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Law Students Nationwide Argue to Legalize Pot

By Laura Strachan, Esq. on November 02, 2010 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Proposition 19, the California proposition on whether the Golden State will legalize marijuana, is finding support from law students nationwide, according to Forbes. If passed Prop 19, officially known as the Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010, would allow California cities and counties to adopt their own laws regarding the sale and manufacturing of marijuana.

Now enter the law students. Members of Georgetown University's Students for a Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) have spent the week calling across the country to urge California voters to pass the highly-publicized proposition. Although many, if not most, of the law students are directly unaffected by Prop 19, their arguments are based on the following theories: economics, law enforcement and legitimizing the legal system. Members of other chapters of SSDP across the nation have taken up similar telephonic campaigns.

"Al Capone and murder and mob violence came out of prohibition. As future lawyers, we don't want that," Forbes quotes a member of SSDP. "We don't want violence or untaxed organized crime, or unequal drug regulation that makes our legal system appear illegitimate. We just want things to be fair and sensible."

Prop 19 has garnered plenty of avid supporters and opponents. The support of many law students across the country serves to add another voice and opinion on the campaign. Armed with facts, legal cases, and maybe some personal experience, law students' support for the legalization of marijuana is not necessarily universal, but just better organized in support than opposition of Prop 19. If Prop 19 passes, it will also make it legal for anyone 21 and older to possess an ounce of marijuana.

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