ShareThisSmoke weed -- help the state?
Marijuana would be sold and taxed openly in California to adults 21 and older if legislation proposed this week is signed into law.
California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, a San Francisco Democrat, said his bill could generate big bucks for a cash-starved state while freeing law enforcement agencies to focus on worse crimes.
"I think there's a mentality throughout the state and the country that this isn't the highest priority -- and that maybe we should start to reassess," he said.
Critics counter that it makes no sense for a legislature, so concerned about health that it has restricted use of trans fats in restaurants, to legalize the smoking of a potentially harmful drug.
"I think substance abuse is just ruining our society," said GOP Assemblyman Paul Cook, of Yucca Valley. "I can't support that."
"I think it's a slippery slope," Assemblyman Tom Berryhill, a Modesto Republican, said of easing pot laws. "We'll do everything we can to defeat it."
Medical use of marijuana already is legal in California, but the new legislation would go a step further by allowing recreational use.
Assembly Bill 390 would charge cannabis wholesalers $5,000 initially and $2,500 annually for the right to distribute weed. Retail outlets would pay fees of $50 per ounce of cannabis to generate revenue for drug education programs statewide.
The bill would prohibit cannabis near schools. It also would ban smoking it in public places or growing it in public view.
Before California could sell marijuana openly, however, it would have to persuade the federal government to alter its prohibition on pot.
Ammiano said that such a change in federal law might be possible because President Obama expressed a desire several years ago to consider decriminalizing marijuana.
Marijuana's supporters and critics often argue over whether pot poses risks.
The Office of National Drug Control Policy contends that short-term effects of marijuana use can range from memory loss to anxiety and increased heart rate.
The California state attorney general's office declined to comment Monday on AB 390, as did the U.S. Department of Justice and Drug Enforcement Administration.
In a state whipsawed by recession and falling retail sales, legalization of marijuana could provide a much-needed financial boon, supporters claim.
"Marijuana already plays a huge role in the California economy," said Stephen Gutwillig, state director of the Drug Policy Alliance. "It's a revenue opportunity we literally can't afford to ignore any longer."
Gutwillig said the state's prohibition on marijuana also has been "a disaster when it comes to keeping pot out of the hands of young people."
A state-sponsored survey of California children in 2007 found that marijuana had been used by 9 percent of seventh-graders, 25 percent of high school freshmen, and 42 percent of 11th-graders.
Board of Equalization Chairwoman Betty Yee released a statement Monday supporting Ammiano's bill as a way to help law enforcement set priorities while raising new revenues.
AB 390 could generate roughly $1.3 billion per year from marijuana sales -- about $990 million from the fee on retailers and $349 million in sales taxes, according to equalization board estimates.
Legalizing marijuana is not supported by the California Narcotics Association, California Police Chiefs Association or California Peace Officers Association, lobbyist John Lovell said.
Lovell said it's "preposterous" to say that AB 390 would free officers to focus on worse crimes.
"Law enforcement activities always have been prioritized," he said.
"But to say that law enforcement should simply write off whole classes of socially destructive conduct I think is very bad public policy."
E-mail Jim Sanders at jsanders(at)sacbee.com.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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The fact is that prohibtion
The fact is that prohibtion does not work. All it does is breed a criminal orginization to supply the illicit need. How much money changes hands "illegaly" daily in the distribution of pot? I don't know, but I say that as with all things that people buy that they don't need, there should be a tax on it. Esspecially these days with money so tight in all places. Alcohol creates huge revenues for states and federal government and is harmfull to the individual. So whats the difference?
Its About Time
I am a avid pot smoker from the 70'S and I have been saying this for years. People who get high do not get in a motor vehicle and run red lights. It just doesn't happen. Funny that the ones who appose it the most are cop's..... go figure.
Major Idiots
As a pot smoker/runner in the 70/80's we tried to legalize it. Arizona Governor Bruce Babbit even proposed a Tax Stamp in 1980.
As a disabiled person in Californa with an expired MMJ card and empty pocket every month. I must say MMJ is a cluster fuck. Clones, Lies, Money, etc....
They better get this shit together before legalization.
Paper trails etc .... just like anything else the public purchases.
