"Herb is the healing of a nation"

“Herb is the healing of a nation, alcohol is the destruction.”- Bob Marley. Should marijuana be legalized? This question has been a very controversial topic for years and will remain to be. I have found that most of the people in St. Augustine would agree that marijuana should in fact be legalized.

In accordance to collegenews.com and reporter Ivana Cheong, due to the country’s economic ties Arnold Schwarzenegger, California’s Governor found reason to address that by urging legislators to do a large-scale study to find if the state should legalize the use of marijuana for recreational purposes it would boost California’s state revenue by around 1.3 billion a year, according to USA Today. In order for the finacial raise to occur, an analysis by the State Board of Equalization says there would have to be a $50-an-ounce levy on sales of marijuana.

As one could guess 56% of the voters in California according to a field poll are in favor of legalizing marijuana for recreational purposes to help raise the budget deficit. I as well had the pleasure of interviewing three Flagler Students on Schwarzenegger’s plan and was able to learn more of a local’s perspective and their reactions towards such an idea. When asked “do you agree with Schwarzenegger and your own personal opinion” on the matter 22year old, Flagler student and resident, Max Kiser says “ I do agree, I feel like it’s way less harmful to your body than things such as alcohol and cigarettes, which are awful for you and are legal. Because they are legal people feel that they are not bad, they just through an age limit to when you can start to fuck yourself up. And studies have shown that pot does nothing to you compared to cigarettes and alcohol. It’s like saying you can’t grow an apple tree in your own front yard.”  21year old Mike Lawson, also a Flagler student and resident feels that “it’s a great idea, it’s awesome to help California with taxes, but I think that tourism would go up as well. If you were allowed to walk around and smoke weed, it’d be sweet. Or things such as coffee shops, similar to Hookah bars where you can go and specifically smoke weed would help job opportunities to go up. You could even make your own business or specialize in things that are fun when you’re high, like a Disney world for pot smokers.”

Schwarzenegger says that he wants to look at as many sides on this matter as possible. Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, a San Franciscan Democrat, has addressed a bill that would regulate sales and cultivating of marijuana for recreational use. Under this new legislation, a person 21 years or older would be allowed to grow, buy, sell and possess marijuana. Laws that is very similar to the laws of alcohol use. “Sure, regulating it makes sense.” Says Brooks Bailey, 20 years old, student and St. Augustine local. “Anybody can grow it, it’s a plant God wouldn’t have put it on this earth if it wasn’t all n-a-t-u-r-a-l like spring water. What’s the other type of water? Man made water, aka- purified.”

In contrast, Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, a Republican from Irvine, said that he does not support this plan. Whatever revenue pot sales would generate does not seem to be enough to help the deficit that could reach $20 billion in 15 months. “How long has this been an issue? This goes beyond the desperation” says Lawson. Anything to help is better than nothing, obviously the answer to the desperation is not pot but it’s a good start to bring in money. There are defiantly downfalls to smoking weed, but no worse than alcohol and defiantly not cigarettes.”

Legalizing marijuana for recreational purposes is an issue that I believe will remain until something is done. “What stands out about Gov. Schwarzenegger’s comment is not that he thought it, but that he said it,” Nadelmann said. “There has been enormous fear at a political level about saying out loud and on the record that we should think about this.”- Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance.