Pubdate: Wed, 25 Feb 2009
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author: Stu Woo
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Tom+Ammiano
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Marijuana - California)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?420 (Marijuana - Popular)

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATOR SEES BENEFIT IN LEGALIZING POT

SAN FRANCISCO -- A state legislator proposed legalizing the sale of 
marijuana in California, saying the plan would generate more than $1 
billion annually for the cash-strapped state.

Assemblyman Tom Ammiano introduced a bill Monday that would legalize 
possession and sales of the drug for people aged 21 and older. The 
legislation would impose regulations and taxation similar to those 
for alcohol sales. Federal law makes it a crime to possess or sell 
marijuana, so the measure, if passed, would likely face an immediate 
legal challenge. Mr. Ammiano, a San Francisco Democrat who is well 
known in the state as a champion of liberal causes, proposes a tax of 
$50 on an ounce of marijuana, which sells for a few hundred dollars 
on the street. California's dire financial situation was the impetus 
for proposing the bill, said Quintin Mecke, a spokesman for Mr. 
Ammiano. The state, which last week closed a $42 billion budget 
deficit through steep spending cuts and tax increases, should be 
making money on pot sales, Mr. Mecke said. He estimated that 
marijuana is a $14 billion-a-year crop in California.

The pot-legalization bill will be up against significant opposition. 
"It's one of these [proposals] that is based on fallacious assumption 
that if we could only legalize marijuana, that we will have fiscal 
and social Shangri-La," said John Lovell, a lobbyist who represents 
three California police groups.

California has been drifting toward more-permissive approaches to 
pot. Various ways of decriminalizing marijuana have been considered 
for years in the state. In 1996, state voters passed a ballot 
initiative legalizing medical-marijuana use. Medical-pot regulation 
has been left largely to local jurisdictions, rather than statewide agencies.

But last summer, California Attorney General Jerry Brown created 
controversy by issuing restrictive new guidelines on how 
medical-marijuana operations should do business. He said that they 
should be small nonprofits and indicated that larger operations may 
be operating illegally. A Zogby poll commissioned by a group that 
backs legalization found last week that 58% of West Coast respondents 
approved of selling and taxing marijuana like alcohol or cigarettes. 
A Rasmussen poll last week found that 40% of people nationwide 
support legalizing marijuana, with 46% against. A spokeswoman at 
NORML, a group that backs legalization, said about a dozen states 
have decriminalized the use or possession of pot in some way. Alaska 
has one of the nation's most-relaxed rules, with no penalty for 
possessing one ounce or less in a residence.
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