Don't let the State of California go to pot!
Vote "NO" on legalizing Marijuana
A message from initiative opponent
Alexandra D. Datig
Dear Fellow Californians:
I started this campaign back in December of 2009, on my 11th sober birthday, because I know from personal experience that we cannot afford the consequences of further marijuana legalization; now for recreational use. The cost to our youth and our communities is “too high” and infringes on our right to a healthy society. Our children, adults, senior citizens and pets would inhale second-had smoke from marijuana, which has been proven to be five times more harmful than the smoke from tobacco products.
The T.H.C. from second-hand marijuana smoke would stay in non-users systems for at least 10 days. If a drug test were necessary for a job opportunity, innocent victims of second-hand marijuana smoke would lose his or her opportunity because he or she would not pass a drug test. Men and women struggling to find sobriety would be exposed to yet another temptation making them more vulnerable to relapse.
The marijuana activists want to fully legalize marijuana now and they are demanding that we apply the same standards to marijuana that we use with alcohol. The activists are not going near any comparison when it comes to tobacco because they know we have learned enough about the harms of tobacco to know it’s health consequences can be fatal over time.
Therefore they are shadowboxing with alcohol as their argument of "equal legitimacy", however they do not acknowledge that marijuana has no regulations in place nor are health regulations being suggested by them. Alcohol is government regulated and controlled. Alcohol, which is regulated by the State, must go through various rigorous approval processes from the first to the last step of labeling and bottling. With their initiative, legalizers have prevented the State from any regulation and even taxation. So how could they possibly ask voters to regulate marijuana like alcohol?
The marijuana activists want adults to become “pot-gardeners” and legalized drug dealers, free from responsible processes and realistic oversight. Fertilizers will pollute groundwater resources. Pesticides will make users sick. The smoke from the marijuana will pollute the environment that is already in dire need, not to mention the increase in fire hazards! - Second-hand smoke will pollute the bodies of both user and non-user. Auto accidents will increase. Industrial accidents will increase. Academic achievement will decrease. Self-esteem of first-time users will be destroyed, causing a shame-based identity. - How do we know? We have already learned the lessons of legalization in the State of Alaska where marijuana was legalized for recreational use in 1975 and had to be re-criminalized by the voters in 1988. So why are we at it again in California? The simple answer is greed.
A long time ago, legislators lost the sin-tax on tobacco because the people got smart and learned tobacco use was costing too many lives and shortened so many others. As the people stopped buying cigarettes, the enormous sin-tax dollars from cigarette sales went away. Now, to place a quick-fix on the budget gap, some legislators want to tax marijuana by legalizing it for recreational use. We must not allow this to happen. We should not have to learn the devastating and costly lessons we had to learn from the days of tobacco.
Therefore I ask for your support to stop the entire idea of marijuana legalization in its tracks. We cannot afford to injure our youth, our community, our moral values and place the environment at further risk. We must not allow the marijuana activists to sell us on the idea that intoxicating California with marijuana is somehow going to help our productivity, make our schools safer, our communities stronger and our lives healthier.
I thank you for your time and consideration and hope you join in the fight against the legalization of marijuana for recreational use in the State of California.
Alexandra D. Datig
