California Moms Show Pot Legalization is Not Just for Stoners

Civic-minded moms have often been at the forefront of social change in America, from the abolition of slavery to women’s suffrage to alcohol prohibition. Ok, so maybe prohibition was a complete and total failure that caused a lot more problems than it solved, but the other ones were still pretty awesome. The good news is that California seems to have learned the lesson of prohibition (albeit 77 years late), with moms at the forefront advocating for an end to yet another total failure: marijuana prohibition.

For some it may come as a surprise to hear mothers saying that legalizing marijuana is “safer for our children” than the status quo, as mother and attorney Hanna Liebman Dershowitz wrote last month and reiterated at a press conference yesterday in support of California's Proposition 19 to legalize and tax marijuana. But to anyone whose family has been devastated by the criminal justice system's warped view of cannabis, there's no surprise. Millions of American parents have seen burdensome fines levied, jobs and student loans denied, or even freedom taken away from their children all for smoking the reefer. And worse, millions more have seen loved ones killed in drug violence fueled my misguided prohibition laws.

These women have given voice to the harsh reality that by driving the market underground and manufacturing criminals, marijuana prohibition has fed the crime and gangs that put California’s children at risk.

California mothers are also among the first to feel the crunches of our crumbling economy. As our social safety net is cut further and further into tatters, the control, regulation and taxation of marijuana offers a lifeline to salvage the state's economy. Financial security must be the state’s highest public safety priority -- and the war on drugs remains a serious threat to that.

For weeks, the seemingly unusual suspects have come out of the woodwork in favor of Prop 19. From law enforcement to clergy to a surgeon freakin' general, concerned professionals everywhere care more about smart policy and public health and safety than locking up non-violent pot smokers. Each of these endorsements brings a new perspective on how the drug war has harmed our state and nation and how it continues to threaten young people – disproportionately those of color.

Soon California will pass Prop. 19 and become the first state in the union to get over its bizarre view of weed (hopefully the first of many), but the only way that can happen is if voters are motivated to make it happen. If you’re a woman anywhere in the country interested in helping the effort to legalize marijuana in California, check out the Women’s Marijuana Movement’s online phone banking tool. You’ll be able to make calls to women in California and motivate them to cast their vote for public health and safety by legalizing, regulating and taxing marijuana.

Photo Credit: Library of Congress