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[DJ]

California bill seeks to legalize marijuana

Smoke weed — help the state?

Marijuana would be sold and taxed openly in California to adults 21 and older if legislation proposed Monday is signed into law.

Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, said his bill could generate big bucks for a cash-starved state while freeing law enforcement agencies to focus on worse crimes.

"I think there's a mentality throughout the state and the country that this isn't the highest priority – and that maybe we should start to reassess," he said.

Critics counter that it makes no sense for a Legislature so concerned about health that it has restricted use of trans fats in restaurants to legalize the smoking of a potentially harmful drug.

"I think substance abuse is just ruining our society," said Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley. "I can't support that."

"I think it's a slippery slope," Assemblyman Tom Berryhill, R-Modesto, said of easing pot laws. "We'll do everything we can to defeat it."

Medical use of marijuana already is legal in California, but the new legislation would go a step further by allowing recreational use.

Assembly Bill 390 would charge cannabis wholesalers $5,000 initially and $2,500 annually for the right to distribute weed.

Retail outlets would pay fees of $50 per ounce of cannabis to generate revenue for drug education programs statewide.

The bill would prohibit cannabis near schools. It also would ban smoking it in public places or growing it in public view.

Before California could sell marijuana openly, however, it would have to persuade the federal government to alter its prohibition on pot.

What are your thoughts on this?

I support this bill 100%. I find it highly hypocritical to keep pot banned for sake of public health when there are far worse substances (such as alcohol or tobacco) available legally. Besides, I believe that government has no business telling people what to do with their own bodies. If I want to drink bleach, nobody has any right to stop me.

That, and I agree with Tom Ammiano when he says this bill makes a lot of sense for the state of California from the financial perspective.

[MoonDancer]

Marijuana should be legalized in the US, period. Legalize it, tax it, and look how fast our economy would turn around. I have to agree, there are worse substances out there...and some of them are legal. Legalizing marijuana could benefit the US as a whole, IMO. I think this would be a great way to turn the economy around...besides you have to wonder how much the crime rate would diminish if it was legalized.

Just my 2 cents.

[Bromor Neckbeard]

I agree with Moondancer on this one.  Beside the obvious financial gains to be made, there's a huge criminal element that would wither up if weed was legalized and all that revenue was going to fund public works instead of Saul Silver's plasma TV.

The fact is that prohibition of weed has failed utterly.  It's actually easier for underage kids to get pot than it is for them to get alcohol, because Jay and Silent Bob don't care about whether you have a legitimate form of ID, only if you have the money.  Why shouldn't that money be funding schools, roads, and paying salaries for cops to arrest people who are committing actual crimes?

[Kagus]

I have to say that I've been for the full, recreational legalization of marijuana for a very long time.  Didn't think folks would actually get around to doing it, though.

I don't care so much about the economic aspect (although that may just be because I haven't considered it before now), it's just that the uproar against it is way out of proportion.  Sure, we don't know exactly what the lasting effects are or may be, but that's at least a slightly better chance than selling a product we know to be harmful.

Mind you, I've never used the stuff.  Don't intend to, either.  I just think it's stupid to treat it so harshly and spend so much time and effort getting up in arms about it.

Furthermore, people are going to use it regardless of whether or not it's illegal.  However, street dealers don't have their wares checked to make sure that they are of high enough quality and purity for the consumer's consumption.  The open-market commercial fighting between legal vendors would ensure a competitive price and quality.


So, yeah...  I'm all for it.

[Faces of Mu]

Eh, I'm more of the view to somehow reduce the use and access to all of these drugs. That includes alcohol and tobacco. Seems like cities and countries are really only beginning to smarten up to just how much these drugs cost the public, particularly alcohol which is implicated (and I'm going to go so far to say causes) a lot of traffic accidents as well as assaults and vandalism. These unnessary acts cost the public both in medical expenses as well as regular clean-up expenses every Saturday and Sunday morning.

People also argue that such drugs don't have negative biological effects, but what about sociological effects? What about parents who use these drugs in front of children? Sure we can point every finger we've got at them and shrug our shoulders and say that they are bad parents and people and they are making bad decisions and deserve what they get, but the children affected and hurt by this drug use DON'T deserve it. Therefore, we need to look at our culture and our society and figure out a way to take responsibility for what we do and don't encourage and HOW we do these things.

[PTTG??]

I don't smoke tobacco or drink alcohol, by choice. Yet I support this measure... Not necessarily because of the "my body" argument, but because it would free up police to go after more damaging crimes, because it would obliterate the crime-filled black market, and because it would provide tax revenue that will keep essential services running (assuming it gets paid).

I don't think it will really do much to jump-start the economy, unless thousands of dealers going legit somehow supercharges the banks or something...

Everybody hop on the Pot Bubble!

Oh, and then there's the fact that we could use this as a stepping stone to secession.

[Granite26]

None of the government's business...  Why did we allow them a say in the first place?

