LULACC Calls Out Calderon on Prop 19

By Ron Crumpton

On Friday, the United Latin American Citizens of California (LULACC) endorsed Proposition 19, the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010.

"The current prohibition laws are not working for Latinos, nor for society as a whole,” said state director Argentina Davila-Luevano. "Far too many of our brothers and sisters are getting caught in the cross-fire of gang wars here in California and the cartel wars south of our border. It's time to end prohibition, put violent, organized criminals out of business and bring marijuana under the control of the law,” she added.

This announcement came just one day after the release of Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s interview in the L.A. Times, where the Mexican leader said that it is his belief that loosening American drug laws would cause "serious consequences for American and Mexican society."

This timely endorsement of the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010, should tell the Mexican president that the Latin community has a better grasp of reality than one of its most prominent leaders.

Apparently they recognize the fact that members of their community are targeted by law enforcement, and that when arrested they serve not only more jail time, but are also jailed more often than other offenders.

Perhaps they realize that the prohibition of marijuana is a magnate for violence in Latin America, and that by trying to tighten the grip on drug cartels, you only increase that violence. Instead they believe that eliminating the need for illegally grown marijuana, would be a deathblow to many of the drug cartels.

Maybe they are able to understand that, with the continued presence of prohibition in the Americas, their people are suffering from all the ills associated with illegal production without receiving any of the benefits from legal production. They would rather see marijuana as a viable crop, which can produce jobs throughout the Americas, than to continue to have the violence and oppression that the drug cartels inflict on their people.

Maybe this is an announcement to all of the governments of the world. That another voice is telling its leaders that people from all walks of life and all nationalities are wise to the irresponsible and spurious lies that they have spread throughout the world for the last 80 years.

It is also a symbol to all of the people who believe that prohibition is wrong!

It shows that there are always people out there who believe as you do, and if these organizations continue to show their support, and if everyone of you use your voice to spread the word to others then someday soon these individual voices  will become something much more powerful; a single voice.


Note: this was originally posted as LULAC, but it is actually LULACC. The term United Latin American Citizens of California was correct.