Posted on 02/23/2009 10:50:40 AM PST by SmithL
California may be going to pot - literally.
Marijuana would be grown and sold openly to adults 21 and older under legislation introduced this morning by a San Francisco lawmaker.
Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, said the cash-starved state could generate more than a billion dollars by taxing pot growers and sellers.
Ammiano predicted that the public would support loosening marijuana laws that require substantial public funds to enforce.
"I think there's a mentality throughout the state and the country that this isn't the highest priority," he said. "And that maybe we should start to reassess."
Before California could legalize marijuana, however, it also might have to persuade the federal government to alter its prohibition on cannabis.
Ammiano said federal officials may be receptive to such changes under the administration of President Barack Obama.
"We may be on a parallel track here," said Ammiano, a freshman legislator who was sworn into office less than three months ago.
The Drug Policy Alliance, an advocate of loosening pot laws, applauded Ammiano's proposal.
"Marijuana already plays a huge role in the California economy," said Stephen Gutwillig, the group's California state director. "It's a revenue opportunity we literally can't afford to ignore any longer."
Ammiano's bill, Assembly Bill 390, would allow marijuana to be sold openly - like alcohol - in retail outlets statewide.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Yeah, the Feds have continued to enforce Federal laws in states that have made local law exceptions for medical marijuana. But they don’t have the resources to even go after all of the medical users. If anyone in the state could sell/buy pot, the Feds would be overwhelmed.
Obama has already told the narcs to slack off on those who use it medicinally in California....so he'll probably go ahead and OK this since it brings in $$$ to the govt.
FIVE O'clock? Now you tell me. All these years I thought it was noon we had to wait for... ;-)
But I'll tell ya what, if given a choice, I rather be on a freeway with pot smokers than be on a highway full of falling down drunks. Drunks kill a whole lot of people every single week.
Fact is, cemeteries are full of those killed in alcohol related incidents. Both innocent and the guilty.
I guess 'civilization' as you know it began in 1937, and Harry Anslinger was one of our Founding Fathers.
Well, at least tax the heck out of it then!
John Galt smokes weed out of a bong made from Reardon metal.
This will devastate the economies of Mendocino, Trinity and Humboldt counties and it will cost a Billion dollars to bail them out. They could get five billion instantly by allowing drilling off shore...
“This will devastate the economies of Mendocino, Trinity and Humboldt counties”
Why?
ROFLMAO!
If it is legal they will grow it and you can tax it.
If it is illegal, they will grow it anyway and you won’t tax it.
.....
The war on some drugs costs more than it benefits. Better to treat addicts (and cheaper) than to imprison them. That said, I can’t recommend using the stuff.
Now the Obamessiah is the hope of the dopers too.
__________
LOL. Those of us choosing to indulge in the evil weed from time to time don’t need no stinkin’ hope. That’s a farce.
What you antis just don’t seem to realize is that we have all the reefer we need at affordable prices in this country already. IT GROWS LIKE A WEED!!!! The laws against it are de facto meaningless. And have been for decades.
And unless you are in the business of selling kilos at a time, you paid more for your last moving violation in your car than someone busted for possessing a personal stash. And your insurance went up. The doper got PBJ.
I'm not going to try and second-guess the Almighty as to whether or not it should be legal.
The abortuaries could give out a bag of pot for every baby killed. The liberals would love it!
Combine this with a snack tax and we’ll be back on track.
And with the tax money that rolls in, the state will be running a surplus.
Not a chance. Look for the Feds to crack down harder than ever ... nothing represents the mailed fist of raw government power more than the War on Drugs.
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