[Yanlin]

I support this bill. Even though I'm not American. Hell I don't even smoke or drink alcohol.

To back up my following argument, consider this. I want seat-belts to stop being mandatory. I always wear a seatbelt. I don't do it because I am forced to. I wear it cause I want to.

Allow me to quote. "I have gained this by philosophy, that I do without being commanded, what others do only from fear of the law."

Anyway, Pot time.

The thing is hardly a hard drug. Cigarettes are legally available. Those things KILL. People WILLINGLY suicide by smoking. As long as I don't have to breathe the smoke, I'm fine. Smoking areas are nice and dandy. If the smoke dissipates before reaching me, I'm fine. Same with pot. Let them hang out in their Amsterdam style coffee shops. Let them smoke it in their homes. In their cars. But NOT in public places such as schools, hospitals and such. In fact, isn't that how cigarettes are treated? Over here, smoking is illegal on public areas. Only designated areas allow smoking.

Onward to the next problem. Enforcing a law. A law is not a law if it's not enforced. A lot of officers are corrupt. Something has to be done. If a cop catches you smoking weed, he's more likely to ask for some in exchange for not turning you in, than just confiscating it and turning you in.

Don't forget the epic fail case where a cop confiscates a bag of weed, smokes it in his home, calls 911 to report he's overdosing. (Which he was.)

He was fired IIRC.



For conclusion, an Israeli joke.

Why don't drug addicts go to school? They have all the material (In Hebrew, the same word.) at home.

Horrible joke. Yes.

[mainiac]

I should move to California.  I've always envied the weather, there's jobs for people with technical degrees and home prices are going as low as they're ever going to get.  Legal pot would be icing on the cake.  I want a recreational drug to help me keep chill, but alcoholism runs in my family.  Hell, we're practically alcoholics when we're sober.

[Yanlin]

You're a dwarf.

[mainiac]

Does that mean moving to Cali would turn me into an elf?

[Moon]

The problem I have with legalizing marijuana is that those who do drugs will want to get their thrill from doing more hardcore stuff.

I think people are delusional to think that crime will go down if it is legalized.  Criminals do what they do because it is "against the law" and they get a thrill from doing it.  Once marijuana becomes legalized, they'll start asking for ecstacy and crack to be legalized as well.  If they dont't get their way again, they'll do it on the black market.

It's the same thing with legalized prostitution.  If we legalized it, nationwide, it would no longer give people a thrill to do it.  The next thrill would be child prostitution.

There was an old Twilight Zone episode once, where a criminal died and went to Hell.  He was confused, because in his Hell, he could do anything he wanted.  He could rape, murder and do any drug he wanted.  He went crazy because it no longer felt good to do it, when nobody tried to stop him.

[Yanlin]

The problem I have with legalizing marijuana is that those who do drugs will want to get their thrill from doing more hardcore stuff.

I think people are delusional to think that crime will go down if it is legalized.  Criminals do what they do because it is "against the law" and they get a thrill from doing it.  Once marijuana becomes legalized, they'll start asking for ecstacy and crack to be legalized as well.  If they dont't get their way again, they'll do it on the black market.

It's the same thing with legalized prostitution.  If we legalized it, nationwide, it would no longer give people a thrill to do it.  The next thrill would be child prostitution.

There was an old Twilight Zone episode once, where a criminal died and went to Hell.  He was confused, because in his Hell, he could do anything he wanted.  He could rape, murder and do any drug he wanted.  He went crazy because it no longer felt good to do it, when nobody tried to stop him.

See, you're the kind of person who thinks drug dealers sell drugs for the hell of it.

THEY MAKE MORE MONEY IN A WEEK THAN YOU DO IN A YEAR! That's what keeps them going.

[PTTG??]

Look, I've at least spoken to people who have used it- none of them are raving thrill-seekers or Chaotic Evil rule breakers.

Also, they already have those drugs on the black market.
Besides, strictly speaking Alcohol and Tobacco are both more dangerous than the M-word, so if anything they should be outlawed too.

Look what happened after the Prohibition- the gangs lost a main money supply and became far less prevalent.

But most importantly, why do you care what happens to them? People rob for booze money all the time, so it's not like it's going to be any different in that regard.

One thing about the bill is that it should not grant liberty to people who had previously broken the law- if you possessed it while it was illegal, you broke the law, you serve the time.

Oh, Maniac, you should come up into the Foothills- tons of old hippies up here; you'd have no problem with supply...
Heh, if this bill passes, Grass Valley would become the Economic Capital of California.

[Onlyhestands]

I support this as long as it doesn't get the same treatment as tobacco, with all sorts of chemicals put into it by large corporations. The only harmful thing about weed is inhaling the smoke itself which can be circumvented by health-conscious stoners. I also think it should be illegal to drive while high, its better than Drunk driving but still a little risky.

Edit: Lol at the slippery slope arguments already showing up.