Election Day is approaching steadily. On November 8th, registered voters will not only be voting for one of the controversial candidates, but they’ll also be voting for our state senators, House representatives, and propositions.

Prop 64 is proposing the legalization of the recreational use of marijuana for those 21 years and older. As a result of the legalization, millions will be poured into our taxes. That increase in tax revenue serves as a catalyst for the improvement of our state as a whole, such as increasing mental health care facilities which is the focal point of where the taxes will be distributed.

But despite the millions of dollars California will gain from its citizens voting YES on Prop 64 or the increased businesses that stimulate our economy, there is much more to support about Prop 64 regarding people of color that must be taken into account.

There is no doubt that there is a disproportionate and racist mass incarceration of people of color in our prison system. Our youth has been targeted under for-profit systems that benefit off the oppression of, specifically, the Black and Latino population. Our youth has been robbed of a proper education and thrown into a cell that breeds unhealthy mental health issues. Their constant degrading treatment in jail cells and solitary confinement against the poor, adult Black and Latino population is a form of systemic racism and oppression strategically implemented to keep a subordinate population below rich and Caucasian people as a means to solidify the capitalism that fosters these dividing factors of race, gender, sexuality, class, etc. Unfortunately, it has been people of color that has carried these burdens, and specifically the Black and Latino population.

Voting YES on Prop 64 liberates people from this prejudiced prison capitalist system that has profited off the misery of people of color and prevents our modern generation from being shackled into the same, discriminatory complex. Instead of funding such an unnecessary large and racist prison system, we can focus the money on youth programs that promote education and give poorer people of color the access to mental health care and opportunity to seek the career they dream of instead of resulting to the drug trade as a means of living and survival that capitalism has forced upon them.

This is only one of the benefits of the legalization of marijuana. Medically, fiscally, morally- marijuana is a step forward into pushing our society forward despite our backwards presidential election.

If you’d like to learn more about the specifics of Prop 64 regarding how revenue will be spent, penalties, etc., visit https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_64,_Marijuana_Legalization_(2016) for more information. A quick Google search will always do too.