Posted on 01/12/2010 11:55:53 AM PST by traumer
A proposal to legalize and tax marijuana in California was approved by a key committee of the Assembly this morning, over the dire warnings of police chiefs and prosecutors.
The Public Safety Committee voted 4-3 to approve AB 390 by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), who said the bill would provide tax revenue to the state and regulation of the drug. The new law includes a requirement that users be at least 21 years old.
The measure next goes to the Health Committee, but proponents worried it would not be acted on by that panel by Friday's deadline, which would require the proposal to be reintroduced to be heard this year by the full Assembly. "The way it exists now is harming our youth,'' Ammiano said. "Drug dealers do not ask for ID. We need to regulate something that has gone chaotic, has resulted in carnage. I understand it's not everybody's cup of tea.''
Assemblyman Danny Gilmore (R-Hanford), a former CHP commander, said the $50 tax on each ounce of marijuana sold to pay for drug education and treatment is not worth the grief that will be caused by legalization.
"We're going to legalize marijuana, we're going to tax it and then we're going to educate our kids about the harm of drugs. You've got to be kidding me,'' Gilmore said. "What's next? Are we going to legalize methamphetamines, cocaine?''
The measure was opposed in testimony today by several police chiefs and law enforcement officials including Bob Cooke, former president of the California Narcotics Officers Assn., who predicted it would lead to an increase in crime. "The mere consideration of an attempt to trade human misery for tax dollars smacks of the cynical throwing away of countless human beings,'' Cooke told the committee.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimesblogs.latimes.com ...
The stupidest and most corrupt legislative in the US
The stupidest and most corrupt legislature in the US
California is billions of dollars in the hole and the hole is getting deeper and our legislators find time to deal with this “compelling” issue?
Idiots from front to back and top to bottom.
Next: subsidize it.
ML/NJ
Recreational sex?
Russian Roulette?
Street Drag Racing?
Jumping from Golden Gate Bridge?
Etc -
I'm sick and tired of these nanny-state laws telling free people what to do in their free time.
Theres not one good reason to do many things to some people. Why grill a 5lb filet mignon, why go for a drive in a classic car, why bbq a whole hog, why gamble, why drink a vintage whiskey, why go hunting/fishing, why make love in a non-missionary position. I can go on forever.
All of those things can be very dangerous and some people think they are stupid or a waste of time. YOU have the right to pursue what makes you happy AND accept personal responsibility if you interfere with someone elses rights. That is the foundation of freedom.
Prohibition laws have been used as the basis for countless nanny-state legislations and unconstitutional expansions of the federal government. That is enough reason to tear the laws down.
What? That doesn't happen?
This is classic. On one hand, our liberal gov’t friends blame big tobacco companies for health problems. They launch don’t do drugs campaigns. They have pushed no smoking ordinances everywhere in this state and city (Los Angeles).
Now, as if all the other actions they took didn’t happen, they want to legalize marijuana.
You just have to shake your head at the hypocrisy.
:o)
Tobacco smoke produces sticky tar nano-particles that penetrate and stick to everything permanently (including lungs). Tobacco also soaks up and holds radiation from soil. These are the reasons tobacco is very cancerous and hemp is not. There has never been a confirmed case of cancer caused only by hemp.
For those reasons, hemp also does not stick to objects and fabrics as much. I have a friend that smokes only hemp regularly at home and it smells like a non-smoking home 1hr after smoking. If I go to a tobacco smokers home, it always smells until the walls are repainted.
If this passes, look for Holder to reverse his position and DEA raids to commence.
Interesting. As far as the smell goes, I can smell marijuana smoke very easily and it seems to linger in cars, etc of people that choose to do it. At least in my experience.
I’ve never done drugs of any kind so I may not understand the ramifications of making them legal but I have to ask if this is worse than the legalization of baby killing.
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