Get ready for the California marijuana wars coming to a ballot box near you. Supporters of a movement to legalize pot in California have filed a ballot measure with the state attorney general's office that would allow adults 21 and over to possess up to an ounce of marijuana, and homeowners to grow marijuana for personal use in backyard gardens.
The measure needs nearly 434,000 signatures to qualify for the November 2010 ballot. A Field Poll earlier this year said 56% of California voters supported legalizing and taxing marijuana.
Another pot measure seeking to qualify for the California ballot is called The Tax, Regulate and Control Cannabis Act of 2010, and would repeal all local and state marijuana laws and clear the criminal record of anyone convicted of a pot-related offense, according to news reports.
In addition, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, has authored a bill that would tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol. Ammiano says this would generate revenue for state government services at a time when California is nearly bankrupt.
it's going to happen, whether you like it or not......
Yeah, just like Prop 8.
If the State can't fix the Budget mess, then legalized it because everybody is gona need it.
Otherwise, No it is just a scam.
Just raise our taxes and get it over with. No body is fooling any body on this one.
Jim is baiting us again~
I dont care why its legalized. I just want to see it de-criminalized. It would be even better if we could take it off the federal schedule 1 list.
Unfortunately, our country has spent billions buying products from foreign countries rather than keeping it at home and all of us buying American made products. In my opinion, I'm darn tired of supporting other countries when our own is in so much financial trouble. If the government won't put us to work, then more power to someone who has figured out a way to support his family. At least it's grown in america, packed in America, and distributed in America. We use to buy in our home town to support it. Mr President, what about you!
I love to see arguments for legalization of an illegal substance. The reasons for are always so lame. It never has anything to do with the reason it is illegal in the first place. Until someone can convince me that it is in the best interest of society at large to make mind altering substances legal and accessible to the general public I'll continue to say no. It doesn't matter if we could wipe out the entire national debt! If it's "wrong" it's wrong. We see where repealing prohibition got us. Imagine what America would look like today if we had stayed the course, but we compromised our morals for expediency. I say, never again!
It may although I have reservations about it. But even if it does it won't mean much because as I am sure you know state law is trumped by federal law.
Whoever dreamed up the idea that legalizing marijuana will solve the financial mess California has gotten itself into must have been smoking pot.
lol koolclay is baiting us.
exactly, the DEA will have a field day.
If the government won't put us to work, then more power to someone who has figured out a way to support his family. At least it's grown in america, packed in America, and distributed in America. We use to buy in our home town to support it. Mr President, what about you!
We can't afford ourselves and the way we live now, how long do you think this stuff would be made in America, and packaged in America?
This whole thing is just plane lame. The only people that will go for this and come up with arguments for it, are already on it.
it reads like you could use a doobie.
They won't be able to tax it cause people will grow their own or still buy it on the street not from a shop. They won't be able to enforce the tax.
Yep.
Miro-
"If the government won't put us to work" is the biggest threat to liberty and freedom I've heard in the last six months. I'm assuming that this is a joke right- please tell me you don't really believe that is the problem!
some of you should read the laws before commenting on this subject. Educate your selves then we can have a good discussion.
people will go to a shop and buy it its not as easy to grow as you expect .I laugh at all the ignorence set forth by a movie made in 1930 called refer madness. You guys it was all lies and you still believe them. Marijuana is proven safer then Cigs and beer, wine and whiskey.But i bet every negative person has these in there home and who knows what kind of dangerous mind control drugs the doctor gives you that are way worse then Marijuana and yes your kids are stealing them and trying them. YOU CAN NOT STOP KIDS FROM EXPERIMENTING what do you not get. And by the way most people that are going to use Marijuana already does we are not stopping anything just wasting money.The Use of cannabis will apear to rise because all the users will not hide. man you guys your police ,fire teachers ,doctors , elected officials. are lieing half of them use Marijuana on a regular basis and you can't tell. Thats how damaging this DRUG is .NOT wake up I don't know if it will help the defecet since that is partialy created by stupidity in California but it cant hurt if we are not wasting time and effort to stop something that is not a deprement to our society.
