to
veterans, saying, “One thing I think is also really exciting is that right now
most veteran doctors, anyone going through the VA, they don't talk to their
doctors about medical marijuana. There is a huge stigma with vets and the
doctors are actually not allowed to recommend that veterans use medical
marijuana. Now vets don't necessarily have to talk to their doctors about it or
they can, but it will allow people who are suffering from ailments to receive
medicine even if they're not necessarily getting a recommendation from their
doctor. I think that's huge as well and really exciting.”
Watch the whole "Get Out The Vote" concert below:
