Legitimate dealers deliver different strains of marijuana to the door of Californians for various kinds of.jpg)
medical use such as allergies and insomnia. You simply put it on your credit card and go about your daily business. The federal government says the weed is as dangerous as heroin and cocaine, but California disagrees when there are those who need it for medical relief.
A recent CBS News poll found that 41% of all Americans support marijuana legalization – not just for medical reasons but also for recreational use. A majority still opposes (52%), but the numbers seem to be building for at least taking another look at decriminalization. The West leads the nation in its support for legal marijuana, and maybe that is because California’s top tax collector estimates, if taxed like liquor, it could bring in $1.3 billion every year.
Arizona’s Attorney General in January of this year said there might be reason to consider the legalization of marijuana in the state. The statement came right after a huge drug bust when AG Terry Goddard reported that the drug cartels have been smuggling up to 400,000 pounds of marijuana into the state yearly since 2003. And the drug trade remains successful only because there is such a large demand for marijuana in the U.S., according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
California has introduced legislation to regulate and tax marijuana, and if this doesn’t work, one group is planning a statewide initiative for the November 2010 ballot. Arizona already has an initiative planned for 2010, only for medical marijuana, but it does have a provision for growing your own plants, and Oakland, CA voters have approved a sales tax for medicinal use.
If California can cover 5% of its $26.3 billion deficit by taxing marijuana, maybe it’s time to rethink the pros and cons of the much maligned cannabis.
Please leave your comments or E-mail me: jack.dundiv@cox.net
For more info:
President Obama against legalizing marijuana
Duke University history of marijuana
California Governor ready to debate legalizing marijuana
U.S. Drug Emforcement Administration against legalizing marijuana
Should governments legalize and tax marijuana?
Comments
Of course it should be legal to produce and sell marijuana to adults! That'd end the 6,000+ annual cartel murders by allowing us to undercut cartel prices and strip them of their customers. As marijuana makes up two-thirds of their incomes that'd decimate them and save the lives of thousands of children, parents and police officers every year.
For seventy years marijuana's been prohibited in this country, and for seventy years marijuana's been widely used. We already know the effect extensive marijuana use will have on our population - we've lived with it for seven decades! Making marijuana legal to produce and sell to adults will eliminate the cartel murders and pretty much have no other effect on our society. Those who want to smoke already are, and those who don't won't. We're talking about making it legal, not compulsory! lol
We MUST act to save the lives of thousands of innocent people! We must demand the right to commercially produce and sell marijuana to adults!
Why are we still having this debate. Legalize it already this is just stupid.
Prohibition has been a total failure. From every angle legalization makes sense. It is going to be used by users no matter what, it is less deadly than alcohol or cigarettes, it has no lethal level, keeping it illegal funds criminal enterprise, we currently lock up thousands of non violent people for simple possession....the list oges on and on. The worst thing about marijuana is that it is illegal not that it is slightly harmful to you or may cause people to engage in violence (like alcohol).
Great article! The best way to fight prohibition is to get one state to vote on it, pass it and watch the dominos fall. This is our opportunity to put our money where our mouth is. Join us in California by donating or volunteering for the California Cannabis Initiative who is working hard at bringing us the Tax, Regulate, and Control Cannabis Act of 2010 to the ballot box. Lets end this senseless war that has drained our local, state and federal treasuries and has destroyed more families and lives than any drug itself could have ever done.
To join or help the fight go to www.californiacannabisinitiative.org
Oscar Chavez
California Cannabis Initiative
San Bernardino County Coordinator
Thank you for your article. It's voices like yours that will continue moving us forward to end this madness.
"A recent CBS News poll found that 41% of all Americans support marijuana legalization..."
There have been several national polls on legalization this year. One Zogby poll even had 52% supporting legalization, but most showed support in the low to mid forties range. The actual level of support is probably greater than 41%.
Legalization is the ONLY thing that makes sense, and everyone can see this, but the Feds don't want to let go of the "War on Drugs" funding, its too good, they just cant get enough, they need the rehab for sure!
Stop talking about it and do something people!! If all of us stoners spread the word about these ballots(myspace, facebook, twitter it for god sake!!) No one knows that this could happen. The controlled media sure isn't going to make it public. Only people who smoke weed look for these stupid articles about the same $hit over and over. No crap we all agree that it should be legal. We all smoke it!! This pointless to read and write the same crap over and over and over. Blast fliers at the grocery stores, whatever!! I do. You know how many write me back saying, "is this for real"? If we unite we will win....
