http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society...lize-marijuana
California voters will decide whether to legalize marijuana
The first state to legalize marijuana for medical purposes, California leads the country in decriminalizing the sale and use of cannabis. Other states are considering the issue, too, but critics warn of the impact on young people.
A tray of marijuana clones, for sale, sit underneath grow lights in the Peace in Medicine dispensary in Sebastopol, Calif. The lone medical marijuana dispensary in this Northern California wine country enclave has become such a pot destination that it has more patients on its rolls than the town has people.
Russel A. Daniels/AP
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PrintBuzz up!PermissionsEmail and shareRSS.By Daniel B. Wood Staff writer / December 18, 2009
Los Angeles
California continues to stay at the nation-leading edge of legal activity concerning marijuana use.
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.In 1996 it passed the first national initiative to make marijuana available by prescription to relieve pain, nausea, and other physical maladies. In July of this year, Oakland became – by a wide margin (80 percent to 20) – the first US city to assess a tax on the sale of marijuana.
Now, a new initiative that will allow local governments to oversee and regulate cultivation, distribution, and sales – and to determine how and how much cannabis can be bought and sold within area limits – will be on the November 2010 ballot. National advocates say that regardless of the vote – signature gathering went fast and easy, according to reports – a major corner has been turned in national acceptance of marijuana use.
“Regardless of what the voters decide in 2010, the genie is not going back in the bottle,” says Paul Armentano, deputy director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). “A majority of west coast voters, and an estimated one-half of the national public, are demanding that we replace our nation’s seven-decade-long policy of marijuana prohibition with one of controlled regulation, taxation, and education.”
Armentano says the citizen’s initiative is evidence that despite the growing public support for marijuana reform, a majority of elected officials still perceive the issue to be a political liability rather than an opportunity.
“As a result, it will be the voters, not the politicians, who will ultimately determine the direction of our nation’s modern marijuana policies,” he says.
Other states take up the issue
The California initiative comes amidst a flurry of activity nationally in the past two months after nearly two-decades of inactivity, according to Bruce Mirken, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington D. C., which advocates legalization of marijuana. California has a legislative bill in the offing, he says, as does Washington State while New Hampshire has recently introduced a bill and Rhode Island has adopted a commission to study ideas.
“There are signs all over the place that this has reached critical mass,” says Mirken, citing the photograph of Olympic superstar Michael Phelps last summer. He also says that law enforcement agencies have begun to realize the high cost of arresting, trying, and incarcerating marijuana users – money that could be better spent elsewhere. [Editor's note: The original version of this story mischaracterized the situation involving Mr. Phelps.]
“There is growing recognition that through our policies of prohibition, we have not stopped people from using marijuana, but rather handed this lucrative consumer market to some rather unsavory characters, including Mexican gangs,” says Mirken. “There’s a reason you don’t see Mexican wine cartels planting fields of cabernet sauvignon in Sequoia National Park, and people are beginning to understand that there really is a fundamental irrationality to laws that tolerate the far more dangerous substance of alcohol.”
Substance abuse activists say the headlong rush to legalization in this initiative has other motivations that ripple out in negative ways.
California voters will decide whether to legalize marijuana
The first state to legalize marijuana for medical purposes, California leads the country in decriminalizing the sale and use of cannabis. Other states are considering the issue, too, but critics warn of the impact on young people.
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PrintBuzz up!PermissionsEmail and shareRSS.“Proponents of the proposed legislation are using the California fiscal crisis to say this will be a revenue-generating solution,” says Jim Hall, Director of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Drug Abuse at Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. “What has been largely ignored in the legalization meta-debate, however, is the impact the legislation could have on young people.”
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.“We have developed a clear model with alcohol, but when we debate the legalization of marijuana, we don’t address the potential lifelong impact that earlier and easier access will have on young people,” says Hall. “While the proposed legislation might generate a few tax dollars, we need to ask what the cost to society will be for a whole generation exposed to the risk of lifelong substance abuse.”
'Right of passage' for adolescents?
He says there needs to be a better way to change patterns of marijuana use as a rite of passage for adolescents. “Clearly, affording legal access distorts the message of why young people should not use marijuana. If it’s legal, what’s the big deal? So goes the mindset.”
