Californians will decide whether legal marijuana should be used to plug the state's $20 billion budget gap.California residents are expected to vote this year on whether legalization should be approved to raise nearly $1.4 billion in state revenue. That's based on an estimate from the State Board of Equalization, a tax administration agency. California Secretary Debra Brown confirmed on Wednesday that enough signatures had been collected to put AB 390, a marijuana legalization bill, on the ballot for Nov. 2. A press release from the secretary said that legalization proponents submitted 694,248 petition signatures for the bill, easily surpassing the required 433,791. According to the bill, people would have to be 21 years or older "to possess, cultivate, or transport marijuana for personal use." Californians would not be permitted to use the drug in public or within the presence of minors, and would not be allowed to possess it on school grounds. source CNN
Though not a user, I am strongly for this bill since it would create a lot of money and also reduce drug related crimes. Many of the people from older generations tends to believe that marijuana is a harmful and addictive drug, but in reality, it is proven that cigarettes and alcohol are as harmful. Study's have shown that alcohol and cigarettes are more likely to cause cancer. Also, it is proven that the substances such as nicotine are more addictive then THC which is a chemical found in marijuana.
There are many legitimate reasons in passing this bill. For one, it would create a lot of revenue in California. Surprisingly, marijuana is 30% of California's cash crops. If it were legal, the government would make a lot of revenue by taxing it, similar to how cigarettes are sold.
Secondly, there are many marijuana related problems in the state of California. Data shows that 300 million dollars are spent annually on enforcing marijuana related laws. If it were legal, there would not be anymore drug dealers dealing drugs sicne people would be able to get it from markets. For example, you don't see teenagers buying cigarettes or alcohol on the street.
Lastly, many believe that legalization would result result in the increase of users. However, marijuana is already very common, and people would have already tried it by now whether it be legal or not. If its alrady this common and used by many why not just legalize it.
It's times like this when I think government officials and leaders lack wisdom. So maybe marijuana might not be as harmful as tobacco or alcohol, but one of the major reasons to why tobacco won't be illegalized is because of how many people the tobacco industry employs. If they illegalized tobacco for the health of american's not only will the state or country lose a crap load of money, but the unemployment rates will rise as well.
ReplyDeleteThe government of California should consider other ways of bettering the economy other than resorting to things like the legalization of marijuana. I was born in raised in southern california, and I would hate to see my home state be infested with more pot heads.
This is a thoughtful and well written blog post Kentaro. I think Lake points out some reasonable objections to the proposed legislation/ballot measure in California.
ReplyDeletePlease try to find other blog posts on your topic when preparing future posts and link to them in your text.
Dennis Wilkens had a recent blog post on the topic which has sparked a fair amount of thoughtful discussion in the comments section. You might want t have a look if interested.
I'm neither agreeing or disagreeing but, I'm not sure if it would decrease the drug related crimes....other drugs are still illegal and there are some problems to solve.
ReplyDeleteWhere to sell the drug, the price, how much you can buy at once, etc....
Yes I agree with Lake great arguments.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the post Professor Lockman. It was interesting to see other perpectives on why it wont pass in California.
Dennis I cannot agree with you more.