MJ is as dangerous as heroin and cocaine, you can not be serious... the federal government needs to do studies and researches on the true facts of marijuana.
"Angel" obviously doesn't know her(his) ass from a hole in the ground... Just as dangerous as heroin and cocaine??? Find a report of someone dying from an overdose on marijuana!! Not gunna happen!! Alcohol & Cigarettes are more dangerous!! Driving and talking on your cell phone has killed more people!!!! Wake up and smell the smoke!! Idiot!!!
Cannabis consumption should be a persons decision, if you do not like it do not use it. The drug war is a joke.
i might have misread
angel- are you saying "marijuana is dangerous", if so you are wrong. If i misread your comment i am sorry for calling you an idiot.
The more I read you, the more I like you. First of all you are big on animal welfare, and now this...
Latin America is making the DEA cringe...
If you want weed to be legal, they key to building public consensus for this cause is to state the fact that marijuana is the same plant as hemp. Let's face it, to win over conservatives (many of whom could care less whether pot is legal and many of whom SMOKE IT!), you have to show them the economic benefits of Cannabis in terms of the revenue generated by hemp. If cannabis was legal in America, 99% of the production would be non THC hemp. The economic impact of legal marijuana alone will be staggering in this country. That being said, the impact of the non smoking hemp economy would be OUT OF THIS WORLD!!
I don't know what our government is waiting for. The studies and research is in. Government and much of the general public is still brainwashed from propaganda, and I am not sure where people are confused. The question here is not one concerning avocation. The question is about whether we need to put people in prison for using marijuana or to give the free will this country half-heartily stands for.
I am an American, and I support freedom. It's not harming anyone but the user, and that's still far more arguable than the effects of alcohol and tobacco.
Do you realize that Mexico is more progressive than we are on this subject. Unfortunately, they are not improving their situation by "decriminalizing" marijuana since it just makes it even easier for the cartels to make their money. Legalization, Taxation, and Regulation is the only answer. This is the best way to fight crime.
Marijuana is a horrible derogatory term for the plant. It was made up in the thirties by people who hated Mexicans in the southwest. We should stop using the word.
Also, Cannabis has been around long before human civilization, and will be there long after. We here in the USA tend to thing that because we have enormous industrial and technological strength, and live in a world flooded with Wal-Marts and Mcdonalds, that we are better than any of the past human civilizations. The fact is that we are not even five hundred years old and already we are seeing our foundation start to sink and perish beneath us. We are now in the very start of "The Planetary Phase of Civilization." This phase has no place for arbitration so extreme as the current US drug laws.
This is a very frightening time to be alive in the world, especially as a young person in his or her 20's. We are the ones who will be faced with the most daunting task that humans have even had to encounter. www.gtinitiative.org
Reality Check ... maybe "Marijuana" was intended to carry a racial slur in the atavistic past, but today it has a warm, sonorous, and even sensual ring to it. It is a familiar and loving appelation, one which conjure up images of the beautiful and forbidden. What could be a more fitting rejection of Harry Anslinger than to enthusiatically embrace the name he imagined we would detest. Marijuana! The very sound of it is intoxicating!
i'm so high on the sound of the word marijuana right now, i kid i kid. but seriously i can't right now cuz of Az's assmouth laws and courts that force those "busted" for marijuana possession into probation to avoid felony convictions.
mexico and now argentina are both more progressive then our federal gov regarding marijuana policies. decriminalizing "personal amounts" of marijuana possession is not quite as far as it should go but they are definitely further then us at this point.
our federal government wants to force us all into not using a substance that science and statistics (two things angel has not bothered to look at yet) has proven safer then most other substances including over and under the counter drugs, great job gov.
the real reason for marijuana's prohibition has nothing to do with anyone's speculative safety, it is 100% a money issue disguised as what ever it has to be in order for it to remain accepted. politicians have putting price tags on our freedoms.
Watch the movie "The Union" it is awesome.
is it as awesome as the sound of the word marijuana? cuz it looks like it might be. i watched the clip on youtube and will definitely be watching the full version this weekend, thank ya.
video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9077214414651731007
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!