Health
Prop 19 advocates swung into full gear in downtown Oakland on Tuesday, convening a rally in front of City Hall and calling all volunteers to the Yes on 19 headquarters. The measure would legalize the recreational use of marijuana for people over 21.
As a medical marijuana patient, Ryan Landers relies on the drug to stomach a single meal each day. Despite his support of previous landmark legislation, Landers has taken a stand against Proposition 19, on the state ballot next Tuesday, which would legalize several marijuana related activities.
Oakland North reporters Abby Baird and Teresa Chin asked a former Bay Area police officer, a smoke shop employee, a retired emergency physician, and a Berkeley parent to share their best guesses about what will happen if California passes Proposition 19, the measure to legalize marijuana for recreational use.
Following California’s lead after 1996’s Proposition 215, medical marijuana is now legal in 14 states plus Washington, DC. On November 2, three more states will vote on medical marijuana. In California, voters will consider legalizing growing or possessing pot for recreational use, and many cities will vote on pot taxes and dispensary regulations. Our interactive map explains what’s legal where, and who will be voting on new pot laws next week.
In addition to being a health, economic and legal issue, Proposition 19 has now become a civil rights issue. According to two reports released within the last week by the Drug Policy Alliance and partnering civil rights organizations, blacks and Latinos are arrested anywhere from 2 to 13 times as often as whites for personal possession of marijuana.
Five weeks after their release from a Zimbabwean jail, the four members of Allen Temple Baptist church’s AIDS ministry team are already planning their next visit to the Southern African nation.
Two measures on the ballot this November give voters the chance to decide the future of public safety funding in Oakland. If either Measure BB or Measure X passes, the city can again collect funds for a slew of public safety programs that currently have no revenue to support them.
Xiao’s current research involves the designing of a new model of tree wells—the area right around the tree root—that are integrated into the city’s drain system. This will allow the tree roots to become the cheapest water purifier. “The new well will save at least 20 percent of water in terms of irrigation as well,” Xiao said.
The It Gets Better Project serves as a digital chorus of solidarity and support for LGBT adolescents and teens all over the world. The video project, which in less than a month has turned into an international phenomenon, was spearheaded by Seattle-based advice columnist Dan Savage in the wake of a sequence of gay teen suicides in September. Each teen death has been traced to peer bullying, and to the harsh reality of being a gay teenager in America.