The California Cannabis Initiative
The California Cannabis Initiative (CCI), also known as Tax Cannabis 2010, has qualified for the November ballot in California. If passed, CCI would decriminalize certain marijuana offenses which currently generate a fine, arrest, or a misdemeanor, and would permit personal consumption and cultivation of cannabis by any adult over 21 years of age, thereby establishing non-discrimination protections for cannabis users. While effectively removing marijuana from California’s state and civil codes, CCI reestablishes the selling or providing of cannabis to a minor as a felony.
Ambiguous laws, the excessive amount of money used in pursuing, arresting, and punishing nonviolent offenders, and social justice concerns are primary incentives pushing CCI. Advocates argue that the “war on weed” has disproportionately affected minorities and young people. For example, 62 percent of California’s marijuana arrests are non-white and 42 percent are under 20 years old. Since 1990, there has been a 300 percent surge in arrests of teenagers of color, mostly African-American.
The campaign for the passage of CCI aims at professionalizing or normalizing the use of marijuana, demonstrated by its deliberate use of “tax and regulate” over “legalization,” and “cannabis” over “marijuana.” The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) refers to CCI as a “system of legalization, taxation, regulation, and education.” Advocates likewise insist that “moderate use” of marijuana is a “significant vehicle to self-realization,” a stimulus for creativity and relaxation, and even an “access to instant mysticism.” Supporters believe marijuana is a “benign recreational drug” and a “herbal medicine.”
Thirteen states plus California have already legalized marijuana use for medical reasons. This “compassionate use of marijuana” is aimed at helping patients with chronic diseases such as cancer and AIDS, although medical marijuana can easily be obtained for less serious afflictions. There has been evidence that smoking marijuana can relieve the nausea associated with chemotherapy, serve as an appetite stimulant for AIDS patients, and act as an anti-epileptic. Most of the medical marijuana in California is sold through dispensaries. In Los Angeles, e.g., dispensaries have exploded from 186 in 2007 to over 800 in the past twelve months. Some dispensaries such as Farmacy offer a wide variety of cannabis, including edibles, six types of marijuana gelato, and infused pesto spread and olive oil.
Those who oppose CCI argue that marijuana causes the same degree of damage as cigarette smoking. The use of marijuana is assessed as disrespecting one’s body, a form of intoxicant that dims one’s ability to think or reason clearly, and is a gateway to the use of more harmful drugs. Marijuana is considered a “dangerous drug” and a “powerful intoxicant” that harms one’s mental, physical, academic, and spiritual well-being, promotes irresponsible sexual behavior, encourages disrespect for traditional values, and threatens the nation’s youth. Long-term health effects of chronic cannabis use, and marijuana’s role as a gateway to the use of other illegal drugs, are serious issues surrounding its use and decriminalization.
Marijuana is the most widely used illegal drug in the United States and is used more frequently than all other illegal drugs combined. It is estimated that more than two million Americans smoke it every day. Unlike heroin or cocaine, anywhere from a quarter to half of the marijuana used in the U.S. is grown here. Most domestic marijuana is grown in the country’s midsection, running from the Appalachians west to the Great Plains and in the “Emerald Triangle,” an area in Northern California comprising Mendocino, Humboldt and Trinity counties. The value of America’s annual marijuana crop ranges from $4 billion to $25 billion. California’s annual marijuana crop is estimated to be worth about $14 billion, which dwarfs any other sector of the state’s agricultural economy.
“Marijuana” is the Mexican colloquial name for a plant known technically as cannabis sativa. For some users, marijuana creates a psychological dependence. It appears to be less addictive than heroin, cocaine, nicotine, alcohol, or caffeine. However, statistics show that marijuana users are more than likely to later experiment with other psychoactive drugs, although the cause-and-effect relationship has never been established.
There is substantial evidence that habitual and heavy marijuana smoking may cause chronic bronchitis, damage the pulmonary system, and produce cancers in the mouth, throat, and lungs. Short-term effects and toxicity seem to be no more harmful than moderate alcohol consumption. Along with heroin, LSD, and peyote, marijuana is currently classified as a Schedule I controlled substance, implying that it has a high potential for abuse.
There is an important distinction between decriminalization and legalization of marijuana. Decriminalization, the aim of CCI, is a policy that reduces the punishment for possession of marijuana to a civil fine rather than a criminal offense. Trafficking and selling, or distributing to minors, remain subject to standard criminal punishments. In contrast, legalization would decriminalize both possession and sale of marijuana and replace them with a system of regulation and possible taxation. No state or national government has actually legalized marijuana.
Decriminalization is translated as regulation, that is, establishing controls regarding who can legally produce marijuana, who can legally distribute marijuana, who can legally consume marijuana, and where adults can legally use marijuana and under what circumstances is such use legally permitted (for instance, one would not want a surgeon, pilot, or bus driver using marijuana while involved in professional work).
Economics is a major engine driving support for CCI. It is estimated that decriminalizing marijuana could save the U.S. government $13 billion annually in prohibition costs (the primary cost of the criminalization of marijuana is law enforcement) and raise $7 billion in annual revenues if marijuana is taxed and regulated. Decriminalization is not seen as liberalization – to mean condoning marijuana and letting its use get out of control. Rather, decriminalization is interpreted as taxation and regulation. Additionally, since the medical use of marijuana is already legalized (presently, there are about 300,000 medical-marijuana users in California), proponents believe that there is no overwhelming reason to oppose further decriminalization.
Shifting marijuana from black markets to the organic farmer’s market could net California $1.4 billion in annual revenues. As Californians experience schools closing, mandated unpaid furlough days, and a ravaged state economy, this estimated financial boon is a persuasive argument for decriminalization.
Moral Considerations: California voters should be wary of economics as the primary factor pushing the passage of CCI. While there are financial incentives to consider, morality cannot be divorced from this debate. The Catechism of the Catholic Church insists that life and physical health are precious gifts entrusted to us by God, and we must take reasonable care of them. “Concern for the health of its citizens requires that society help in the attainment of living-conditions that allow them to grow and reach maturity: food and clothing, housing, health care, basic education, employment, and social assistance.” (no. 2288) Legitimizing the use of marijuana will translate for many, especially young people, as permissiveness, with little or no consideration of its effect on one’s bodily and spiritual health and well-being.
The Catechism extols the virtue of temperance which “disposes us to avoid every kind of excess: the abuse of food, alcohol, tobacco, or medicine” (no. 2290). At this time, there has not been adequate education of society regarding the use of non-medical marijuana, thus opening the window for recreational use to become un-tempered, abusive, and damaging to one’s whole person. In addition, medical evidence for the general use of marijuana is well below the threshold of “best practices,” as many prescribing physicians for medicinal use of marijuana are arbitrary as to what counts as an authentic medical need.
Decriminalized or not, cannabis remains a drug. The Catechism offers useful guidance: “The use of drugs inflicts very grave damage on human health and life” (no. 2291). In 2001, the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry issued a pastoral handbook entitled “Church, Drugs, and Drug Addiction.” The Pontifical Council teaches that the use of cannabis is “incompatible with Christian morality” because it is an intoxicant that dims reason and is potentially damaging to the integrity of one’s body and soul.
By Father Gerald Coleman, SS
Sulpician Father Gerald Coleman is Vice President, Corporate Ethics at the Daughters of Charity Health System.
