Pubdate: Wed, 22 Jun 2016
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2016 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.utsandiego.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386
Note: Seldom prints LTEs from outside it's circulation area.

CITY SMART TO PREPARE FOR MARIJUANA USE

This November, California voters are likely to weigh in on the Adult 
Use of Marijuana Act, which would allow its recreational use by 
people 21 and older. A similar measure in 2010 - Proposition 19 - 
failed with 47 percent of the vote, but polling suggests that a 
majority of residents and an even higher percentage of likely voters 
are now ready to make California the fifth state to allow recreational use.

That's why it's good to see San Diego preparing for this possibility. 
On Monday, at Councilman Mark Kersey's request, the City Council took 
an initial step toward placing a measure on the November ballot that 
would impose an 8 percent tax on gross receipts from recreational 
marijuana sales to pay for increased city costs, starting with 
police. The council would be able to increase the tax as high as 15 
percent but not tax medical marijuana sales.

There is uncertainty ahead. The state proposition would impose its 
own 15 percent state tax on marijuana sales for recreational use on 
top of traditional sales taxes, so government taxation may increase 
untaxed, unregulated black-market sales. The state proposition would 
also push legal marijuana prices higher by requiring marijuana 
offered for sale be "comprehensively tested by independent testing 
services for the presence of contaminants, including mold and 
pesticides," a costly regulatory burden illegal sellers won't have to bear.

But as California moves toward the normalization of marijuana use, 
there is no reason marijuana shouldn't be treated like other consumer 
products and taxed to pay for the costs of government. As Council 
President Sherri Lightner says, it's "common sense."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom