There are actually quite a few police officers who are all for the legalization of marijuana/cannibis…it clogs our jails up and wastes time they could be spending on "real" criminals.

To talk about decriminalizing pot only for the revenue possibilities it can generate by placing a huge tax on it is NOT liberty. Pot should be legal, period - not just for some government extortion scheme, but because its prohibition is, and always has been a corrupt, expensive and immoral burden on a free people.

LEGALIZE IT AND TAX IT. LEGALIZE IT AND TAX IT. LEGALIZE IT AND TAX IT. LEGALIZE IT AND TAX IT. LEGALIZE IT AND TAX IT. LEGALIZE IT AND TAX IT. LEGALIZE IT AND TAX IT.

They can say that to get people interested, but realistically, the tax in Ammiano's bill is way too high. This bill also doesn't really regulate marijuana production, it treats it as if it were a dangerous drug or something. See my critique at http://legalizationwiki.org .

Let's just drop the hysteria and make marijuana legal, with a reasonable tax that won't drive production underground, and with regulations designed to keep it pure instead of requiring armed guards to accompany all phases of marijuana production and distribution.

The trouble with marijuana was and always will be that one can grow it as easily as a houseplant thereby depriving any dealers or importers of any profit as well as, and this is the most important part, costing everyone from pharmaceuticals to liquor manufacturers to bars to liquor stores large amounts of business. Would you rather smoke your free dope at home and never get sick or pay for beer and drink until you pass out and puke, risking date rape and death? If both were legal, there'd be no choice.

Why would I pay taxes on something that I can grow in my back yard? It grows just about anywhere in the US no matter the climate, and of course with Hydroponics you can grow in your closet.

Imagine that tomatos were illegal for no good reason, some new study comes out that says "maby we were wrong, tomatoes might actually be good for you in some ways and if we tax everyone who likes tomatoes we can make lots of money for the state. We will have to guard the tomatos and regulate them to make sure they don't fall into the wrong hands"

Some states tax food but not much, a simple tax 3-5% would be fair, the real money does not come from the consumer in tomato production, it comes from the producers themselves and the entire industry that gets them from the ground and into Mamas Sunday gravy. I could grow tomatoes in my back yard (or in my closet) but I choose to buy them at the store because it is inexpensive and convenient.

If the above scenario were true would you buy the "government approved and highly taxed" tomatoes? Or would you grow them in the closet?

Now imaging that as of tomorrow all tomatoes are illegal as well as its production. Thousands of people would be out of work, farmers, truck drivers, stores, and the industry's that support those industries, fuel, manufacturing, banking, record keeping, it would be chaos just by eliminating one vegetable from the market (remember what happened last summer?)

We need to create industry right now, if tomorrow cannabis became legal all of that production would be needed, right now the criminal underground control's all of this industry and it is not taxed. we spend a ridiculous amount of money on the "drug war" Legalization would put much of the DEA and there supporting industry out of work but I believe that it could be absorbed into some other federal service allowing those people to keep their jobs and help keep us safer from the real criminals.

If this is going to work you have to treat it like a commodity that grows in your back yard, make it convenient and cheap for people to get it and they will pay, make it difficult and expensive... its right back in the criminals hands (or my closet).

One more note which I just find interesting. Poppies are illegal. They grow in your back yard too, but most cops probably don't know what they are so they don't arrest people for this illegal practice. A little research, a stove, and a pot and you have opium, a little chemistry knowledge along with a few easily obtained pieces of lab equipment and you have Heroin. This is not common knowledge so no one really worries about it but put a few cannabis plants in your garden and see how fast the cops show up.

@ DJ Me...Well said freind. Very Elloquent. I agree, But in some cases, if you think about how expensive cigaretes are right now and people still buy them and smokem like there is no tomorrow. Granted you cant grow tobbacco "in your closet", but I think it is a convenience to buy them at a store much like pot would be. Also if everyone had a green thumb and grew tomatoes and other vegtables in their back yard, don't you think the stores would go out of buisness anyway? Most people I know (including me) have a brown thumb. lol.

