(CA) Assembly committee OKs bill to legalize marijuana

Damien

Damien

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Assembly committee OKs bill to legalize marijuana
January 12, 2010 | 10:52 am
A proposal to legalize and tax marijuana in California was approved by a key committee of the Assembly this morning, over the dire warnings of police chiefs and prosecutors.

The Public Safety Committee voted 4-3 to approve AB 390 by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), who said the bill would provide tax revenue to the state and regulation of the drug. The new law includes a requirement that users be at least 21 years old.

The measure next goes to the Health Committee, but proponents worried it would not be acted on by that panel by Friday's deadline, which would require the proposal to be reintroduced to be heard this year by the full Assembly.

"The way it exists now is harming our youth,'' Ammiano said. "Drug dealers do not ask for ID. We need to regulate something that has gone chaotic, has resulted in carnage. I understand it's not everybody's cup of tea.''
Assemblyman Danny Gilmore (R-Hanford), a former CHP commander, said the $50 tax on each ounce of marijuana sold to pay for drug education and treatment is not worth the grief that will be caused by legalization.

"We're going to legalize marijuana, we're going to tax it and then we're going to educate our kids about the harm of drugs. You've got to be kidding me,'' Gilmore said. "What's next? Are we going to legalize methamphetamines, cocaine?''

The measure was opposed in testimony today by several police chiefs and law enforcement officials including Bob Cooke, former president of the California Narcotics Officers Assn., who predicted it would lead to an increase in crime. "The mere consideration of an attempt to trade human misery for tax dollars smacks of the cynical throwing away of countless human beings,'' Cooke told the committee.

It is estimated that the bill would generate $1.3 billion a year in taxes and marijuana cultivation fees.

--Patrick McGreevy in Sacramento
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http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/01/assembly-committee-oks-bill-to-legalize-marijuana.html
 
"$50 tax on each ounce of marijuana sold to pay for drug education and treatment is not worth the grief that will be caused by legalization."

grief? what, are thousands of Californians suddenly going to become homeless and lose their jobs as a result? i think not, if anything, this would open up hundreds of thousands of jobs, and of course promoting drug EDUCATION rather than propaganda is good for the community.

i'm all for this, way to go CA.
 
yea, look who is against it. The police and prosecuters. They are the ones who will lose business and possibly jobs. When are the going to get it??
 
so whats next? i believe the public health committee will vote on this. damn i'm so fucking exited for a change. fuck obama i'm gonna be so high i don't care.
 
^ exactly. I wish I had caught the live feed but I was a little too late. I heard that the officers didn't look to happy after the vote. :D
 
Smoking cannabis is not "human misery", but far from it.

It's a shame that bill creates a huge expensive bureaucracy just to monitor growing plants and collecting your money. This still isn't cannabis freedom. The government wants to partner with big business and be your dealer.
 
"We're going to legalize marijuana, we're going to tax it and then we're going to educate our kids about the harm of drugs. You've got to be kidding me,'' Gilmore said. "What's next? Are we going to legalize methamphetamines, cocaine?''
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I wonder if Mr Gilmore realizes that both cocaine and methamphetamine are schedule II substances while marijuana is currently schedule I. :\

I really hope California pulls through and sets a good example of successful regulation
 
Bardo5 said:
I wonder if Mr Gilmore realizes that both cocaine and methamphetamine are schedule II substances while marijuana is currently schedule I. :\

I really hope California pulls through and sets a good example of successful regulation
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Obviously no one told him that cocaine and methamphetamine were already more legal that marijuana.

The ignorance of politicians really, really scares me.




Keep up the good fight, California!
 
The measure was opposed in testimony today by several police chiefs and law enforcement officials including Bob Cooke, former president of the California Narcotics Officers Assn., who predicted it would lead to an increase in crime. "The mere consideration of an attempt to trade human misery for tax dollars smacks of the cynical throwing away of countless human beings,'' Cooke told the committee.
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Yes, the legalization of Marijuana (which is human misery?) is going to result in many people going on killing spree's, a spike in overall crime, and/or countless people throwing their lives away on marijuana... These are the narrow minded ignorant people that are keeping marijuana from being legalized, do they even study the effects of THC?
 
The measure was opposed in testimony today by several police chiefs and law enforcement officials including Bob Cooke, former president of the California Narcotics Officers Assn., who predicted it would lead to an increase in crime. "The mere consideration of an attempt to trade human misery for tax dollars smacks of the cynical throwing away of countless human beings,'' Cooke told the committee.
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Whenever public officials or their cohorts speak they are saying the opposite of what is the truth. You only have to find the reverse meaning. So the lie "increase in crime" becomes "decrease in crime".

"Human misery" comes from government. But fortunately, cannabis brings relief from "human misery".
 
It's about time. I don't even smoke pot, to be honest I actually hate it, but I'm still in favor of legalizing it. The stupid law enforcement can't see that legalizing it will give room to put the real villians in jail. Not to mention taxing it will boost our shitty economy that's destroying society..
 
The stupid law enforcement can't see that legalizing it will give room to put the real villians in jail.
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They're not stupid, they know that if weed is legalized a many of them will be out of the job, and that this may just be the first step towards the larger goal of decriminalization of all drugs, further diminishing their necessity to exist.

If all the police ever did was catch the real bad guys (not making quota on speeding tickets and busting kids for smoking pot) we would need a lot less of them, same goes for the people that run our prison system.
 
Care said:
They're not stupid, they know that if weed is legalized a many of them will be out of the job, and that this may just be the first step towards the larger goal of decriminalization of all drugs, further diminishing their necessity to exist.

If all the police ever did was catch the real bad guys (not making quota on speeding tickets and busting kids for smoking pot) we would need a lot less of them, same goes for the people that run our prison system.
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Then they're stupid for not interpreting sacrifices for a better cost for society. They lack this concept of community in their society and committment to commit sacrifices for the overall good.

Either way I was right. They're fucking stupid..
 
"The mere consideration of an attempt to trade human misery for tax dollars smacks of the cynical throwing away of countless human beings,''
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They don't want to make money off human suffering?
That is nonsense as there is a whole industry dedicated to finding this drug, arresting them, and jailing them. The real losers are the people who rely on this aspect of the drug for income.
I think making money off putting non-violent criminals in jail is making money off human suffering. Being in jail is much worse for you than smoking pot.

Plus, tourism will skyrocket as California becomes a pothead mecca, like amsterdam. Opening up many new jobs to support the new-found industry.
 
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