Backers say petition for (Calif.) legalized-pot initiative has plenty of signatures

Source: Sacramento Bee

Advocates for legalizing and taxing marijuana in California for adults older than 21 announced they were submitting ballot initiative petitions with 700,000 signatures today, much more than is needed to qualify the measure for the November 2010 ballot.

The petition will be turned in to the secretary of state's office for certification.

"This is an historic first step toward ending cannabis prohibition," said Richard Lee, president of an Oakland medical marijuana dispensary and Oaksterdam University, which teaches marijuana cultivation, production and legal guidelines.

Lee has donated more than $1 million for the petition drive to qualify the ballot measure. Proponents said today they hoped to raise and spend up to $10 million on the campaign.

They are likely to face dogged opposition from a coalition of law enforcement and church groups.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2497310.html

"...opposition from a coalition of law enforcement and church groups." Kind of says it all, doesn't it?

A lot more people would support this if it could provide revenues. Tax it like they do for cigarettes or alcohol. Legalizing it would lower prices from the black market so it would be cheaper for users even with a tax.

Other than sales taxes.

What it does do is allow counties and municipalities to choose to allow commercial marijuana production and sales. The locality would get any excise tax revenues, sales taxes on pot would go to the state.

In localities that don't opt in for commercial legalization, everyone could still possess an ounce and grow up to 25 square feet worth of weed.

The age should be 18 though. Maybe even 16.

and the tourist business will go through the roof :)
Meanwhile..the backward state of WA government has turned down a bill to do the same for WA state.
I guess they love all the homeless and unemployement......

i am 1000% in favor of legalization and taxation of pot. and industrial hemp as well. however, recall the experiences in other states which have passed medical pot laws; the state technocrats and prison industry lobby, as well as big pharma, have gone out of their way to fuck those new laws up, with burecratic bullshit that most citizens never hear about afterwards. i went to a hearing at the department tasked with managing the implementation of the law here, and it was amazing. despite very specific language outline how the law would work here, the department wanted to add all this rules and irrational regulations that would've effectively made the law meaningless and users would've had an impossible time getting their medicine. luckily our state pro=pot organization had the legal firepower to prevent a real mess of things. but we had to threaten them with a lawsuit to make them conform to the law.

similarly, i worry about how states will try to implement the taxation part of legalization. again, i'm all for states in financial trouble taxing the sale of pot. but what about people who want to grow it for themselves? will they be allowed? what about people who are true DFHs, who want to share what they have for free? how, exactly, will the states certify and regulate the quality of pot that is sold, or license sellers? history demonstrates state governments are very, very bad when it comes to sensibly regulating pot.

i have confidence Lee, as an expert in this sort of thing, knows all of those concerns and more. but people who want this to pass, as i think it will, should donate money to good in-state pot orgs, so that they can be prepared to lobby and legally challenge the bullshit you just KNOW is going to come out of the legislature, once it passes. legal pot is no good to anyone if the rules make buying and selling it impossibly complicated for regular people. and watch out for big pharma and ADM and the like, you just know they'll want to get in on this market and screw things up for regular and organic growers.

I think that the government has planned all along for it to one day be legal.

First off, every single thing they have wanted to control they have first made illegal.

What really told me that they want to regulate it one day is the fact that the United States has given itself the copy writes for ALL the well known pot names of the past...such as Maui wowie, Acapulco Gold, Panama Red..etc.

I think their main problem will be..like you said with those that want to grow it themselves.

There is a simple solution to that but I don't know if they can see it.

The solution would be to let people grow that want to...for a small yearly tax/fee.

Most people will not want to take the time and trouble and energy to grow it if they can just go buy it at the liquor store. Some people can't grow worth a dang anyways.

But for those who would rather grow, I am sure they would be more than happy to pay a yearly tax for that right instead of trying to grow it illegally.

As to the drug companies, if they focus on the non-smoking ways (pills, thc tablets, capsules) they too would get a big cut of the pie. This is simply because a lot of the people that would be greatly benefited by the use of pot are not in shape enough to smoke or indeed want to.

Once the states figure out all the money to be made and how much they are missing out in taxes ...then it may stand a chance.

Right now they are making money from it being illegal but there would be so much more if it was legalized..plus it would free the police to do more important duties...like catch criminals.

The money, if it was legal, would not just be on what they could regulate but on the jobs and income taxes that would be paid into the state coffers.

It will be their greed that will be the biggest obstacle because if they make it too expensive, people will just continue to do it illegally.

However if it is legalized at a reasonable rate, people would much rather pay (IMO) then take the chance of getting caught and having a criminal record.

As to regulating "how strong"..unless they test every single plant that will always be a pain...because it will always vary from plant to plant.

Even plants grow from seeds from the same plant will vary to some degree.
I am not sure but I believe that plants grown from cuttings would tend to be more the same. Again it would also depend on the soil and the care I think.

Another problem will be to be sure it is grown organically as any chemical additives/fertilizers etc can change the chemical balance of the plants.

Just on the tourist industries and the factories it could save America though IMO.

"What really told me that they want to regulate it one day is the fact that the United States has given itself the copy writes for ALL the well known pot names of the past...such as Maui wowie, Acapulco Gold, Panama Red..etc."

Really? Citation please. I do not believe this is the case.

patent number 6,630,507 states unequivocally that cannabinoids are useful in the prevention and treatment of a wide variety of diseases including auto-immune disorders, stroke, trauma, Parkinson's, Alzeheimer's and HIV dementia. The patent, awarded in 2003, is based on research done by the National Institute of Health, and is assigned to the US Dept. of Health and Human Services.

Thereby...making the us government the owner of the patent for marijuana...
http://digg.com/politics/Patented_Cannabis_Fed_Government_owns_Marijuana_Patent

Even though some of the names are owned by the tobacco industry..they are still regulated and controled by the government.

they would sell permits to grow w/i the city/county boundaries. A source of revenue for the cities & counties. Hell, I'd grow it in my backyard.

California's medical marijuana law is the result of an initiative written by activists, which is why it is so wide open compared to those crabbed medical marijuana bills that emerge from the legislative process.

I agree that home grows must be allowed, just like home brewed beer. This initiative would allow any adult to grow up to 25 square feet of weed, which isn't a lot, but certainly enough for an individual consumer.

Y'all might be voting right along with us in November.

my wife singed it. In fact I've felt kind of bad having to turn down assorted canvassers when they ask me to sign. People I know from a very broad political spectrum are all for legalizing pot. perhaps it will pass.