Yesterday evening, the California Secretary of State affirmed the voter initiative to legalize marijuana got an estimated 523,531 valid signatures – well more than the 433,971 signatures needed to get on the November ballot. The initiative has a lot of supporters who believe that legalizing pot will not only conserve the cash-strapped Californian economy, but will even bring in instant cash of tax revenue. Some detractors of the bill argue that legalizing the drug will lead to an increase in crime and health impacts. Other detractors worry that legalizing gray-market marijuana will reduce the quality of marijuana and significantly harm the budding marijuana industry. Part 1 of this article covers the Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis Act in California and the arguments for its passage. Part 2: Arguments against Marijuana Legalization in California covers the arguments against marijuana legalization in California.
History of marijuana legalization in California.
The first law in the state criminalizing marijuana in the US was passed in California in 1913. Other states were quick to follow. The federal law made transfer and possession of “Marihuana” illegal for all things except industrial and medical use by 1937.
The US Federal government put marijuana in the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 although the act was declared unconstitutional in 1969. In 1996, California legalized medical marijuana with Proposition 215, reigniting a national argument. Marijuana remains an illegal Schedule I narcotic and is deemed to have “no valid medical use” on the federal level.
California measures to legalize marijuana.
The voter initiative to legalize marijuana, known as the Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis Act, has many limitations on the use to legally use marijuana. The initiative would allow anyone 21 or older to “possess, cultivate or transport marijuana for personal use.” Local governments throughout California would have the ability to tax and regulate commercial production or sale of marijuana. It would be illegal nevertheless to drive when under the influence of marijuana, have the drug on school grounds, to smoke in public, to provide it to any underage persons, or to smoke when any minors are present.
The debate consisting of cost-savings for marijuana legalization
Those who promote the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act suggest that legalizing marijuana would help conserve the Californian State a lot of cash. Because California has a huge spending budget deficit, they have been using payday cash advances on the state to cover budget costs.
The savings estimates are anywhere from $ 156 million to $ 1 billion. Supporters claim that once the currently-stretched-thin law-enforcement system ceases prosecuting individuals for growing, possessing or selling marijuana, they can focus on crimes and criminals that are more violent or dangerous. Those for the act also point out the fact few deaths in California are due to marijuana when hundreds of death each year are due to alcohol.
The taxation argument for cannabis legalization.
While saving California millions of dollars in law enforcement, the Regulate, Control and Tax Act also gives government the propensity to tax marijuana. Those for the act estimate that $ 15 billion gray-market and black market marijuana is being sold every year in California.
Just one excise tax on the retail purchases of marijuana would bring in about $ 1.3 billion a year or even more. A lot of of the cities and counties in the California state tax medical marijuana currently. These city and county taxes bring in as much as $350,000 per dispensary.
The jobs argument for legalizing pot
Humboldt county as well as other areas in California already have a large marijuana tourism industry. With things such as schools focused on growing marijuana and medical marijuana dispensaries, the destination brings in millions of dollars each year in tourism revenue. If the marijuana tourism industry in California grew to just one-third the size of the wine industry, it would help to create 50,000 jobs, as pointed out by supporters. Marijuana being legalized would also make it legal to generate hemp in state which might add to the agricultural base in California.
The Californian’s Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act can be on the November ballot. If you need to see arguments in opposition to the legalization of marijuana in California, feel free to see Part 2: Arguments against Marijuana Legalization in California.
