Posted on 03/25/2010 3:21:41 PM PDT by Zakeet
Supporters of the initiative collected well more than the 433,971 signatures needed for it to go before voters in the fall, again putting the state at the forefront of the nation's drug debate.
An initiative to legalize marijuana and allow it to be sold and taxed will appear on the November ballot, state election officials announced Wednesday, triggering what will probably be a much-watched campaign that once again puts California on the forefront of the nation's debate over whether to soften drug laws.
[Snip]
With polls showing that a slim majority of voters support legalization, the legalization campaign will be trying to appeal to a slice of undecided voters who are mostly mothers. "It's always easier for people to say no than to say yes for an initiative," said Mark Baldassare, the pollster for the Public Policy Institute of California.
[Oakland marijuana entrepreneur] Lee hopes to raise as much as $20 million. He will probably be able to tap a handful of wealthy advocates who have supported efforts to relax drug laws, including multibillionaire investor George Soros and George Zimmer, founder of the Men's Wearhouse. Zimmer has donated at least $20,000.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Like man, like we need something to like help us deal with Nazi Pelosi, Nostrils Waxman, Babs Boxhead, Diane Finestine, Moonbeam Brown, Willy Brown, Ahnode what's his name, Hollyweird, and all them other Libtards. Dude.
“It’s always easier for people to say no than to say yes for an initiative...”
Bull. It’s the reverse.
England kept China whacked out on opium, guess it is out turn.
If deficits, taxes, regulations and the resulting lousy economic conditions aren’t enough drive decent people from California, increasing the number of losers high on pot and other drugs will.
Why use it to raise taxes? Besides, people are not looking to having increased income taxes.
Making Marijuana and other drugs legal does have some benefits:
>> Less burglaries and robberies committed by addicts who can not afford the high street prices of illegal pot
>> Fewer cops needed to arrest pot smokers
>> Fewer jails needed to house arrested pot smokers
>> Fewer judges needed to preside over court trials
>> Fewer bailiffs needed in court trials
>> Fewer defense lawyers needed and subsidized by tax payers
>> Fewer court buildings to try pot smokers
>> Fewer criminal gangs making profits on selling pot
>> Bring in additional tax revenues on legal sale of pot
>> Pot is illegal now, and it does not stop any one from obtaining it
>> Alcohol was prohibited during great depression and it made Al Capone very very rich selling bootleg booze.
How can the Feds stop them? Let me guess, some twisted reading of the “interstate commerce clause.”
There is a bright side to what is going on now. In the next few years we will have the most educated populous ever in regards to our rights, our real rights as given to us by God, not the right to this and that and cable and cell phones.
Whether everyone used this knowledge for good is to be seen but I think it will work out for the better in the end as we will be able to point out the truth the people and point out the lying liars and the lies they are telling.
Legalize it and solve a ton of problems...Besides I would rather encounter a stoner in traffic than a drunk..any day...
Just so you don’t make any hasty decisions, I personally
have never smoked pot and don’t intend to do it in future.
Heck, I abhor smoking of all types. It makes me nauseous.
Think about this....you pass this and the month that it’s approved...you turn the cops loose with on-the-spot ‘high’ tests for drivers. German cops do this and on a Friday night after 10PM, they typically can get forty tickets easily. Maybe this is a great way to make more income via traffic tickets. If you think about it...they will allow you to smoke the stuff....but if you are driving under the influence....you will be heavily fined. Folks don’t grasp this part of the deal.
It's STUPID idea that will increase the number of losers smoking pot, increase the number of potheads that negligently kill and harm others, increase all drug usage, drug trafficking and a crime.
Liberaltarians are in many as stupid as liberals.
It's not an income tax, it's a tax on dope smokers.
An initiative to legalize marijuana and allow it to be sold and taxed will appear on the November ballot
Whether or not one thinks it's a good idea, it certainly is a states' rights issue. There is no provision in the US Constitution for the Federal Gov't to regulate drugs, medicines, vitamin supplements or much of anything that doesn't cross state or federal borders.
Will it pass? Probably, imo. We will see the results.
You are stupid in making that assumption. Just do a little home work and study the crime patterns in countries that have made pot legal and you will find there is no increase in crime.
Besides, can you name me ONE pot addict who can not obtain it on the street illegally?
No, creates a lot of problems -- more losers getting high and harming others, more drug trafficking and usage as marijuana is a gateway drug and more crime due to the increased crime. That is precisely what has happened when it was been legalized.
Forget legalizing this it does nothing for job growth.
Legalize full vegas style CASINO GAMBLING, construction would shot threw the roof, 1000’s of jobs and property values would start going up again. win, win, win, everybody wins.
I am still waiting......
Please name ONE pot addict who can not obtain pot illegally on the street.
I'm stating FACTS, not making assumptions. Marijuana use, all drugs usage and drug trafficking all dramatically have increased in the left-wing Netherlands when it was decriminalized there.
It's amazing this sort of stupidity being promoted at a conservative website. This is the sort thing that should be promoted at the Daily Kos by the idiots there.
Are you really trying to claim the law doesn't deter? It does. When legalizing something that has been illegal, you increase the amount of that activity.
http://www.sarnia.com/GROUPS/ANTIDRUG/argument/myths.html
Dr. K. F. Gunning, president of the Dutch National Committee on Drug Prevention, cites some revealing statistics about drug abuse and crime. Cannabis use among students increased 250 percent from 1984 to 1992.
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