Hall points out that for the last 20 years, nearly two-thirds of all first-time marijuana users have been below the age of 18. Statistics also show that the younger a person begins marijuana use, the greater the risk of substance abuse later in life, he says. Therefore, it’s important to ask a host of questions: Who is going to determine or regulate how marijuana is produced and distributed? Who will it be distributed by? How is the state going to collect the taxes? Will it really have an impact on the illicit trafficking and production of marijuana? Will this lead to proposals to legalize other drugs?
“This is a largely unexplored policy that raises important questions and potentially dire social risks,” says Hall. “Before changing policy, let’s honestly and thoroughly explore these questions.”
Initiative advocates point to safeguards
Dan Newman, spokesman for the proposed Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act, counters that the initiative does includes significant safeguards and controls. For example, it will increase the penalty for providing marijuana to a minor, expressly prohibit the consumption of marijuana in public, forbids smoking marijuana while minors are present, and bans possession on school grounds.
He also says that studies by state tax experts – the Board of Equalization and the Legislative Analyst Office – show that the initiative will generate billions of dollars in revenue to fund schools, public safety, and other critical needs at a time when the state is desperate for resources.
“For those reasons, and the fact that most Californians understand that the current drug laws aren’t working, several recent polls show the initiative [will win] support from a majority of voters," says Newman. “We’re building a broad and diverse coalition that includes law enforcement professionals who understand that regulating marijuana will put street drug dealers and organized crime out of business, while allowing police to focus on protecting the public by preventing violent crime.”
Cali could sure use whatever tax money they can squeeze out of regulating and legalizing it.
And if they're successful in doing so, it would make a blueprint for the rest of the nation to follow.
Maybe so in Bankruptcy...Will California lead the way?
It's already legal in Oregon with a prescription.
Oregon was actually second to California on this, but it's been legal here since 1998.
wiki: Oregon Medical Marijuana Act
There has been talk for some time in Oregon to legalize and tax it. Hasn't happened yet, but will soon.
Oregon was the first with Assisted Suicide being legal.
wiki: Death with Dignity Act
Last edited by Wild Cobra; 12-21-2009 at 01:33 PM.
As with gay marriage, CA legalizing MJ depends a lot on out-of-state money (like from the Mormon freakish cult).
I'm not familiar with the economics of legalizing it.
Why would CA legalizing MJ depend on out-of-state money?
Out-of-state Mormon money was said to have beat the gay marraige bill a few months ago, with the Mormons legislating their religious morality for non-Mormons. My guess is that the out-of-state freaky Mormons could beat MJ legalization, over-riding the will of CA residents. Democracy and legislation are for sale to the biggest spenders.
I didn't realize the Mormons had that much sway in California.
Apparently though, they don't have enough money to fly up and fight in the northeastern states.
I support the legalization of marijuana
1) Take it away from the hands of criminals, and give it to the businesses. Wal-Mart will put the mexican and columbian drug dealers out of business.
Weaken them.
2) Tax it. Another source of revenue, that right now, is going to drug dealers.
doubtful.
/stoner voice
Hey man, they should tax it you know. Tax it and get some revenue. The USA will wipe out its deficit in no time! It's not like the government would just spend more maaaaaaaaan.
Even if it was legalized it wouldn't be sold at Walmart. They still censor the CDs they sell.
Not a deficit buster, but it may help soothe some jittery nerves at the state level. Revenue stream plus reduction of prison/courthouse expenses.
That probably saves more money than the tax revenue it would generate.
The thing that I've always found odd about this topic is that growing up in Texas most people I know are very conservative and pretty religous yet all of them are either in favor of legalization or they don't have strong views on the subject. So I've never understood why politicians won't go near the subject.
"why politicians won't go near the subject"
Politicians are followers, not leaders. Society leads in at ude changes, politician sycophants then, years later, suck up to voters, if their corporate owners see a way to make money off the citizens.
radical, fundamentalist, retrogressive authoritatarian "Christian" supremacists also play a role, militantly threatening politicians who even think about letting adults be adults in their sex lives, who they live with, who they marry, how they relax in their own homes.
It's pretty much already legal. Has been for some time.
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