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Should Marijuana Be Legalized for Recreational Use?
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Should Marijuana Be Legalized for Recreational Use?
California Lawmakers Are Looking at Relaxing Pot Laws and Solving the State's Budget Crisis
By R.T. Sideman
Medical marijuana already may be legal in California, but a new push to legalize and tax the drug, either for medicine or entertainment, is gaining new momentum. The stage is being set for a full-blown debate on the issue next year, but some in Santa Cruz County and beyond are already speaking out.
Marijuana could be legalized if California voters support it in a measure anticipated to land on ballots in 2010. The California legislature, meanwhile, is wondering whether marijuana could save its budget. Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, a Democrat from San Francisco, introduced legislation in February that would legalize the cultivation and sale of marijuana for recreational use.
If upheld, such a move would let adults, for the first time in the United States since marijuana production and sale became illegal, light up without fearing the law.
Regulating Pot Like Alcohol
Marijuana activists say there are a number of reasons why political winds are shifting on an issue once considered too hot to handle.
Besides the recession-fueled need for more revenue, there are new calls to redirect police resources; concerns about the cost of imprisoning drug offenders; and a growing desire to curb the violent Mexican drug cartels.
There is also a public opinion shift led by baby boomers at a time when more than a dozen states have embraced the growing and sale of marijuana for certain medical purposes.
National prohibition has its roots with the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, which was based on the same claims as the movie Reefer Madness — mostly myths which have long since been abandoned.
Opponents to legalization are armed with a different set of arguments, based largely on its negative impacts to personal health and public safety. The most criticism so far comes from law enforcement groups across the state; however, local law enforcement — including police chiefs from Capitola and Scotts Valley — take a more moderate, nuanced stance.
The pot legalization bill will be up against serious opposition, said John Lovell, a lobbyist who represents three California police groups.
"Right now we have serious public safety and social problems caused by abuse of alcohol, pharmaceuticals, and tobacco," said Lovell. "Given those realities, why on earth would someone want to add a substance that compromises someone's five senses, especially one that's carcinogenic? It makes no earthly public policy sense."
Ammiano's bill would tax and regulate marijuana in the state much like alcohol. Adults — 21 years and older — could legally possess, grow and sell marijuana.
The state would charge a $50 fee per ounce and a 9 percent tax on retail sales. Any liquor store could sell marijuana with its existing license, Lovell said.
Lovell said that the legislation would do little to stop the black market, because there will always be customers seeking to avoid paying the government surcharge. There will also be more "drugged driving," Lovell said, citing a spike in arrests in British Columbia, where pot laws were eased several years ago.
Local police officials take up a somewhat less forceful attitude about legalization.
"I haven't got a position on it," said Capitola Chief Richard Ehle. "Just like alcohol, there are pro and cons. I wish we hadn't legalized alcohol when I look at the trauma and grief and tragedy it has caused."
However, as Prohibition proved true for alcohol sales, trying to control the distribution of marijuana has been difficult, with Mexican cartel growers using federal and state wilderness areas to produce the drug.
"We try to control and regulate [alcohol] as best we can and it's still extremely problematic. Marijuana isn't going to be different. We're just going to have to respond to it and do the best we can," Ehle said.
Ehle, who remembers pot-related violence while serving with the Oakland Police, said he has not heard about any surge in crime since two medical marijuana dispensaries opened up in Santa Cruz.
Scotts Valley Police Chief John Weiss said it could be a challenge to educate kids about the dangers of marijuana, but it will look very similar to the existing alcohol-themed outreach and education.
Is Pot a Gateway Drug?
Opponents of legalization have long expressed concerns, saying that making marijuana legal will compound substance abuse problems, adding that it is a gateway drug that leads to use of harder drugs and that legalization would send the wrong message to children.
And some question whether legalization would save police time and money.
Sgt. Mark Yanez of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's narcotics unit agreed with other top officials that legalization would not help free up precious resources because marijuana does not occupy a large amount of their time.
"Most of our investigations are related to meth, cocaine and heroin," he said. "But I've found that the majority of people who use those drugs also use marijuana."
A new poll released Nov. 3 by Capitol Weekly/Probolsky Research found that 52 percent of respondents wanted to keep marijuana illegal, while 38 percent of those surveyed support legalization.
But, more than half of Californians surveyed in previous poll favored legalization when first told that it could help to balance the state budget.
In Oakland, a city crippled by a $65 million deficit, 80 percent of voters approved a measure to tax medical marijuana dispensaries as much as 10 times the current rate.
City leaders estimated they would raise $1 million next year, money that would put towards hiring workers, maintaining parks, funding libraries and so on.
Ammiano's proposal has been shelved this session, but he has said he would reintroduce it next year. Pot sales could raise $1.2 billion to $1.34 billion in annual tax revenue for the state, some estimates say.
Lovell, the police lobbyist, countered that the social costs outweigh the benefits.
'The Right to Ingest What They Want'
Mike Corral, founder of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, the Santa Cruz marijuana-growing collective, has been a leading advocate for relaxing marijuana laws. He takes a philosophical approach to legalization.
"If we truly live in a free society, then people have the right to ingest what they want to as long as it doesn't cause harm to anybody else," Corral said. "It's an example of a victimless crime, and the government has no business in these affairs. Government was way out of bounds [to ban pot] in first place. As with alcohol, it's about education so people can make personal choices."
State Assemblyman Bill Monning, who represents Santa Cruz County, said that even if Ammiano's bill were signed by the governor, it would violate federal law and thus be tough to enforce.
"I think the value of (Ammiano's bill) is as a vehicle for public discussion," Monning said.
"I'm not prepared to say I favor legalization. People should be aware that we don't have authority to legalize."
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