Pubdate: Wed, 27 Apr 2011 Source: Portland Daily Sun (ME) Page: 6 Copyright: 2011 The Portland Daily Sun Contact: http://portlanddailysun.me/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5257 Author: David Carkhuff Referenced: LD 1453 http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/bills_125th/billtexts/HP106701.asp Bookmark: http://www.drugsense.org/cms/geoview/n-us-me (Maine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?261 (Cannabis - United States) HEARING SET FOR BILL LEGALIZING MARIJUANA At 1 p.m. Tuesday, May 10, supporters of legalized marijuana in Maine will crowd into a hearing room in Augusta to support a Portland legislator's bill to decriminalize pot. Rep. Diane Russell, D-Portland, sponsor of LD 1453, "An Act To Legalize and Tax Marijuana," said she was thrilled to learn yesterday about the hearing that has been scheduled before the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee. The hearing will be in Room 436 at the State House. "It looks like I have a May 10 public hearing," Russell exclaimed. Russell's Facebook page has become an ongoing conversation almost exclusively about her bill to legalize marijuana. Russell said she's encouraged after talking to other lawmakers, although she admitted the legislation is meeting resistance. "I really would like to see it pass, it's an uphill battle there's no question," Russell said Tuesday. "It depends on whether mainstream people show up and make the economic case." The Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, writes, "Ending marijuana prohibition in this country would mean billions in sales tax revenue alone, to say nothing of the multi-billion dollar industry it would spur and the jobs and revenue that would accompany it." According to the group, cultural sentiments are changing in regard to marijuana use. "When MPP was founded in 1995, medical marijuana was illegal in every state and favorable legislation had not been introduced in Congress in a decade," the group writes. "Since then, the federal penalties for marijuana cultivation have been changed to provide for the early release of hundreds of prisoners; medical marijuana bills have been introduced in seven consecutive Congresses [and] medical marijuana is now legal in 13 states." Maine is one of the states where medical marijuana is legal, and Russell's bill would adjust that system to one where marijuana is allowed for those 21 and over. Cosponsored by Rep. Richard Cebra of Naples, LD 1453 "reforms state marijuana laws by establishing a special tax rate for marijuana, legalizing the personal use and cultivation of marijuana, legalizing and licensing certain commercial marijuana-related activities, while providing provisions to protect minors, employers and schools, and removing the registry system from the Maine Medical Use of Marijuana Act," according to its legislative summary. Part A of the bill establishes a tax rate of 7 percent, beginning Jan. 1, 2012, for marijuana that is sold for commercial or medical purposes. An online petition is pushing the legislation, and a variety of supporters are arguing that legalizing pot would free up funding diverted to enforcing laws against use of marijuana by adults. "We've got 1,000 people on the online petition, there's been I can't even tell you how many emails and phone calls and Facebook messages on this," Russell said. Russell said her correspondence has come from people as diverse as a firefighter, a retired superintendent and a 38-year-old financial professional who admitted to smoking pot. "I think this is an issue where mainstream people are there, I just think the politicians are afraid of it," Russell said. The state representative for Munjoy Hill and the Old Port areas of Portland said she has heard this message from colleagues in the Legislature: "We're with you but we're just terrified to vote for it." Popular sentiment supports legalization, she said. "When you start talking to people on the streets and in coffeehouses, it's totally like, 'Yes, it should be legalized,'" Russell said. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake