In article
Post by Devoand'
How much does "Prohibition" cost the state?
Is it a good policy to take tax-payers off the street, corrupt the police
courts and house these people at tax payers expense to only release them
with a "mark" on their record, thereby driving them into the underground
economy to not pay taxes ever again?
Estimates of bringing $50 B if the weed is taxed.
Welcome centers might just be a growth industry?
And Obama is not going to waste resources of this "Crime" he's got
bigger problems.
and;
If California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano has his way, the Golden State
might become known as the Green State to pot smokers around the country.
During a press conference Monday morning in San Francisco, Ammiano
introduced "The Marijuana Control, regulation and education act." The
far-reaching bill would go well beyond decriminalization of marijuana to
actually legalize the cultivation, sale, purchase and possession of the
plant.
³With the state in the midst of an historic economic crisis, the move
towards regulating and taxing marijuana is simply common sense," Ammiano
said. "This legislation would generate much needed revenue for the
state, restrict access to only those over 21, end the environmental
damage to our public lands from illicit crops, and improve public safety
by redirecting law enforcement efforts to more serious crimes."
Ammiano and a group of speakers during the press conference described
the bill as "a simple matter of fiscal common sense," according to the
San Francisco Weekly.
The bill would remove "all penalties under California law for the
cultivation, transportation, sale, purchase, possession, and use of
marijuana, natural THC and paraphernalia by persons over the age of 21";
would "prohibit local and state law enforcement officials from enforcing
federal marijuana laws"; and would create a $50 state fee for each ounce
of marijuana sold, beyond whatever pot will cost once it becomes legal,
the newspaper reported.
"Marijuana arrests actually increased 18 percent in California in 2007
while all other arrests for controlled substances fell," Steve
Gutwillig, California's director of Drug Policy Alliance, said during
the press conference. "This costs the state a billion dollars a year and
taxpayers are footing the bill. Meanwhile, black marketers are laughing
all the way to the bank."
Ammiano's bold legislation comes on the heels of a recent statement by
three former Latin American presidents, who called for legalization of
marijuana and described the U.S. "War on Drugs" as a failure. Former
Colombian President Cesar Gaviria said there was no meaningful debate
over drugs policy in the United States, despite a broad consensus that
current policies had failed.
Last year, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced a bill on Capitol Hill to
decriminalize marijuana, which he called the "Make Room for the Serious
Criminals Bill" on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher. More than 10 U.S.
states have decriminalized the possession of small amounts of the plant;
Massachusetts did so last month. Oregon was the first to do so, in 1973.
Speaking Monday at the San Francisco press conference, a retired Orange
County judge said "the most harmful thing about marijuana today is
prison ." Judge James P. Gray, who recently retired from his 25-year
post and has run for Congress as a Republican, said prohibition of pot
"clog[s] the court system."
"The stronger we get on marijuana, the softer we get with regard to all
other prosecutions because we have only so many resources," Gray said.
"And we at this moment, have thousands of people in state prison right
this minute who did nothing but smoke marijuana."
According to recent polls, 41 percent of Americans support legalizing
marijuana. That's a higher approval rating than that currently enjoyed
by Rush Limbaugh, former President George W. Bush and Republican
congressional leaders, according to PollingReport.com.
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/California_lawmaker_introduces_pot_legaliza
tion_bill_0223.html
--
It's amazing what you can do. If...
you put your mind to it.