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dannno
03-24-2010, 01:21 PM
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-gutwillig/ca-marijuana-legalization_b_511484.html



CA Marijuana Legalization Initiative to Qualify for Ballot Today


Today, an initiative that would legalize personal marijuana possession and allow regulated sales of marijuana to adults will qualify for California's November general election ballot. A win at the ballot would be a first of its kind in U.S. history. This is a remarkable moment in the struggle to change our decades-old marijuana policies.

Marijuana was prohibited in 1937 before most Americans had ever heard of it. Today the U.S. leads the world in marijuana consumption. Nearly 26 million Americans used marijuana last year and more than 100 million have tried it in their lifetimes. A huge commodity of the underground economy, marijuana is the nation's top cash crop, valued at $14 billion in California alone. Our state Board of Equalization has estimated we would generate $1.4 billion a year by taxing marijuana like alcohol.

Like it or not, marijuana has become a mainstream recreational drug. It is second only to alcohol and cigarettes in popularity and is objectively far less harmful than either. Marijuana is drastically less addictive and cannot cause an overdose. Every major independent study has debunked the gateway myth; for the profound majority of users, marijuana is the only drug people sample not the first. Children across the country consistently report that marijuana is easy for them to get from their peers and the black market while significant barriers exist to buying alcohol and cigarettes.

Unthinkable carnage in Mexico has claimed 15,000 lives since the Calderon government declared war on drug cartels three years ago. Our government estimates the cartels generate at least 60% of their profits from marijuana alone. Following the murders of several U.S. consular workers, Secretary of State Clinton returned to Mexico this week, acknowledging that demand in the U.S. dominates these markets. But she didn't acknowledge that rampant violence is not a byproduct of the cannabis plant itself but of the prohibition that creates a profit motive people are willing to kill for.

Americans are increasingly turning against the prohibition that fails to protect our kids and guarantees a monopoly of profits to violent criminal syndicates on both sides of the border. While polls have long confirmed that large majorities favor treating marijuana possession as an infraction without arrest let alone jail, support for ending marijuana prohibition outright is quickly gaining speed. A Gallup poll last year reported that a historic 44 percent of Americans favor legalization, a 10-point jump since 2001. Meanwhile, sizable majorities of Californians are ahead of that curve, giving rise to the historic initiative we'll vote on this fall.

With this cultural transition underway, you might think enforcement of our marijuana laws would reflect their unpopularity. Sadly, quite the opposite is the case. Arrests for marijuana offenses have actually tripled nationwide since 1991. In California, which decriminalized low-level possession in 1975, arrests have jumped 127 percent in the same two decades the arrest rate for crime in general fell by 40 percent. Police made nearly 850,000 marijuana arrests across the country last year, half of all drug arrests and more than all violent crime arrests combined. No law in the United States is enforced so widely yet deemed so unnecessary.

Worse still, marijuana laws are enforced selectively with racist results. In California, African Americans are three times more likely than whites to be arrested for a marijuana offense despite comparable or even lower rates of consumption. An expose by the Pasadena Weekly found that blacks, who represent 14 percent of that city's population, accounted for more than half all marijuana arrests in the last five years.

It's hard to overstate the significance of the vote this November. Banning marijuana outright has been a disaster, fueling a massive, increasingly brutal, underground economy, wasting billions in scarce law enforcement resources, and making criminals of countless law-abiding citizens. Elected officials haven't stopped these punitive, profligate policies. Now voters can bring the reality check of sensible marijuana regulation to California.

Stephen Gutwillig is the California State Director of the Drug Policy Alliance, the nation's leading organization working to promote alternatives to the failed war on drugs.

Erazmus
03-24-2010, 01:24 PM
So, who will be able to grow it?

dannno
03-24-2010, 01:26 PM
So, who will be able to grow it?

Well I'm pretty sure this legislation includes a provision that individuals can grow for personal consumption (I think it was 6 plants :confused:)

To grow for sale, one would need a permit. I plan on purchasing one myself :D

Certainly not a perfect law, but the fact that people can now grow a few of these plants on their own property legally, and posses the substance, and buy it in a store is a huge step forward.

Elwar
03-24-2010, 01:31 PM
So, who will be able to grow it?

It's legal but it ain't hundred percent legal, I mean, you can't just walk into a restaurant, roll a joint and start puffin away. They want you to smoke in your home or certain designated places.

It breaks down like this. It's legal to buy it, it's legal to own it, and if you're the proprietor of a hash bar, it's legal to sell it. It's legal to carry it, but...but that doesn't matter, 'cause get a load of this; all right, if you get stopped by a cop in California, it's illegal for them to search you. I mean, that's a right the cops in California don't have.

