Democratic Party of OC grows spine, endorses Prop 19 to decriminalize & tax marijuana!

I’d sort of stopped paying attention to this because the process had been going so slow, it was just too frustrating.  But I just now heard through the grapevine that MY PARTY, the Democratic Party of Orange County, finally endorsed Proposition 19, the measure on November’s ballot to “decriminalize, regulate and tax marijuana,” at Monday night’s Central Committee meeting.

And I guess all the controversy had been drained away, all the cautious folks in the leadership who were pushing to remain neutral (that doesn’t include Barbaro by the way, who is a supporter) were quiet and outnumbered 2-to-1.  Here’s a copy of the resolution as I and a few friends of mine wrote it ‘way back in July… it’s probably gone through some changes so I’ll update/correct this when I get the latest copy but this should be close enough:

Whereas the current prohibition on the use and sale of marijuana, like the ill-fated national prohibition on the sale and use of alcoholic beverages, has not led to less use or less crime, but has instead increased the power of criminal drug cartels and organized crime; and

Whereas current state laws making the use and sale of marijuana have long been enforced in an unfair, discriminatory, and disproportionate manner against minorities and young people; and the arrest, trial and incarceration of those who use or sell small amounts of marijuana in California has unnecessarily added to the strain on our overburdened police, prison, and judicial systems; and

Whereas the legalization, regulation, and taxation of marijuana could save California hundreds of millions of dollars now spent in the arrest, trial and incarceration of non-violent marijuana users; while also raising hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue;

Therefore be it resolved that the Democratic Party of Orange County endorses and recommends voting YES on the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 (Proposition 19)

So now I just want to ask all young people, freedom lovers, citizens of all ages who admit the failure of the Drug War and don’t like government telling us what to do and throwing so many of us in prison, Americans who smoke pot and Americans like me who don’t (because, truth be told, it can make you kind of dopey if you do it too much) – I just want to ask you all now:

Who’s your Daddy Party?!