# California Prop 64 (Legal Recreational Marijuana, 2016 ed.) - how will you vote? And discussion. **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 18, 2016, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-prop-64-legal-recreational-marijuana-2016-ed-how-will-you-vote-and-discussion/760174 "2016-07-18T01:46:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-prop-64-legal-recreational-marijuana-2016-ed-how-will-you-vote-and-discussion/760174/21 "2016-07-18T09:48:59Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Our good, lovely neighbors in CO/OR/WA have proved that this policy works, and as far as I’m aware civilization there has not collapsed since they legalized recreational marijuana. Ha! Just like in Colorado and Washington, here in Oregon we’ve reverted to hunting and gathering since weed was legalized… well, hunting, gathering and Pokemon Go… > [@](#): > > But with California being the most populous state in the Union (by a pretty big margin), legalization here will mean the sweeping tide of legalization will have hit an irreversible point. It’s going to be on the ballot in 4 other states this year: NV, AZ, MA, and ME. It’ll probably pass in all of them. > [@](#): > > It will get increasingly ridiculous for the holdout states to keep up their bans as more states follow suit and more tourists start bringing weed home. After Mike Pence was selected as VP candidate, I checked up on his position on legalization. Based on that, I predict that Indiana will be one of the last, if not the very last state to legalize it. > [@](#): > > And hopefully, _hopefully_ we’ll see some change in federal law at that point (if not outright legalization then at the _very least_ a reclassification so it’s no longer Schedule I, There’s rumors going around that it may be moved from Schedule I to Schedule II some time this summer. But that will nat make the medical mj dispensaries currently existing legal, since they don’t have pharmacists. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-prop-64-legal-recreational-marijuana-2016-ed-how-will-you-vote-and-discussion/760174/22 "2016-07-18T11:22:03Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Once the genie is out of the box, you can’t stuff him back in. The genie isn’t now, nor has he ever been, in a box. I may be a stoner, but I know _that_. Pandora - box. Genie - bottle. Toothpaste - tube. An easy way to remember this is to thing of a bottle of gin (Jin). ---
**Author:** ![Onyerbike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onyerbike/32/5402_2.png) [@Onyerbike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onyerbike)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-prop-64-legal-recreational-marijuana-2016-ed-how-will-you-vote-and-discussion/760174/23 "2016-07-18T13:06:11Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I’ll be voting no, but I don’t really care very strongly, and, anyway, I think it’s going to pass. > > I just don’t like marijuana. I don’t want my next-door neighbor smoking it, so that the smoke comes in my window. > > Medical marijuana has at least some humanitarian justification. Pot just for kicks? Hmph. I’m not in favor of it. Since they were polite enough to ask for my opinion, that’s what they’ll get. So basically damn everybody elses liberty and continue the wasteful war on marijuana, just cause your neighbour may or may not be an ass? You support not banning it if it were legal now, but since it is presently illegal it should stay illegal beause reasons? Don’t want the benefits of a new and lucrative tax because some guy blew some smoke into your precious little world? How sad. When it comes time for my country to vote on this, I can only hope that such opinions as yours can be reasoned with in advance, because it really is that important. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-prop-64-legal-recreational-marijuana-2016-ed-how-will-you-vote-and-discussion/760174/24 "2016-07-18T13:16:13Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > …they’re using more frequently and in greater quantity than they intend to, they’ve tried and failed to cut back, and they find that cannabis use is interfering with other things they care about and causing conflict with significant others in their lives. [/INDENT][/INDENT][/INDENT] Expect more of that after this Proposition passes. I can think of sooooooo many things that could apply to: Golf TV Video Games Exercise Porn Social Media What a nonsense reason to limit personal choice. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-prop-64-legal-recreational-marijuana-2016-ed-how-will-you-vote-and-discussion/760174/25 "2016-07-18T13:21:58Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Well heroin isn’t as harmful or as addictive as tobacco, but that doesn’t mean it should be legal. Once the genie is out of the box, you can’t stuff him back in. Legalization, done wrong, is basically a guaranteed public health disaster given our highly skilled business class, adept in advertising, marketing, production, distribution and lobbying. This is only a disaster for the opiate industry and the alcohol industry. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-prop-64-legal-recreational-marijuana-2016-ed-how-will-you-vote-and-discussion/760174/26 "2016-07-18T13:23:10Z")
I’m currently a Colorado resident but will be moving to California in a week. Seeing all of the great things that legal weed has done for Colorado I’ll vote yes this fall. Since I’m moving for my wife’s job and will be looking for work myself maybe I’ll start a pot shop after it passes. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-prop-64-legal-recreational-marijuana-2016-ed-how-will-you-vote-and-discussion/760174/27 "2016-07-18T14:21:43Z")
Well, I’d be really pissed if my neighbor were blowing smoke into my house, whether that smoke was from cannabis or tobacco. I don’t see that as a reason to outlaw either, but I’m not going to belittle someone else’s discomfort with that. I do think that ought to be an issue among neighbors (and perhaps the landlord has a role), not for state law, though. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-prop-64-legal-recreational-marijuana-2016-ed-how-will-you-vote-and-discussion/760174/28 "2016-07-18T14:28:15Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Well heroin isn’t as harmful or as addictive as tobacco, but that doesn’t mean it should be legal. Once the genie is out of the box, you can’t stuff him back in. Legalization, done wrong, is basically a guaranteed public health disaster given our highly skilled business class, adept in advertising, marketing, production, distribution and lobbying. I question your facts. Using tobacco rarely interferes with a person’s ability to hold a job or care for his family. It can cause premature death, yes, but generally not until one is old enough that the kids can fend for themselves. The increased risk can be mitigated with a moderately increased cost for life insurance. And pot is much less addictive than either tobacco or heroin. People routinely quit pot, and my friends who have done so have not found it very hard to quit. I’ve never heard of newborns needing treatment for cannabis withdrawal. (Perhaps a doctor will correct me on this point, or confirm.) Babies need careful medical treatment if their mothers were taking opioids. Babies aren’t treated medically for nicotine withdrawal, but I’m told that every maternity ward employee knows which newborns suffer from it, because they cry far more than other newborns. ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-prop-64-legal-recreational-marijuana-2016-ed-how-will-you-vote-and-discussion/760174/29 "2016-07-18T14:47:36Z")
Marijuana legalization is also on the ballot in Maine, as question one. I will be voting yes. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-prop-64-legal-recreational-marijuana-2016-ed-how-will-you-vote-and-discussion/760174/30 "2016-07-18T14:48:01Z")
Voting YES. Time to cut back the nanny state. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-prop-64-legal-recreational-marijuana-2016-ed-how-will-you-vote-and-discussion/760174/31 "2016-07-18T14:49:35Z")
This will be a record-breaking election at the ballot box. A lot of potential outcomes, but one that would be outrageous would be if CA passes the pot law AND votes for Donald Trump. “We love the poor, we love the uneducated, and we love the stoners! Thanks, hippies!” ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-prop-64-legal-recreational-marijuana-2016-ed-how-will-you-vote-and-discussion/760174/32 "2016-07-18T15:06:54Z")
> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#): > > A lot of potential outcomes, but one that would be outrageous would be if CA passes the pot law AND votes for Donald Trump. We already saw 2008 where California voted for Obama and Prop 8, banning same-sex marriage. But I don’t think Trump has any chance of winning California. The Republican party here shot themselves in the head years ago with their anti-immigrant rhetoric and are kinda-sorta trying to recover. Trump is going to shoot them in the other head, just make sure the party is really dead. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-prop-64-legal-recreational-marijuana-2016-ed-how-will-you-vote-and-discussion/760174/33 "2016-07-18T15:47:18Z")
I support legalizing marijuana. If I were still a CA resident, however, I would vote against this proposition, because I don’t believe the state has the authority to overrule the federal government in terms of drug policy and that legalization needs to happen on the federal level. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-prop-64-legal-recreational-marijuana-2016-ed-how-will-you-vote-and-discussion/760174/34 "2016-07-18T15:56:52Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I support legalizing marijuana. > > If I were still a CA resident, however, I would vote against this proposition, because I don’t believe the state has the authority to overrule the federal government in terms of drug policy and that legalization needs to happen on the federal level. It’s not being overruled at the federal level. It’s being made legal at the state level. If Obama changed his mind, the DEA could shut it all down in no time. He’s simply choosing to not enforce the laws as far as person and medical use are concerned. And it’s that non-enforcement that encouraged the move to state legal pot, not the other way around. Acknowledging that medical marijuana has been tolerated for a while now. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-prop-64-legal-recreational-marijuana-2016-ed-how-will-you-vote-and-discussion/760174/35 "2016-07-18T16:05:54Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > It’s not being overruled at the federal level. It’s being made legal at the state level. If Obama changed his mind, the DEA could shut it all down in no time. That’s the problem. We need action at the federal level, because this increasing trend of states acting on their own is creating a house of cards that could fall apart any second if the sitting president decides to change course. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-prop-64-legal-recreational-marijuana-2016-ed-how-will-you-vote-and-discussion/760174/36 "2016-07-18T16:13:37Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > That’s the problem. We need action at the federal level, because this increasing trend of states acting on their own is creating a house of cards that could fall apart any second if the sitting president decides to change course. Hopefully, that pressure will force the feds to just give in for good. [Republican(!!!) Congressman admits to using medical marijuana.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gop-congressman-says-he-uses-medical-marijuana_us_5744bff2e4b055bb117084d8) > [@](#): > > Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), a leading voice for the reform of marijuana laws in the United States, became the first sitting member of Congress in recent history to admit to medical marijuana use. > > Rohrabacher, a vocal supporter for reform of the nation’s marijuana laws, is **one of the main sponsors of a measure that blocked the Department of Justice from using funds to target and prosecute medical marijuana patients or businesses who are operating legal in their state.** The amendment has been reauthorized for the past two fiscal years. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-prop-64-legal-recreational-marijuana-2016-ed-how-will-you-vote-and-discussion/760174/37 "2016-07-18T17:45:21Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > This is only a disaster for the opiate industry and the alcohol industry. And the now criminal MJ industry. Might as well tax it and stop paying to put people in jail for a drug that is less harmful than alcohol. It’s legal in Colorado, and the sky has not fallen. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-prop-64-legal-recreational-marijuana-2016-ed-how-will-you-vote-and-discussion/760174/38 "2016-07-18T17:58:40Z")
Your survey is missing the option of abstaining, which I will be doing. I say this because - it is a principle of mine that I will only vote yes on a ballot initiatives if I believe that doing so will help “put out a fire”. Otherwise, I vote no or abstain from voting on ballot initiatives. I fundamentally object to the ballot initiative process. (Brexit anyone?) ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-prop-64-legal-recreational-marijuana-2016-ed-how-will-you-vote-and-discussion/760174/39 "2016-07-18T17:59:08Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I support legalizing marijuana. > > If I were still a CA resident, however, I would vote against this proposition, because I don’t believe the state has the authority to overrule the federal government in terms of drug policy and that legalization needs to happen on the federal level. > [@Smapti](#): > > That’s the problem. We need action at the federal level, because this increasing trend of states acting on their own is creating a house of cards that could fall apart any second if the sitting president decides to change course. While I certainly agree that it needs to be legalized at the federal level, I’m not sure that would _ever_ happen if it weren’t for the open defiance on the part of the states that has been going on for a long time. Long before the first states legalized recreational, CA was the first state to legalize medical way back in '96 - **20 years ago**. And the federal government _still_ hasn’t bothered to reclassify it from a Schedule I substance (i.e. one with ‘no medicinal value’). Defiance on the part of the states is going to **force** the federal government to reassess it eventually. Unless the next president essentially decides they are willing to start Civil War 2 over goddamn weed. And I don’t think anyone (yes, even _Trump_) is ridiculous enough to let it come to that. ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-prop-64-legal-recreational-marijuana-2016-ed-how-will-you-vote-and-discussion/760174/40 "2016-07-18T18:27:03Z")
I’m voting yes. I have a number of friends in the MMJ industry and severalof them are going to vote no because they’re convinced it will undercut their business to unsustainable levels. I’m up in the Sierra foothills (Nevada county) - one of the largest growing regions outside of the Triangle (Humboldt/Mendocino/Trinity counties) Personally, I think that this is nonsense, it’s only going to kill the low end of the market and those (most cartel/gang) growers who are operating illegally on federal or state land. We’re just going to see the commercial market fragment into a number of niches based on quality, price point and brand specialization/marketing. Just because I can make wine at home doesn’t mean there aren’t thousands of fantastic vineyards all around - from tiny boutiques to massive commercial operations. Should be interesting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-prop-64-legal-recreational-marijuana-2016-ed-how-will-you-vote-and-discussion/760174.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-prop-64-legal-recreational-marijuana-2016-ed-how-will-you-vote-and-discussion/760174.md?page=3)