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By Gerald D. Coleman, S.S.
 (Note: The California Catholic Conference has not taken a position on Proposition 19 - Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010. The following analysis is presented as a service to readers.)
Overview
The California Cannabis Initiative (CCI), also known as Tax Cannabis 2010, has qualified for the November ballot in California. If passed, CCI would decriminalize certain marijuana offenses which currently generate a fine, arrest, or a misdemeanor, and would permit personal consumption and cultivation of cannabis by any adult over 21 years of age, thereby establishing non-discrimination protections for cannabis users. While effectively removing marijuana from California’s state and civil codes, CCI reestablishes the selling or providing of cannabis to a minor as a felony.
Ambiguous laws, the excessive amount of money used in pursuing, arresting, and punishing nonviolent offenders, and social justice concerns are primary incentives pushing CCI. Advocates argue that the “war on weed” has disproportionately affected minorities and young people. For example, sixty-two percent of California’s marijuana arrests are non-white and 42% are under 20 years old. Since 1990, there has been a 300% surge in arrests of teenagers of color, mostly African-American.
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 The following appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on Monday, August 9, 2010. Click here to view the original.
Holy Family Day Home would be hit hard by state budget cuts. - Making budget priorities is essential in tough economic times. But we need to remember that although closing a park may be inconvenient, closing down programs like CalWORKS hurts children and destroys families.
This is the problem facing the governor and the Legislature as they confront the glaring $19 billion California state deficit.
If they could craft a fair and responsible way to increase revenue, then that would be welcomed. The fact remains that the Legislature cannot possibly increase revenue enough to cover such a huge deficit. State government services will have to cut back.
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 Annually, the California Catholic Conference asks the Legislators to examine their priorities when making funding decisions in the state budget. The Governor proposed elimination of the CalWORKs, a reduction in state funding for SSI/SSP-programs for the elderly, the blind and disabled-while retaining the funding for Family PACT which goes to family planning institutions, like Planned Parenthood. Although that money doesn't actually pay for abortions-abortions are funded through Medi-Cal-it does keep those organizations financially sound.
Family Planning organizations and their supporters justify the expense by claiming that Family PACT services are beneficial to the financial health of the state. For this claim, they rely on studies such as the April 2010 report from the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health at the University of California San Francisco entitled "Cost-Benefit Analysis of the California Family PACT Program for Calendar Year 2007."
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 On May 15, 2008, the California Supreme Court ruled that individuals of the same sex had a constitutional right to marry. However, on November 4, 2008 the voters of California reversed that decision when they passed Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment which simply stated: "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."
Immediately following passage of Proposition 8, the proponents of "gay marriage" appealed to California's Supreme Court claiming that it was invalid because it was a revision of, rather than an amendment to, the California Constitution. (Revisions must originate with the Legislature.) Because of state officials' disinterest in defending the voters' decision, the Proposition 8 Legal Defense Fund (formed by the Protect Marriage Committee which had successful run the Proposition 8 campaign) applied for and was granted intervenor status to act as defendant in the lawsuit. On May 26, 2009, California's high court, by a vote of 6-1, upheld Proposition 8-although it "grandfathered in" those same-sex marriages solemnized in the five-month interim between the original decision and the election.
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 Commentary by Steve Pehanich, Director of Advocacy and Education
California’s seemingly never-ending budget crisis has finally come to pulling the rug out from under women, children, the blind and the aged.
It’s because instead of coming together to deal with a financial crisis created by a history of smoke-and-mirrors budgeting and the worst recession since the Depression, the two parties are stuck in their same old, tired ways.
This inability of the parties to deal with each other through hard but honest negotiations is not new. It led to the passage of Proposition 13, which dealt with an out-of-control situation that the legislature failed to address.
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