SEIU endorses Prop 19

Service Employees International Union endorses Prop 19

(New York Times) LOS ANGELES — A ballot measure to make California the first state to legalize the sale and use of marijuana has won the support of one of the state’s most powerful union, officials said Monday, offering the proposition a shot of mainstream legitimacy as well as a potential financial and organizational lift.

The decision by the executive board of the Service Employees International Union of California will be announced in the next few days, according to officials who have been briefed about it but were not allowed to speak publicly before it was announced.

At the very least, the support by the S.E.I.U., which claims over 700,000 members in the state, could make it easier for other groups to rally around the measure. More practically, it means access to the union’s considerable campaign apparatus, which could finance mailings, telephone calls and leaflets.

At the very most, the support by SEIU means that we are finally seeing the observable change in the public discussion over marijuana legalization as mainstream political groups like this union and the California NAACP no longer feel frightened to support reforms that are obviously in their members’ best interests.

California’s NAACP came around when they acknowledged the huge racial disparity in marijuana law enforcement, where in the 25 largest counties, African-Americans are arrested for pot at double to quadruple the rates of whites.  We hope the reasoning behind SEIU’s decision comes down to how marijuana arrests and workplace urine screening for inert non-impairing cannabis metabolites are inherently unfair to workers.