Quite tring to fool Mother Nature.
legalize pot
well the so-called war on drugs pot and others cost americas a hell of alot of money and only ones that make out are the cops that snatch a ew bags for themselves and yes they do. also the court system that takes the vehicles and fine the hell out of people. there is no way this government can stop drugs from getting into the country when they can't even find this 6 plus foot tall arab bin-laden.between the war on drugs and other conflicts maybe the new boy in office will see you are wasting a lot of money at least as much as the war cost along with other things like law enforcement lifes because they go right in thinking they are the super heros that will stop the problem when they actually stop about 1/8th of the stuff coming in and at what cost .i would say health care and education are more important ,i have step daughters that thier friends deal in it and we are a farming cummunity and these kids are in the 16 year old range as in general.WAKE UP AND SMELL THE AIR ,ARE THE PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY SO DAMN DUMB . i'm 57 and dont smoke or drink but i see it all the time even my own soon to be ex-wife has been smoking it for past 27 years she practically lives for that and her motorcycle ,
MARIJUANA GROWS UP TO 20
MARIJUANA GROWS UP TO 20 FEET A YEAR...REDUCE GLOBAL WARMING...REDUCE GLOBAL DISEASE THROUGH INCREASED OXYGEN...WHILE CONSUMING CO2...GROW WEED EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!!!!
legalize all the way every state.
First of all I think it is a infringment of my wrights to not be legal.
Secant alcohol helped us out of the last depression and you can OD on it, you cant OD on weed.
Third look at the money if 3 million smokers spent $1 a week that's 3 mill every 7days .
around 1.5 bill every year! 1.5BILLION!!!!
COME ON THAT ADDS UP FASTER THEN ANY OTHER IDEA IN THE STIMULUS BILL, THAT WAS JUST PAST. INCLUDING THE EAR MARKS LIKE SAVING THE FUCKING TIT MOUSE IN THE FOREST!
Better start thinking outside the box.
or I will see you in the soup line, and guess what I'll be stoned anyway!
Smoke weed -- help the state !!
"Smoke weed -- help the state?" how cool is that :-) i watched a documentary once about the benefits of Pot.at first i thought it was a bit weird but it all makes sense.it's a cure for migraines & asthma.no treatment required, no need to feel guilty, no need to visit that dreaded drug addiction treatment center .... it's all good!! smoke up & be as fit as a fiddle ;-)
Maybe Texas will get smart before we go broke..
We need the money right or wrong , plus the poor kids will stay out of jails.
80 yrs of ill-conceived prohibition - time to end it nationwide!
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Agreed, but the difference is that marijuana doesn't cause the health problems that smoking and alcohol do. It can't even harm the smoker (there is no LD-50 value for marijuana, but there is for alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, aspirin, water and nearly every other substance on Earth); it's the least harmful substance people use to alter mood. And the use of a vaporizer removes any need to even discuss lung issues, though recent studies (Tashkin, etc) have found NO link between lung cancer and smoking marijuana (unlike tobacco).
The reason why cannabis was
The reason why cannabis was even criminalized was because a few powerful, greedy men's empires were threatened by the hemp plant. http://altnews.com.au/drop/node/1434" <- this article does a good job of explaining how that happened. One of the government's most successful tricks up its sleeves are taxing things that they deem morally reprehensible. The people always subscribe to this, and give the gov more and more control over our personal lives. We live in an age of gov induced hypersensitivity, and now any little annoyance that is able to be stigmatized w/ propaganda is indulged as a legitimate problem. Pretty soon they're going to start persecuting ppl for wearing white, since it reflects light the best and technically would put the ppl around them at a greater risk for skin cancer (bad example, I know, because at least cancer has been proven to harm your health, unlike weed). Yea, it's ridiculous sounding, but the logic is exactly the same as ppl that can't stand being around smokers. The government is the one instilling a sense of corporeality and attachment to our bodies, which is just another exercise in using fear (the only thing that governments are good at) as well as an attempt at preserving our bodies to increase productivity to the state (what other governments were health nuts for this same reason? oh yea, the nationalist socialist party).The same goes for the way the gov targets certain items to hike up the taxes on, such as "sin taxes." Like almost all laws passed in this country, there's always some corporate bullshit behind it. I took a free smoking cessation class back when I was in college, and it seemed like they legitimately wanted to help me until they started throwing expensive teeth whitening products at us at the end. (I remember one of the brands was malibu bright, which is by no means a cheap complimentary toothbrush if that's what you were picturing). They should just call it "the government needs an excuse to take more of our money" tax.
Legalized Pot, "all legal drug revenue" revenue
Well if the numbers are correct or even close then pot should definatly be legal and taxed. Emagine that if California who suggests that the revenue would be 1.4 billion a year, revenue is profit right? Ok so they legalize it, the profit from the first year would go into a fund, at the end of the year divide every person who bought pot and paid the tax into that and send them a check for half, like the stimulus checks, then divide every other person living there that was born in the usa into the remaining balance and send them their checks everyone in California would be rich. After the first year the government then could use the profit to help its economy. What would Californias economy be like if no one was poor? At least those that were born in our great country? Then do that in all other states, what the hell, they can wait one year before taking the profits. 1.4 billion in profit, 40 million or so in population you do the math. after the first year the people wanting pot could even be able to afford it, how great would that be? No stealing to get pot money!!