Yes, but one can also make their own beer at home if they choose. How many people are doing that? Not many. To cultivate something does take time and responsibility, which most beer drinkers and marijuana lovers would rather not deal with, instead paying the 'extra' amount. So your arguments are moot. Tax it.

What?? Pot is illegal? Since when???

RT
www.anonymize.tk

I agree with Kevin's comment 100%. As a free people, prohibition is oppressive and has clearly failed. Similar to the repeal of alcohol prohibition which decreased violent crime, leagalizing marijuana would do wonders to alleviate an over burdened prision, law enforcement, most importantly it would cease making criminals of adults excercising free will.
The bigger issue with cannabis that rarely gets discussed is INDUSTRIAL HEMP. If marijuana was legalized I am sure there would be a strong market for it in america, because it is illeagal and there is a strong market. BUT, hemp has a number of industrial uses and would revolutionize some businesses as it is a better material for countless products, easy to cultivate on a large scale, and very cost effective. Morally and ethically bankrupt Politicians who condone torture, wish to imprision people indefinetly, support wars of aggression, support violating 4th amendment rights and illeagally spy on US citizens, etc need to get OUT OF THE BUSINESS OF LEGISLATING VALUES. Any politician who opposes complete legalization should be opposed at every opportunity.

I do not smoke marijuana but I do support, if not legalization, a healthy debate. I think it's time for politicians to give this matter serious consideration.

Actually Cigarettes are starting to show up on the black market now, I saw some just the other day, it was like a scene out of "Goodfellas" Guess what, the extraordinary taxes being placed on tobacco is starting to take its toll and it is slowly going underground. These were name brand cigs but they had no tax stamps on them so they were not stolen from a store and they had a large truckload of them.

However back to the point, I would still be willing to pay "tobacco" prices for pot, actually cannabis cultivation will cost less than tobacco so in reality it should be cheaper, not to mention you get Manny more products out of a field of cannabis than a field of tobacco. Street prices for an ounce of average weed costs about $120, good quality costs between $400 and $600 an ounce. $3.50 for a 20 pack of joints, sure I’ll pay the extra $4 in tax totaling $7.50, but if the cultivation is state controlled, forget it, the prices will never get that cheap, that plus the tax and we are looking at $50 for a pack of joints that approaches street price again and it stays in the hands of the criminals. Of course I’m just pulling numbers out of my but, I don't have any reel data to back this up but I assure you it is defiantly much cheaper to cultivate cannabis than tobacco.

Same as tomatoes, people don't make their own beer or grow their own tobacco anymore because it is so inexpensive and convenient at the store, but if you change that, watch how many gardens and home brewers start to pop up.

We don't grow Pot now because it is so easy for the cops to find, not to mention more dangerous than being caught with a joint, they can get you for distribution and trafficking even if you just have a few plants for just yourself. But say they make it legal.... but only if the state grows it under "whatever" conditions, at this point I would feel much more confident in growing because once it is grown they will have no way of telling where it came from, gov field, black market, or my closet, and since it is legal they will have no need to search my house so they will never find my plants. We need a free enterprise system just like all of our other commodities and it will help our economy, otherwise it will end up in the wrong criminal hands only this time it will be the government.

If pot were legal, Michael Jackson would still be alive. He'd sound like Tom Waits, but he'd still be alive.

I do not think the taxes proposed are to high. Growing on a commercial scale without the current risks involved will drop the cost of marijuana next to nothing (just like tobacco). Therefore the price per ounce shouldn't be much more than that. I also think that the numbers on revenue generated are on the low side. If people would just get it through their head that weed is not as dangerous as they have been led to believe. Other countries do just fine with legalizing it.

@James - :"The trouble with marijuana was and always will be that one can grow it as easily as a houseplant thereby depriving any dealers or importers of any profit as well as, and this is the most important part, costing everyone from pharmaceuticals to liquor manufacturers to bars to liquor stores large amounts of business. Would you rather smoke your free dope at home and never get sick or pay for beer and drink until you pass out and puke, risking date rape and death? If both were legal, there'd be no choice."

