Legal Pot One Step Closer in California
Christian Science Monitor:
As part of the continued push to legalize marijuana in California, the state Assembly’s public safety committee approved a bill Tuesday to tax and regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. It’s the farthest that efforts to legalize marijuana have got in the state. [...]
Reaction to the 4-3 committee vote has been swift and strong on both sides of the issue. Advocates of legalization are overjoyed.
“The mere fact that there was a vote in the Assembly to regulate and control the sale and distribution of marijuana would have been unthinkable even one year ago. And if the bill isn’t fully enacted into law this year, it will be soon,” Tom Angell with Law Enforcement Against Prohibition said in a statement.
Oakland medical marijuana entrepreneur Richard Lee, the initiative’s main backer, has said supporters have obtained far more than the necessary 434,000 signatures needed to qualify for the ballot.
Brendan Kiley caught the story… coincidentally juxtaposed on the LAT’s homepage (photo above) with the capture of one of Mexico’s most wanted drug cartel bosses:
Teodoro Garcia Simental, believed to be behind a campaign of massacres, beheadings and kidnappings in Tijuana, was arrested by Mexican federal authorities without firing a shot and flown to Mexico City.
… During his reign, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Tijuana residents moved out of the city to avoid being kidnapped, more than 42 police officers were killed and more than 1,400 people died in drug-fueled violence.
Emphasis is Brendan’s.
Meanwhile Andrew Sullivan comments — and the bud goes on — on yesterday’s news out of NJ:
I suspect that when historians review the Obama presidency, one of the biggest shifts will be more sanity in the drug war. Obama has done nothing in this but respect states’ rights. And federalism allowed this issue to be resolved.
NJ will be #14. The others: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.
12 Responses to “Legal Pot One Step Closer in California”
Would be nice if we could get to where cops weren't being wasted on busting pot users and growers, confiscating their property, incarcerating them – and instead get back into the “serve and protect” business – which is what law enforcement used to do back in the day. I wish California luck in their endeavor.
I miss California.
I think my favorite thing about gay marriage is that while those on the right have been focused on it we are staring down the barrel of pot legalization. Not many will see a connection but since the movement began I have seen more medical mj laws pass than I ever dreamed possible.
The federal courts have been cracking down on California's prison overcrowding. With their current budget problems, it's a very practical place to experiment with this. I just hope they plan it out carefully, since critics will be watching closely.
[...] prosecutors who formed a group called Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. The organization firmly believes that legalizing marijuana for adults will help improve American society by restricting youth access [...]
[...] prosecutors who formed a group called Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. The organization firmly believes that legalizing marijuana for adults will help improve American society by restricting youth access [...]
Didn't California recently have a ballot initiative to reduce prison terms? And it was defeated by a campaign run by the prison guards and the private prison running companies?
Special interest politics strikes again. And it is going to get worse. The rumors are that the Supreme Court is going to remove campaign spending limits from corporations today. The illogical result of the money = free speech and the corporation is a person memes.
*wimper*
I think my favorite thing about gay marriage is that while those on the right have been focused on it we are staring down the barrel of pot legalization.
Yeah, if there's one thing more dangerous than married gays, it's married gay stoners.
That has to be one one of the funniest lines I have ever read.
money money money the more money calif gets the more they waste
Drug (and corrections) reform is overdue. But I fear this is just going to get the children of all ages in our society all excited once more, and will the money obtained from taxing the drug (which is likely one reason why it may be legalized) going to be treated the way lottery money has typically been treated? (Look not at what governments have said, but what they have done, with lottery funds.)