SAN DIEGO — On Tuesday, California voters overwhelmingly passed Prop 36, which would create harsher penalties for drug and theft crimes.San Diego business owners say they desperately hoped this proposition would pass.Walid Alraheb will be the first to tell you that owning and running a business doesn’t come easy.He owns three businesses on El Cajon Boulevard: ABC Market and Deli, the Cage Smoke Shop, and Cage Three.
'There’s a lot of people that they come, and we can’t even see them because we get super busy and we can’t even talk to them, and we know there is missing inventory, and we can’t do nothing about it,' says Alraheb.When Alraheb heard Prop 36 passed with a 70 to 30 margin on Tuesday, he was thrilled. The proposition allows for felony charges for thefts under $950 for repeat offenders, as well as allowing felony charges for possessing certain drugs.