Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom Explains Why He Supports Legalizing Cannabis

California’s Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom participated in a one-hour meeting with the Press Democrat editorial board on Tuesday, October 11. There, he admitted that he doesn’t like cannabis, and has never used it, but still sees a lot of benefits to be gained from legalizing cannabis through Proposition 64. “I’m not pro-marijuana. I’m just vehemently anti-prohibition,” he said to the board.

As one of the main proponents of Proposition 64, he believes that it goes much farther than simply legalizing recreational cannabis. He believes that it’s about normalizing cannabis use so cannabis-related arrests, especially those including minorities, cease to occur. “This is about poor folks being targeted,” Newsom said. According to his own statistics, there were 8,800 arrests for non-violent cannabis felonies in California in 2015.

Newsom began working on a blue-ribbon committee in 2013 that was formed specifically to study the possibilities of cannabis legalization in California. “We began our work by saying ‘we don’t believe this should be California’s next Gold Rush,” he mentions about the committee’s original goals, explaining that legalizing cannabis shouldn’t be mainly about generating revenue. “This is not what we should be doing with a drug that is of concern, particularly for our children and youth and as it relates to public safety. We shouldn’t be promoting it as a government entity and revenue generation.”

When asked a question regarding how legalizing cannabis would affect the Emerald Triangle (Trinity, Humboldt and Mendocino counties), he reminded the Press Democrat that Prop 64 will protect and preserve the growing high-quality cannabis, rather than resulting in “the cannibalization and monopolization, large multi-national folks coming and destroying that,” Newsom stated.

Proposition 64 has a high percentage of passing at the ballot this time around, and its simple points like the ones that Newsom mentions above that prove there are many opportunities that can be seized by California, the United States and even the world, if recreational legalization is passed.