[Vision2020] Pot Tax Could Amount to $1.3 Billion Annually

[keely emerinemix]

This just seems so obvious to me, perhaps more so as a someone who endures chronic pain for which marijuana could be helpful.  It seems absurd that someone smoking a joint on a Friday night, at home listening to NPR, Cat Stevens, or Wilco, ought to even be on law enforcement's radar screen.

Legalize it, regulate it, control it, tax it, and solve a few problems while moving on to issue a lot less clear.  

Keely
http://keely-prevailingwinds.blogspot.com/




> Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2009 06:37:33 -0700
> From: thansen at moscow.com
> To: vision2020 at moscow.com
> Subject: [Vision2020] Pot Tax Could Amount to $1.3 Billion Annually
> 
> Courtesy of today's (July 16, 2009) San Francisco Chronicle at:
> 
> http://tinyurl.com/atlumc
> 
> -------------------------------------------------
> 
> Ammiano wants to make marijuana legal in state
> Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer
> 
> California would become the first state in the nation to legalize
> marijuana for recreational use under a bill introduced Monday by
> Assemblyman Tom Ammiano of San Francisco.
> 
> The proposal would regulate marijuana like alcohol, with people over 21
> years old allowed to grow, buy, sell and possess cannabis - all of which
> is barred by federal law.
> 
> Ammiano, a Democrat in his third month as a state lawmaker, said taxes and
> other fees associated with regulation could put more than a billion
> dollars a year into state coffers at a time when revenues continue to
> decline.
> 
> He said he thinks the federal government could soften its stance on
> marijuana under the Obama administration.
> 
> "We could in fact have the political will to do something, and certainly
> in the meantime this is a public policy call and I think it's worth the
> discussion," Ammiano said. "I think the outcome would be very healthy for
> California and California's economy."
> 
> A spokeswoman for the Drug Enforcement Agency in Washington, D.C.,
> declined to comment on the proposal. A White House spokesman referred to a
> statement on a question-and-answer section of an Obama transition team
> blog that says the president "is not in favor of the legalization of
> marijuana."
> 
> While Californians have shown some tolerance for marijuana, such as use
> for medical conditions with voters' passage of Proposition 215 in 1996,
> the proposal will face tough opposition in Sacramento.
> 
> A lobbyist for key police associations in the state called it "a bad idea
> whose time has not come."
> 
> "The last thing our society needs is yet more legal intoxicants," said
> John Lovell, who represents the California Peace Officers' Association,
> California Police Chiefs Association and California Narcotic Officers'
> Association. "We've got enough social problems now when people aren't in
> charge of all five of their senses."
> 
> But Ammiano's proposal has the support of San Francisco Sheriff Michael
> Hennessey, who said the idea "should be the subject of legislative and
> public debate."
> 
> It also has the backing of Betty Yee, who chairs the state Board of
> Equalization, which collects taxes in California. An analysis by the
> agency concluded the state would collect $1.3 billion a year from tax
> revenues and a $50-an-ounce levy on retail sales if marijuana were legal.
> 
> The analysis also concluded that legalizing marijuana would drop its
> street value by 50 percent and increase consumption of the substance by 40
> percent.
> 
> A spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, which advocates for reform
> in marijuana laws and is backing Ammiano's proposal, said any expected
> increase in consumption is a "false notion."
> 
> "They are making an intuitive assumption that a lot of people make that
> really does not have that much evidence behind it," said Bruce Mirken, the
> group's spokesman, who predicted it could take up to two years before the
> idea wins legislative approval.
> 
> "Don't tell me that doing something like (this) proposal is going to
> introduce another drug into society. That's a load of bull."
> 
> ---------------
> 
> Assemblyman Tom Ammiano of San Francisco
> 
> http://tinyurl.com/TomAmmiano
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Ammiano
> 
> -------------------------------------------------
> 
> Seeya round town, Moscow.
> 
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
> 
> "The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
> and the Realist adjusts his sails."
> 
> - Unknown
> 
> 
> =======================================================
>  List services made available by First Step Internet, 
>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.   
>                http://www.fsr.net                       
>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> =======================================================

_________________________________________________________________
Windows Live™ SkyDrive™: Get 25 GB of free online storage.
http://windowslive.com/online/skydrive?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_SD_25GB_062009
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20090716/01acf3b0/attachment.html