Category Archives: A Closer Look

If passed, Proposition 19, the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010, will allow California residents to grow marijuana for private use or purchase the drug at local grocery stores.

The item was first placed on the California ballot last March by medical marijuana provider Richard Lee, and the proposition will be on the ballot next month.

According to Yes on 19 spokesman Dan Newman, the initiative is a logical response to California’s “failed war” on the drug.

Though previous legislation under Proposition 215 only legitimized marijuana use for medical purposes, the drug remains popular in the recreational drug scene as well.

The act of smoking a marijuana joint is similar to puffing on a cigarette.

Both substances have been known and used for hundreds of years, and their potential risks have long been hot topics of debate among lawmakers.

Yet the jury is still out on whether marijuana shares similar health risks as cigarette smoking.
For this reason, UCLA researchers like Dr. Donald Tashkin are looking to compare the effects of marijuana and cigarettes on the lungs.

The 1936 film “Reefer Madness,” which was created to deter students from using marijuana, tells the story of young adults getting into car accidents, committing murder, suicide and rape and ultimately descending into insanity as a result of marijuana use.

Becoming a cult classic for its unintentional humor, the film failed to prevent students from drug use when it was released, and it has yet to change many students’ opinions on marijuana in 2010.
In fact, people aged 18 through 39 comprise the largest supporters of Proposition 19, with 59 percent planning to vote in support of it in November, according to a recent field poll.

Brent Gaisford, a second-year economics student and co-president of the Roosevelt Institution at UCLA, said younger people are generally more open to the idea of the proposition.

The Roosevelt Institution, a public policy think tank, will co-host an on-campus debate on the proposition with Bruin Democrats and Bruin Republicans on Tuesday.

At Baxter’s restaurant and bar, 9 p.m. on a Friday meant shooing out the minors, installing bouncers at the door and opening up the dance floor.

The streets are lined with cars, parking lots are full, congestion is at a standstill, and people pack the sidewalk.