Students share views on Prop. 19
By Kylie Reynolds
Oct. 6, 2010 1:47 a.m.
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. Moderated by UCLA public policy professor Mark Kleiman, the debate will feature Allison Margolin, an attorney in the Los Angeles office for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, in support of the proposition and Joel Hay, head of the University of Southern California’s Department of Pharmaceutical Economics and Policy, against the initiative.
“A lot of the negative stereotypes of marijuana that existed in the 40s and 50s … are now known to be often racially motivated and false,” Gaisford said. “Those societal moral qualms have fallen by the wayside. I think a lot of college students have experienced marijuana, and it doesn’t seem to them to be a horrible, societal thing.”
For third-year English student Ginger Buswell, legalizing marijuana would be a positive move for California.
“More often than not, (marijuana use) is a victimless crime,” Buswell said. “It’s a waste of tax money to prosecute those who use it.”
Although more than half of current undergraduate students will not be immediately affected by the proposition, which will only allow those over 21 to possess the drug, many students, including second-year biochemistry student Jonathon Amzleg, are in support of the initiative because they do not think its passage will change much about marijuana use.
Like any controversial proposition, however, some students differ in opinions from the majority. Arpi Shak, a fourth-year philosophy student, said she does not support the proposition because it may increase drug usage.
“Right now there are restrictions, so some people won’t try it because it’s illegal. With no restrictions, it will be more freely used, like cigarettes,” she said.
While supporters of the proposition cite its economic advantages to California, Aline Robles, a third-year biology student, said she opposes the proposition because it is not the right way to generate revenue for the state.
“(The government) should put more money into the (University of California) system, which creates the most jobs and business for the state, instead of getting money from marijuana,” Robles said.
But regardless of where students stand on the initiative, Proposition 19 remains one of the leading issues in this year’s election to college students, who are often new voters. With a precarious 49 percent of all voters in support of the proposition, students’ votes will likely be a determining factor in whether the proposition is passed, according to the field poll.
“There are so many propositions in California, and I think this is the one by far the most students will know about,” Gaisford said. “I would say every student knows this is on the ballot, and that is definitely not true of lots of other worthy propositions.”
