Pubdate: Wed, 22 Jul 2009
Source: Christian Science Monitor (US)
Copyright: 2009 The Christian Science Publishing Society
Contact: http://www.csmonitor.com/cgi-bin/encryptmail.pl?ID=CFF0C5E4
Website: http://www.csmonitor.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/83
Author: Daniel B. Wood, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Marijuana - California)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)

OAKLAND VOTERS APPROVE MARIJUANA TAX

It Is The First Us City To Assess Such A Tax, Which Could Raise Almost 
$300,000 In Revenue Next Year. Opponents Of The Measure Say It Opens The 
Door To More Crime And Heavier Drug Use.

Los Angeles - Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday became the first city in the US 
to assess a tax on marijuana.

State and national advocates of the tax say the victory is a significant 
turning point in the history of cannabis use, paving the way for taxation 
in other communities and states and establishing more social acceptance of 
marijuana use.

Opponents say an irreversible threshold has been crossed, opening the door 
to more crime and heavier drug use.

By a wide margin of 80 percent to 20 percent, Oakland voters said "yes" to 
Measure F, which asked: "Shall City of Oakland's business tax, which 
currently imposes a tax rate of $1.20 per $1,000 on 'cannabis business' 
gross receipts, be amended to establish a new tax rate of $18 per $1,000 of 
gross receipts?"

"The voters of Oakland have sent a message to the nation that cannabis is 
better treated as a legitimate, tax-paying business than as a cause of 
crime and futile law-enforcement expenditures," says Dale Gieringer, 
California state coordinator for the National Organization for the Reform 
of Marijuana Laws.

The city estimates that the measure will raise $294,000 in additional tax 
revenue in 2010 and more in future years. Some say the measure will provide 
funds to help offset the city's current $83 million deficit as well as 
allow police to direct their limited resources to more serious crimes and 
drug offenses.

"The public is more interested in having money to preserve social services 
and fight more important crimes," says Sam Singer, a Berkeley resident and 
well-known PR consultant.

Mr. Singer and others say that since the passage of Proposition 218 in 
1996   which made marijuana available by prescription to relieve pain and 
nausea   marijuana use in California has existed behind a "false front": 
Users can go to a doctor, complain of symptoms, and for about $100, get the 
doctor to write them a prescription for the drug. A state-issued card lasts 
for one year.

"It's so easy to get a card that it's almost as if physicians will help 
lead you to your story of chronic pain, insomnia, fatigue, etc.," says John 
Diaz, editorial page editor of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Oakland has not so much cleared up the marijuana issue so much as found a 
way to contain it, Mr. Diaz says. The city is giving permits to only four 
clubs, compared with a few dozen in San Francisco and about 800 in Los Angeles.

Federal law still prohibits the use and sale of marijuana, although US 
Attorney General Eric Holder has said that federal law enforcement will no 
longer conduct raids in the states that have legalized medical-marijuana 
use. Nationwide, about 775,000 people were arrested for marijuana 
possession in 2007.

"It takes a lot of time, attention, and money to bust, prosecute, and then 
incarcerate marijuana users," Singer says. "Given the economy, this is a 
move that will be welcomed not just in Oakland, but most likely in major 
urban cities across the nation."

Some residents in nearby communities are not happy with the Oakland vote.

"I am happy to forfeit the tax money and keep it illegal," says Trygve 
Mikkelsen, a Norwegian immigrant living on the Berkeley-Oakland border. The 
owner of a wine-rack business, Mr. Mikkelsen worked on the San Francisco 
waterfront in the 1970s and '80s around some people who used cannabis every 
day. "I preferred not to work next to them, preferred to have conversations 
with other individuals since they were affected by the drug," he says.

The father of three is convinced that younger people will have more access 
to marijuana. "I prefer that it is difficult to get a hold of and an 
illegal substance," he says. 
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