State Assembly Panel Weighs Legalizing Weed

SFWeekly.com

Ammiano

​The Weekly just published Dave Ferrell's cover story about the creep toward marijuana legalization. The California Cannabis Initiative appears destined for the November ballot. Meanwhile, pressure to legalize it is still being applied in the state Assembly.

The Assembly's Public Safety Committee conducts a hearing Tuesday on legislation by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) to tax and regulate weed in a manner similar to alcohol.

The hearing on Assembly Bill 390, the Marijuana Control, Regulation and Education Act , will mark the first time the California Legislature has considered repealing the pot prohibition that has been in place since 1913, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project (MPP).

The MPP adds that this will be the first time in U.S. history that any state legislative committee has voted on a proposal to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana.

The hearing begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday under the state Capitol dome. Room 126, to be precise. Among those scheduled to testify are Aaron Smith, the MPP California policy director, and Stephen Gutwillig, the Drug Policy Alliance's California state director.

Ammiano is set to hold a press conference after the vote outside the committee room.