Today the California Assembly’s Public Safety Committee approved a bill to legalize and tax marijuana! This marks the first time in US history that a state legislative body considered putting an end to marijuana prohibition!
This morning lawmakers in Sacramento approved Assembly Bill 390—legislation to tax and regulate marijuana by a 4-to-3 vote. AB 390, written by San Francisco Assemblyman Tom Amiano, would allow adults over 21 to possess, smoke, and grow weed, essentially treating marijuana the same way alcohol is currently treated under the law. The bill also calls for a $50 per ounce sold fee to be used for funding drug eradication and awareness programs. And, of course supporters of the bill are saying it could raise around $990 million and help pull the severely cash-strapped California out of its budget crisis.
Next the bill goes to the Health Committee. Supporters of the bill are worried that it would not be acted on by that panel by the imposed Friday deadline. If not acted on by the deadline, the proposal would require reintroduction to be heard this year by the full Assembly.
Since just holding hearings on the bill was a milestone, it seems safe to say that today’s vote marks a departure from drug policy as usual, even if the legislation ultimately fails.
“The mere fact that there will be votes in the Assembly to regulate and control the sale and distribution of marijuana would have been unthinkable even one year ago,” says retired Orange County California Supreme Court Judge Jim Gray via a public statement. “And if the bill doesn’t pass this year, it will soon. Or, the bill will be irrelevant because the voters will have passed the measure to regulate and tax marijuana that will be on the ballot this November.”
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$50 / ounce you can't beat that
$50 / oz is the fee placed on it. Not how much it will cost.
yeah so every ounce you buy you have to pay a extra 50 dollars. who cares
craziness, hopefully it goes through, although many people's live will be changed, it will shake up alot in the industry.
420gc
The only thought I have is...what about those whose effect of this will hurt. It doesn't always take people's pain away...
Wow is all I have to say about that comment above me.
I could say the same thing a million times over about Alcohol or Tobacco! :P
Wow is all I have to say about that comment above me.
Bad + bad does not equal good.
very good article. hopefully it will be passed in november. im tired of waiting alrdy!! :p
but what pain will it cause? does it really cause more pain than a bankrupt state? think of all the money they'll make, and think of all the money saved from investigating/incarcerating, not to mention freeing up the police for the important stuff.
Great! I think I'm gonna move to California now. It's about damn time. It's huge money maker for california too. Alcohol alone will kill. Alcohol kills, marijuana chills.I bet you can look at statistics and see that alcohol has caused far more deaths than weed has. Over a period of time alcohol will ruin your liver and eventually kill you. Marijuana may kill brain cells but it can never on it's own kill you.