{"id":243971,"date":"2010-10-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-10-30T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/whos-holding-the-bag-residents-government-officials-have-conflicting-viewpoints-on-legalizing-cannabis-proposition-19\/"},"modified":"2010-10-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-10-30T07:00:00","slug":"whos-holding-the-bag-residents-government-officials-have-conflicting-viewpoints-on-legalizing-cannabis-proposition-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/whos-holding-the-bag-residents-government-officials-have-conflicting-viewpoints-on-legalizing-cannabis-proposition-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Who\u2019s holding the bag? Residents, government officials have conflicting viewpoints on legalizing cannabis, Proposition 19"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por Margie M. Palmer | Reportero SDUN \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\"Who\u2019s<\/a>
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While marijuana advocates are making a strong push for the passage of Proposition 19, local government officials and medical marijuana dispensaries claim that the bill is too vague for proper implementation. <\/strong><\/p>\n

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The ballot measure, also known as the Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis act of 2010, moves to legalize various marijuana-related activities, including sale, distribution and cultivation; moves to allow local governments to regulate these activities; and would permit local governments to impose and collect marijuana-related fees and taxes. If passed, the new law would go into effect Nov. 3, the day after the election. <\/strong><\/p>\n

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Proponents believe taxing cannabis is a viable way to help alleviate pressures currently seen in the state\u2019s budget. \u00a0Local businesses feel it could positively impact their bottom line. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIn the sense that people will get hungry, we could potentially see an increase in people coming in,\u201d said manager Craig Wilson of Babycakes, which sells cupcakes, tarts and other dessert items on Fifth Avenue in Hillcrest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re relatively close to a dispensary, so the passage of Proposition 19 could impact our sales,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

City Councilman Todd Gloria, however, is cautionary, saying the city is still trying to sort out the implementation of Proposition 215.\u00a0 Passed by voters in 1996, it allows the sale of medical marijuana to individuals who obtain a prescription for its use.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe City Council has been working to implement the provisions of Prop 215 for medical marijuana,\u201d Gloria said.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s unclear if these policies would cover issues that may arise from the passage of Prop 19.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gloria, however, does not believe Proposition 19 will obtain enough votes to be successful.\u00a0 He also noted that the federal government has said it will enforce federal laws restricting the sale of marijuana, and will retain the right to prosecute offenders for growing, selling, or transporting it.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/em>Even if it passes in California, the federal government has said they won\u2019t look the other way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Some local residents, however, still believe marijuana should be legalized.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it should pass,\u201d said Leylla Badeanlou, who lives in Hillcrest.\u00a0 \u201cThere are far fewer problems you hear about with people smoking pot than you see when people drink alcohol.\u00a0\u00a0 There are so many people in jail for possession, and it\u2019s silly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Badeanlou, who is currently pursuing a master\u2019s degree in molecular and cellular biology, also disagrees with those who feel marijuana is addictive or damaging to people in the long term.<\/p>\n

\u201cI smoked when I was younger, and I\u2019ve turned out just fine,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Many dispensaries, though, are against the ballot measure, saying its language is too unclear.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t presented in the right way,\u201d said Benjamin Lujan, chairman of the board of The Holistic Caf\u00e9.\u00a0 \u201cThere aren\u2019t any guidelines for taxation or regulation, and the federal government has said they will still prosecute aggressively.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both The Holistic Caf\u00e9 and Hillcrest Organics have said that if people show up on Nov. 3 hoping to purchase marijuana but do not have a doctor\u2019s recommendation, they will be turned away.<\/p>\n

City Councilman Carl DeMaio agrees that Proposition 19 was poorly written.\u00a0 If passed, he said, it will cost the city thousands of dollars to implement.<\/p>\n

\u201cProp. 19 will have a major and costly impact on local law enforcement\u2014and will create an outright mess in the areas of code enforcement, licensing and permitting,\u201d DeMaio said. \u201cGiven that we are still having difficulties with the implementation of Prop. 215 and our city\u2019s finances are already stretched thin, it seems more prudent to focus on ensuring proper implementation and oversight of medical marijuana programs first.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Margie M. Palmer | SDUN Reporter \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 While marijuana advocates are making a strong push for the passage of Proposition 19, local government officials and medical marijuana dispensaries claim that the bill is too vague for proper implementation. The ballot measure, also known as the Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis act of […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":746,"featured_media":243972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Who\u2019s holding the bag? Residents, government officials have conflicting viewpoints on legalizing cannabis, Proposition 19","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/746"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}