While I understand your point, I think it is incorrect. You COULD also grow your tobacco, or make your own moonshine, but how many people actually do? It's so much easier to go down to the convenience store and pick up a bottle or a pack of smokes that it makes it a little ridiculous to grow or make your own. I believe the same thing would apply to pot. While there are some who would probably grow their own plants (in the same way there are some that make their own beer) it is likely this would be a small percentage of people in comparison to the amount of people buying it. I know I'd rather walk down the st. and buy a pack of joints than spend months cultivating and growing my own plants. I'd also venture to say that people who grow their plants, while waiting for them to grow, would also be buying their pot in the same way as everyone else. Legalize it, tax it, cut out the "black market" (green market?) and get CA out of our deficit. The time has come.

With genius budget balancing ideas like legalizing pot coming out of Sacramento, is it any wonder that the State is bankrupt. Wake up folks, those people couldn't manage a hot dog stand, much less a Corporation the size of the State of California. If our elected officials think taxing dope will bail the State out of it's financial mess, then they have been smoking too much of it themselves. For crying out loud, don't we have enough trouble from alcohol and prescription drug abuse without adding potheads to the mixture. Hell, if the fools are going to use that logic, they might as well throw in Cocaine, Opiates and Meth to the taxible list. Then the legislature will have more money to spend on Drug Rehabilitian Programs, because we will really need them. Where is that petition for making the legislature part time, I am signing it today.

one comment i want to make that i dont think others have....the draw of people buying government pot vs homegrown is that gov't pot will most likely be ALOT stronger since they will have scientist working on this. Of course this is based on the assumption that the general populous doesn't have access to good seeds. So realistically...make weed legal...tax it...be fair about the tax...there will always be people growing at home because in the end if it costs less it doesn't matter if its better or worse...however...what i do suggest...make it illegal to import seeds to home growers...make it so you need a license to order some seeds, lets say, from amsterdam...as we all know..crappy seeds are easy to come by...but finding just 1 seed in some crazy good shit...now that's an awesome find...but how many people will actually get it? ...this creates the draw of..if you want that banging ass shit...buy from the gov't

Hey LtPar, Yep legalize it all, who the F**k are you to tell me what I can and cant put in my body, In your system the criminal wins, in my system only rapist thieves and murderers are criminals, less than a 1/4 of the current jail population. Drug rehab? I completely disagree with that one, I don't want ANY gov control over ANYTHING. Learn the facts you Bozo, Hey wait... Lt Par? i bet you are a cop. LOL Did you know that over half of the entire Mental health patients in America are cops? Most cops are crazy substance abusers. But hey i agree with the fact that they couldn't manage a hot dog stand, they cant, so keep in out of there control, just decriminalize it!

Legalize Marijuana!

Remeber the term pot is just that a term. the plant itself could be used for fuel clothes and many other products . You should all realize the benifits of this medically and for the envronment, before you all blow me off as some hippe in an igloo, smoke a one paper and try to commit a crime! its effects are less then alcohol and no hang over ! who knew!

I say tax it.

If you have a look at what the drugs actually are that are posing a problem, you'll clearly see that pot isn't the problem. There's an article and map detailing this on a post over at economixt -

http://www.economixt.com/2009/03/mexican-drug-cartels-and-their-us-markets

The problem is not with pot, it's with the addictive, bank-account-draining drugs like heroin & meth.

@LtPar.

It's funny how you say, "For crying out loud, don't we have enough trouble from alcohol and prescription drug abuse without adding potheads to the mixture". They were already a part of the mixture you dumbass! If they aren't, please cite times when they weren't part of the mixture? And why is it that people who oppose legalization of Marijuana always want to legalize everything else as well? I for one, believe that no other narcotic should be legalized. And when I say narcotics, I mean cocaine, meth, heroin, crack, etc.. As a few other people have stated on her, Industrial Hemp can and will be a great product if Marijuana were to be legalized. Hemp is the fastest growing biomass in the world. Hemp can produce 20 Tones of dried material per hectare per year. No other plant on the planet does that. On top of that hemp needs very little pesticides or herbicides, if any at all. It also does not destroy top soil like some other plant life.

Legalize it for the hemp. Hemp is an extraordinary plant and has many uses. Look into it.

I do not smoke marijuana

Hi Matt,

On the surface the idea of legalizing marijuana to produce another tax revenue stream sounds good. However, being from that culture and now having crossed back over to the law abiding, responsible, and abstinent segment of society I can see some problems with it, both new and old.

1. Perhaps the most venial sin of this proposal is that it completely ignores the root cause of California's fiscal malaise. That is, misappropriation of tax revenues.

Obviously California has a budget deficit, however … I do not believe for one second it is due to the failure of sound financial planning and fiscal management practices. The simple fact is all levels of government funded and or operated programs function on a 'spend now, account later' method of operation. Average business owners and individuals are not allowed such latitude.

2. Legalizing pot in and of itself will not eliminate criminal behavior associated with the substance. Smuggled cigarettes, those without the tax stamp affixed, is still a huge business; so much for evicting Mary Jane's shady friends.

3. Adults drink in front of their minor children in public and at home and no one says a thing. That's fine because as long as the kids are not imbibing they are not being exposed to any chemical health risk (assuming mom and dad don't drink and drive).

On the other hand, just like second hand cigarette smoke, who believes that 2 year-old Cindy won't get a contact buzz while sitting next to uncle Roy?

4. This whole 'legalize pot for taxation' is NOT something new. During the WWII years, as part of a financial revenue experiment, a few states passed the Marijuana Stamp Act.

While it is true that the law providing for legal sale of a 'stamped' cannabis product was emasculated because the stamps were never circulated, the fact remains this idea has been proposed and acted upon in the USA before.

Basically, this is nothing new and the whole approach as it sits is grievously flawed.

I appreciate you,

Bill Tessore
http://BillTessore.com

LTPAR was a cop and is now just a slandering dirty politician who doesn't seem to have any problems wasting taxpayer money until he's caught. Can you believe he is considered a Dr. in law enforcement with a degree from USC and UCLA? What a crock of sh!t. It's close minded conservatives like PATRICK ROBERTS that have us in this financial mess. You think pot is bad? You probably have never smoked any pot, you probably watched and believed all those movies from the 30's trying to scare the public in to thinking marijuana makes people crazy and violent, and you probably still call your mommy when you aren't sure what to do. Wake up! Unfortunately, time is running thin for you LTPAR, 3 ballot initiatives to legalize for the 2010 ballot? The voters are speaking! In L.A. D.A. Cooley wants to prosecute 100's of medical marijuana dispensaries because 100% of them are operating illegally? If 100% of 100's of dispensaries are breaking the law, Don't you think it would be easier and more accepted by society to just change the laws to fit what the people (voters) want instead of what the politicians and police commissions want? Wait, that's how it should work, and that's how it is going to work Pat. How does it feel to have 30 years of what you call service end up being a thorn in the side of the majority of the people. Maybe its time for all you conservatives to start asking your kids what to do instead of your parents. Oh yeah PAT, how is that fine working out for you, did you pay it off or are you still crying about it. I'm sure that won't be the last rat trap you find in your cookie jar of a career. Less is more PAT.

The main problem is that since marijuana is illegal, people are afraid of being martyrs for its legalization. The people are afraid to tell the government what they want, and that is the opposite of how this country is supposed to operate. What happened to the people being proactive and banding together to tell the government what to do? The government was supposed to be founded on the principles that if the people were unhappy, they would rise up and and get what they want, but now the people have been scared into complacency. People talk about what they want but not enough are doing something about it. If every person who talks on a "legalize it" board were to actually go out and join a lobbyist group or something to that effect, things would really start to get done. We aren't a part of this country so that the big wigs can protect their multimillion dollar payrolls and impede on the people's freedoms when it's convenient. We are a part of the supposedly greatest country on earth so that we can make it that way.

I don't think marijuana should be legalized. It can be used and abused just like all drugs. Plus, we'd be sending the wrong message to our kids if it were suddenly made freely available. Not to say that it isn't already, but in my belief it wouldn't lead to progress with the issues our country is facing today.