What we know is that some stupid people will list every stupid reason they can come up with to convince other people that they should willingly participate in their stupid obsessions. There is alot of this stupid thinking going around in our society. Stupid people are dangerous people. Don't be stupid if you can help it. If you can't be smart now, listen to smartness long enough without being stupid and you may eventually arrive at a smarter conclusion about how stupid your ideas really are. Hope this helps.
All you negitive people out there need to jump out of those boxes you carry on your shoulders and need to experince the world out there!! It is a beautiful world smoke a little and relax go to a park and just lay on the grass and look up at the beautiful sky spinning above you!! Then tell me how mind altering it is!! If you can't beat them join them is what I always say!!
How many of you on here have actually used mary jane and are are working professionals who contribute to society? Me!
Also how many of have ever heard of a deadly auto accident caused by a person strictly on marijuana as oppsed to those accidents caused by alchohol? not me!
or better yet a violent crime, like homicide, rape, robbery commited by someone who was just stoned on ganga? lol not me!
Doctors can prescribe all these pills that "help" people, you can buy booze(no limitis put on the amount you can buy), you can get cigs at any corner store, but God forbid you smoke a God given substance. Of course it will HELP the deficit, not cure it. You want to save money California? MAKE WELFARE CUTS AND LEGALIZE IT!!!!
PS- I don't smoke weed, but I support it. Peace!
I think it is time to legalize marijuana. We have had this discussion for so many years. Do you all really believe that legalizing marijuana is going to corrupt our state? Here's a news flash, marijuana has been in our state and will continue to be in our state for many many years. As for the mind altering crap, yes it will make you passive, hungry and very sleepy....not traits that are detrimental to society.
Also, I believe it is legal for medical purposes now, but where does the marijuana come from? So the people that grow marijuana for medical use/users are still breaking the law....ridiculous! I have lost a few family members to Cancer, for those of you that say no to legalization, God forbid you ever have to watch a loved one go through cancer treatments without the help (yes help) of marijuana.
I say YES to legalization......Absolutely Yes!! And yes I am a registered voter, well over 21 and not a marijuana user.
There hae been a lot of accidents where the driver has been involved and they are under the influence of both. Maybe a better question would be how many accidents have been caused and people injured by someone under the influence of marijuana?
The inquiry for this blog was "Should we legalize pot to balance the state budget?" not "Should we legalize pot?"
To address the question directly, I vote "no" because legalizing pot will not balance the state budget. I believe most marijuana will continue to be privately grown and shared among the various "communes" that make up the bulk of marijuana users. Therefore, it will never be taxed, unless we establish a special pot police force to eliminate private, non-commercial cultivation, bringing it into a taxable distribution channel. A kind of Prohibition-era environment would develop.
Lastly, please get off the "well we legalize cigarettes and booze, so why not pot?" argument. It's so juvenile.
"Lastly, please get off the "well we legalize cigarettes and booze, so why not pot?" argument. It's so juvenile."
Why is it juvenile? Almost all drugs that belong to the Federal governments Schedule seem to be there for "our protection." The laws against these substances increase prison populations and have created a paramilitary like police force.
Yet the market for each of these drugs is HUGE and shows no sign of shrinking. So on the one hand it makes jobs building prisons, maintaining prisons, creating more cops. Without ever solving the problem. It is a medical problem. Thats how every drug addiction should be treated. There are medical solutions that are far more effective in reducing the amount of people that choose to be a drug addict. Treating it as a criminal problem has gotten us no where.
How long do we need to keep trying something that does not work before we try something different?
Oh and I made sure to reply to your post Joe and quoted the part I wondered about. I know its off topic from the original topic. But your fun to talk with =)
It's juvenile because it's the same argument I've heard from 8 year-olds that goes something like this, "Tommy's mom lets him play with fire, so why can't I?" or "You let me play with a half-loaded gun, why not a full-loaded gun." When an eight year-old uses this line of argument, the usual response is "Well, if Tommy jumped into a fire, would you?"
How about this- "Let's legalize armed robbery if the robbers will allow theit loot to be taxed so we can close the deficit." or "Let's legalize prostitution so we can tax it and close the deficit."
BTW, I've never heard of John Zacharias- sorry ;).
wow, you sound like a blast to hang out with. weed is not the problem. people who smoke weed are not the problem, nor are those who drink alcohol. the problem is intolerant people like yourself who make mountains out of mole hills over issues that shouldn't even be issues.
I think I'm going Libertarian on this one.Legalizing possession and growing for personal use would have an immediate impact by getting the Mexican drug cartel and their personell out of my back yard.The sheriff and Forest Service law enforcement would be more available while saving the millions of dollars it takes to fight this and clean up the mess left behind.If the government thinks it's OK to pollute ourselves with all our legal vices for taxation's sake... then I find the illegal stance on marijuana hypocritical and a waste of resources and lives fighting it.
"Let's legalize prostitution so we can tax it and close the deficit." - JoeFeldon
Exactly! Now you're thinking Joe!
Just another vice that is untaxable...and could probably bring in millions of not billions of money to the state, cities and counties.
It is not called the world oldest profession for nothing.
Prostitutes pay income tax.
They most certainly do but unfortunately for real taxpayers those treasures are not easily accessed by any legitimate form of government.
Three big lobbies and financial megasaurs want to keep pot illegal: Tobacco, Alcohol, and Pharmaceuticals. You could probably add Insurance to that list. Once people are allowed to legally grow, at virtually no cost, their own relaxant, medication, or recreational intoxicant, these three industries will suffer huge, incredibly debilitating financial losses. Think of how much they invest in politicians who regularly vote against marijuana reform. Go against them and you're political career is finito!
Legalizing pot will not help balance the budget. Cutting costs and programs will balance the budget. It ticks me off that we are being given this "smoke screen" to the real issue... our "leaders" don't have the b*lls to make the tough decisions. They are more worried about being liked by people with their hand out than keeping our state financially sound for the rest of the citizens who make their own way. I can hear their words now... "We tried to balance the budget but the citizens couldn't come to an agreement on this issue, so our hand were tied." Seriously, even stoners can see through the smoke induced haze to the truth. Just another attempt for Sacto to piss down our backs and tell us it's raining.
Your big three will not lose their market share because the lower cost of cannabis will free up more cash for butts,booze and pills.Legal weed won't change existing habits and besides,self medicating has become the norm and also appears to be recession proof.That's my take on it.What's a real pisser is the attitude of govt. that no matter what "IT" is,"IT" has the potential to be taxed.That's sicker than legalized addiction...Hell,it is legalized addiction.
10X
What Bart said.
koolclay- "We see where repealing prohibition got us. Imagine what America would look like today if we had stayed the course..." I'm imagining... and all I picture is Al Capone and every other prohibition created mobster running around with tommy guns. Prohibition does not work, it only creates an underground market, which drives up prices and makes criminals rich. Ask any drug dealer, they don't want legalization. Why you ask? Because they are making a fortune!!! AND they don't have to pay taxes on it... WOW what a difficult concept. This won't solve our budget problems, but it is time to stop wasting billions on a drug war that has been a complete and utter failure since it started.
There are many persuasive arguments on why America should legalize marijuana, and the reasons are sound, but the fact that many millions of Americans have used pot has not translated into real political pressure on the people who can change the laws. One of the problems inhibiting legalization is that people that smoke a glass pipe or a joint are not considered serious or mature. It is This stigma that scares many pot users to hide that they smoke pot. Therefore the Reality of who smokes pot and how much the smoke is very different than it seems. The last three presidents were admitted pot users and by my Understanding the same is probably true of the first three presidents as well. Marijuana Legislation is very serious and has everything with how we define what it means to be American. What credence do we as Americans give the rights of the individual to the pursuit of happiness as well as a right to privacy? In the end it is up to us to be public about our choices and to Voice our opinions to the ones that ultimately decide what the rules are. Every hand written Letter that makes it to a representative is considered to be the voice of a thousand people who did not take the time to write. Send an email, send a letter make a phone call and get counted.
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