About 58% of West Coast voters believe that marijuana should be taxed and legally regulated just like alcohol and cigarettes, according to Zogby International Polling, a company that specializes in polling and market research.
After the state budget passed in January 2009, this controversial issue—one that was fought 12 years ago -- came back to the legislature for reconsideration.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, and the passage of the bill known as the Marijuana Control, Regulation and Education Act, AB 390, would result in an estimated $1.3 billion dollars flowing into California’s troubled economy, according to the marijuana policy project website, mpp.org. The new bill, introduced by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D) of San Francisco initiated the discussion of how legalizing marijuana would help California’s billion dollar deficit. Ammiano represents Assembly District 13 in San Francisco.
California’s illegal marijuana crops are valued at over $14 billion a year, putting it above vegetables ($5.7 billion dollars a year), and making marijuana the biggest crop in California.
Ammiano argues that it's time to tax and regulate the state's biggest cash crop in the same manner as alcohol, but many opponents say there would be a societal price to pay. Ammiano feels, nonetheless, that it is time for California to look at the bill in a “deliberative fashion.”
Ammiano sees the possibility of an eventual truce in the marijuana wars with Barack Obama in the White House, but a White House spokesman declined to discuss Ammiano's legislation, instead pointing to a transition website that says the president "is not in favor of the legalization of marijuana."
AB 390 is based on the same concept as our laws governing the sale of alcohol and cigarettes: buyers must be 21 and over and the product must be bought between the hours of 6 a.m. and 2 a.m.., The state would levy a tax of $50 per ounce, according to the official AB 390 bill website.
A.B. 390 proposes to help California fund vital services like education, health care, and public safety boost. The bill would also come packaged with programs to educate youth about marijuana.
The same rules apply to possession charges if caught with an ounce or more in a vehicle; the only exception the bill proposes is that the marijuana in the vehicle must be packaged in its original bag, indicating no intent to sell, and to keep all paraphernalia away from vehicles.
The bill would remove existing criminal charges for possession with marijuana if the person was over 21 year of age, but charges would remain on your record if the possession took place at a school or any institution that displays the sign ‘no drugs or alcohol on the premises.’
The bill does not affect the rights of employers to drug test and terminate or deny employment to individuals based on their marijuana use.
After Alaska, if AB 390 passes in November, California will be the second state in the country to have legalized marijuana. In 1975, Alaska’s Supreme Court ruled that the Alaskan constitution's privacy provisions protect the personal possession and use of marijuana in the home. (Ravin v. Alaska)
In 2003, the Legislature passed a law which deemed possession of more than four ounces as proof of intent to sell. Thus, possession of less than four ounces is essentially legal in Alaska.
Alaska remains the only state in the union where adults may legally possess marijuana, after the state legislature ended its session without acting on a bill sponsored by Gov. Frank Murkowski (R) to recriminalize it.
In efforts to support the legal marijuana movement in California, Oaksterdam University was founded in 2007 by Richard Lee. According to Lee, President of Oaksterdam University, the campus “provides training, knowledge and jobs in the ‘medical’ cannabis industry.” This is America’s first cannabis university. Campuses are located in Oakland and Los Angeles; a third campus in Sebastopol is in progress.
Courses offered are: Politics/ Legal Issues 101, Horticulture 101, Budtending/ Medical Cannabis 101, Cannabusiness 101, Distribution/ Dispensary Management 101, and many others. The three college campuses offer 54 classes, and assist students to get into the cannabis field in medication, agriculture and political studies with internships or directly into the field—the growing field.
On October 19, 2009, the Obama administration issued a shift in policy to federal prosecutors indicating that it views medical marijuana as legal, and would focus only on cases involving higher level drug traffickers or people who use the state laws as a cover story. Although the Obama administration has eased off the minor violations associated with marijuana, harsher punishment is encouraged to those who intend to sell or grow without a license and a longer jail sentence to any drug-cartels.
Obama also encourages states legislature to provide their state with more drug-prevention programs, and youth about drug usage and have a zero-tolerance for drug-related crimes.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, notwithstanding his personal experiences with the drug, is not yet prepared to take a political stand on the issue.
"Well, I think it's not time for (legalization), but I think it's time for a debate," said during a May 2009 conference at UC Davis. "I think all of those ideas of creating extra revenues. I'm always for an open debate on it, and I think we ought to study very carefully what other countries are doing that have legalized marijuana and other drugs, what effect did it have on those countries?"
But if you are a registered California voter, you will have an option to vote pro or con on AB 390 on November 3, 2009.
California growing greener?
Legalizing Marijuana on November 3 ballot.
Published: Monday, October 19, 2009
Updated: Tuesday, October 20, 2009
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