By Jessica Abughattas
Contributing Editor

It’s been described as lewd, degenerate and un-American, but the father of our country, President George Washington, allegedly grew it in his backyard at Mount Vernon.

The debate over the legalization of marijuana has long been but a quiet murmur under a blanket of more important issues on the table. Currently, the most central problem on the mind of Californians is arguably the economic recession, but what if legalizing marijuana is the state’s ticket out?

San Francisco Assemblyman Tom Ammiano has recently introduced a bill that proposes the legalization of cannabis for use by adults over the age of 21 under strict state regulation and taxation. Under the right circumstances, the projected revenue of such a feat is around $1.5 billion. It is set to take effect on Jan. 10, 2009 if passed.

If it fails, two other initiatives are intended to premier the ballots in 2010: The Cannabis Act of 2010 and The Tax, Regulate and Control Cannabis Act of 2010. It’s no question that Californians are interested in seeing the potential profits that marijuana promises work in their favor, but how does the local Arab community view these prospects?

While there are obvious economical benefits to legalizing marijuana, social concerns brew among the more conservative crowd. Issues such as how lenient or strict regulations would be, its impact on teenagers as an alleged “gateway drug” and the controversy over the level of impairment and addiction it may cause are all legitimate questions. However, how would these concerns fare in a 2010 vote?

Proponents of legalizing marijuana usually have one common denominator: the desire to impose heavy taxes on it as a product, as imposed on alcohol and cigarettes. This brings up the issue of how homegrown marijuana will be regulated. It is legal to brew alcohol and make homemade cigarettes, what would make it illegal for someone to grow his or her own marijuana? This would lose a considerable amount of profit. Even with an expected revenue of $1.5 billion in taxes as well as money saved from decreased jailing for marijuana offenses, some are still skeptical, “I don’t see how they could come up with an estimate of revenue if they don’t even know what they’re going to be selling it at,” said University of California- Los Angeles premed student Petra Elias.

Perhaps the most discussed issue, however, is the question of why marijuana is illegal in the first place and whether or not the government bears the responsibility of deciding what people have the liberty to place in their own body. Alcohol and cigarettes have each proven potentially lethal, killing users every day by either health condition or, with alcohol, accidents – and yet they are both legal. Some argue that their position as a domestic product and strong lobbies account for the fact that they are still legal and widely accessible to both adults and, illegally, minors today. If marijuana was a U.S. product, would its legality even be a question?

Corona, Calif. resident John Sansour believes that politicians “vote based on the financing they get from [alcohol and cigarette] industries” and “not in the best interest of the U.S. consumers.”

So, if this is true, why do opponents of marijuana insist that the government is concerned for the health of the people? “I would like tobacco to be illegal,” said Sansour, suggesting a more realistic start to those supposedly concerned with health.

However, Hanan Khamis of Beverly Hills, Calif. disagrees with Sansour, “I feel there is a right for the government. There should be an upper-hand on this, but I think the government should know by now that marijuana is nothing harmful.”

Whether or not citizens should be entrusted with their own health is another story. Elias said, “Why stop at pot? Why not cocaine, opium? It’s a very slippery slope.” Another source, who wishes to remain anonymous, argued sarcastically that “people do make their own decisions, to drink and smoke in front of children,” although admitting that keeping marijuana illegal despite the legality of tobacco and alcohol “takes away the people’s freedom.”

Considering the frequent comparison of alcohol and cigarettes to marijuana, the comparison of their individual effects is certainly debatable. Some cite that marijuana can remain in one’s system up to two weeks after it initially enters the body, a problem that does not occur with alcohol. This issue calls into question the types of regulations expected in work situations, what qualifies as intoxicated?

Lola Awwad of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. said “Smoking cigarettes will not make a person hallucinate. Smoking marijuana makes people do things they wouldn’t do normally. Alcohol is not a problem unless you abuse it.”

In spite of that observation, marijuana is not physically addictive, although it is highly psychologically addictive. A user may feel like he or she needs to continue abusing it, but there are no documented withdrawal symptoms as exhibited in alcohol and cigarette addiction, in which the user has a physical dependency.

This is a key argument for proponents of medical marijuana, which is currently legal in California. Patients in severe pain, mainly cancer patients, are often prescribed cannabis instead of other painkillers that they may develop a physical dependency to and suffer severe withdrawal symptoms without.

Khamis said “The benefits [of marijuana] are much greater than the non-benefits. It heals a lot of diseases.” Awwad also recognizes a need for medical marijuana, “I support medical marijuana because a lot of people will benefit because it will help ease their pain,” though she clearly opposed the use of marijuana for recreation, “Marijuana is a drug and should not be used just for fun. The influence of marijuana is just like any other drug; it can cause accidents.”

Sansour is not fully sold on this concept, he said “If it is for medicinal purpose, why isn’t it made into a pill?” adding, “The doctors that prescribe it should be reviewed to make sure they’re giving it to people that really need it.”

“It’s super easy to abuse [medical marijuana],” said Elias, also skeptical of the current system. “If they reformed [the current system] and offered [marijuana] like they do prescription drugs then, yeah, I think they should keep it.”

Khamis also expressed her belief that “people will be less dependent on medicines and will use marijuana as a painkiller. This will help people save money and benefit the pharmaceutical industry.”

Crime is another issue on voters’ minds. While some feel that legalization would result in more widespread drug use and overall more crime, like Awwad, who said “I think there will be more [crime] because more people will use marijuana and it will have a lot of effects on families and teenagers. People will take it lightly and not consider it a drug,” others argue that this common conception has not been proven the case.

“We have to look at an example,” said Khamis, “In Amsterdam, they legalized everything, and once they did this a lot of people stopped [using drugs]. The crime level down. That’s statistics and the truth.”
Regardless to whether recreational marijuana is legalized, there is an overwhelming opposition of jail time as a possible punishment for the possession of a small amount of marijuana. “I think that jailing people for this is pure nonsense and that California spends tons of money on jails, and people go in there for selling it or consuming it when there are people who are actually dangerous who should be there… So in that case, legalizing it would be feasible,” Elias said.

“It costs us $45,000-55,000 per year for one inmate,” said Sansour, who believes that tax money could be put to better use.

Next year will test this new generation of pro-pot initiatives. The choice now rests in the hands of the California State Assembly and the people.

Editor’s note: Should California legalize marijuana? Yes/No Email your vote and comments to debate@timonitor.com. The results will be published in our October issue.

Published in The Independent Monitor September 2009 issue.

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