Erazmus
03-24-2010, 01:36 PM
It's legal but it ain't hundred percent legal, I mean, you can't just walk into a restaurant, roll a joint and start puffin away. They want you to smoke in your home or certain designated places.

It breaks down like this. It's legal to buy it, it's legal to own it, and if you're the proprietor of a hash bar, it's legal to sell it. It's legal to carry it, but...but that doesn't matter, 'cause get a load of this; all right, if you get stopped by a cop in California, it's illegal for them to search you. I mean, that's a right the cops in California don't have.

HAHAHA!!!! I'm watching it tonight, just for that! :)

Erazmus
03-24-2010, 01:38 PM
Well I'm pretty sure this legislation includes a provision that individuals can grow for personal consumption (I think it was 6 plants :confused:)

To grow for sale, one would need a permit. I plan on purchasing one myself :D

Certainly not a perfect law, but the fact that people can now grow a few of these plants on their own property legally, and posses the substance, and buy it in a store is a huge step forward.

Ok, then it actually is legalization. Based on the article, it read like decriminalization, which would effectively create a monopoly for whomever the government allows to grow it.

If this is legal to grow then, is anything mentioned about industrial hemp?

Elwar
03-24-2010, 01:47 PM
It's a good bill...I read through it and it does what it should do.

The state lawmakers were trying to pass a bill legalizing it a little bit so that they could head off this bill and have more control over things since the ballot measure can't be repealed without another ballot measure.

dannno
03-24-2010, 01:47 PM
If this is legal to grow then, is anything mentioned about industrial hemp?

No, I don't think so, but that is one of the reasons I'd like to get a permit..

squarepusher
03-24-2010, 01:49 PM
It's a good bill...I read through it and it does what it should do.

The state lawmakers were trying to pass a bill legalizing it a little bit so that they could head off this bill and have more control over things since the ballot measure can't be repealed without another ballot measure.

its NOT a good bill. Its designed by Richard, the cannabis millionaire who will become a billionaire if this passes. HE wrote the bill and spend millions to promote it and collect signatures, to basically setup a cannabis mega industry, that yes, he would be on top of.

It basically says, a person or medical patient, can grow in an area 5 feet square, and maximum carry 1 ounce. It would be a step backwards for medical patients right now.

Elwar
03-24-2010, 01:55 PM
its NOT a good bill.

Hmm, I must've read the bill proposed by the house...it mainly put marijuana in the alcohol and cigarette language and got rid of the parts of the law about arresting people. Then taxed it, using the tax money toward educating people on the harms of marijuana.

It seemed like the legislators wanted to pass that because they were worried about the ballot initiative passing.

Erazmus
03-24-2010, 01:55 PM
It basically says, a person or medical patient, can grow in an area 5 feet square, and maximum carry 1 ounce.

Then my fears of monopoly aren't so off. The logical question is, given the population of California, how would they enforce it? The only conclusion I can come up with is random house visits by the state?????? Ewwwwwww. Couple that with selective enforcement....double ewwwwww.

silentshout
03-24-2010, 01:57 PM
Great news!

dannno
03-24-2010, 07:18 PM
It basically says, a person or medical patient, can grow in an area 5 feet square, and maximum carry 1 ounce. It would be a step backwards for medical patients right now.

I haven't read the bill, but I have a hard time believing that it would be able to counter what is already legal for patients...

speciallyblend
03-24-2010, 08:17 PM
go get them cali. if our lawmakers don't listen this yr. the colorado marijuana movement alreaDY HAS BALLOT ACCESS WAITING FOR 2010 to counter any bs and i expect legalized marijuana to be on state ballot in 2012 in colorado, of course we will have ballot issues all over the place in colorado in 2010 and forever until reefer madness pt 2 is over and anti-marijuana folks are removed from office!! period!! marijuana prohibition will end and people will be removed from office by the voters if they do not end it quick!!! anyone in summit/lake/eagle county colorado that opposes decrim or legalized marijuana will fill the wrath of a majority voter block if i have to go door to door for the next 2 yrs:mad::D

Erazmus
03-25-2010, 09:19 AM
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100325/D9ELJOL80.html


The initiative would allow those 21 years and older to possess up to one ounce of marijuana, enough to roll dozens of marijuana cigarettes. Residents also could grow their own crop of the plant in gardens measuring up to 25 square feet.

The proposal would ban users from ingesting marijuana in public or smoking it while minors are present. It also would make it illegal to possess the drug on school grounds or drive while under its influence.

I'd still like to read the actual bill. If anyone has a link to it, please post. If I find it, I'll post it.