California Close To Full Legalization of Marijuana

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California has estimated that legalizing marijuana for persons 21 and over could bring in $1.4 billion dollars annually in sales tax revenue alone.

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Marijuana is already legal in the state for medical use, but supporters of full legalization say they hope the federal government takes a close look at what they believe will be a winning issue this fall.

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They say the Obama administration has taken a look-the-other-way approach as more states legalize medicinal marijuana. The narrative behind the "War On Drugs" campaign is losing it's grip on Marijuana and along with it would go State and Federal funds for law enforcement to continue the fight. At least as far as marijuana is concerned.

If you take all of the drug related deaths due to illicit drugs such as cocain, methamphetimine, and heroin combined, they wouldn't come close to the number of drug related deaths attributed to pharmicutical drugs perscribed by a doctor. Either by accident or by design this staggering revelation only comes to light when some celebrity O.D's - Corey Haim and Heath Ledger are a couple examples of prescription addiction fatalaties.

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Talk Radio wing-nut Rush Limbaugh went def as a result of his addiction to Oxy-Codin and Hydro-Codone. So while wealty Rush Limbaugh was eating Oxy-Codin like candy from a fucking PEZ dispenser, a war on weed raged at the tax payers expense. It wasn't actually a war against marijuana as much as it was a media campaign to deamonize marijuana in the minds of America so that law enforcement could continue to reap the Sate and Federal dollars they have come to rely upon since the crack epidemic of mid 80s' - Not to mention the property seizures that are often irreversable regardless of the judicial outcome of a criminal trial.

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You see.....nobody really gave a shit until some doctor went and perscribed a leathal dose to the God Damn King of Pop. You kill Micheal Jackson and suddenly the whole frickin' world is glued to the T.V. set. You could get away with killing Rush Limbaugh's fat ass, but the King of Pop -- Oh no you didn't! -- So off to prison Dr. Conrad Murry will go.

If you take into consideration the cost to fund a war on marijuana, prosecute the offenders, and then house them in the county jail for 30 to 90 days, there is simply no return on investment and there never was. Now California is closer then ever before to putting this non-issue to rest once and for all.

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"It may be a signal they could broaden that policy," Ellen Komp, deputy director of California NORML said. -- "We're testing the water to see how this might go. State after state is coming on board with medical marijuana with tax dollars in their eyes." The initiative, which qualified last week with more than 694,000 signatures, would legalize for people over 21 possession of one ounce of marijuana. Californians also could grow a 5-foot x 5-foot plot of marijuana plants for their own use. It would leave to local jurisdictions how they would choose to tax and regulate any commerce around marijuana using a similar structure to California's medicinal law.

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The candidates who will share the ballot with the marijuana initiative haven't taken firm positions. A spokesman for Attorney General Jerry Brown (D), running for governor, has "no position" because in his job he's tasked with preparing the initiative for the statewide ballot. Brown in the past has said that as the state's top law enforcement officer he can't support anything that violates federal law. But at the same time as attorney general Brown worked on crafting guidelines for compliance with California's medicinal marijuana law.

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Recent polls show 56 percent of voters support taxing and regulating marijuana. State Sen. Tom Ammiano (D) has a bill proposed to tax and regulate marijuana that is similar to the ballot initiative. The difference is that voters are being asked to allow local counties to opt into legalization.

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"This isn't as much a culture war as it also is the long overdue rational conversation on public policy for how we're going to treat marijuana," said Ammiano spokesman Quintin Mecke.

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"We can try and pretend that people aren't using marijuana and that the war on drugs is working or we can acknowledge reality. This question is no longer a joke about 'What are you smoking' or 'How high are you,' and the economics of the situation in California and nationally have provided us a window to have this conversation."

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Opponents say privately they think this is the first salvo in a longer national discussion that may ultimately end up in legalization. But they don't think the U.S. is ready. Several other states besides California may have similar initiatives on their 2010 ballot. Advocates in other states have said they might wait until 2012 in hopes of higher turnout for a presidential election helping their cause. Secretary of State confirmed Wednesday that voters will decide in November whether to legalize and tax marijuana use for Californiana 21 and over. We shall see.