CA Lawmakers consider bill to allow pot for pleasure

Article below my editorial input:

Safe to guess that this comes to fruition largely because of our economic crisis - would this happen in a strong economy? Other dialogues have included legalization of gambling in other parts of the country, male prostitution in Vegas, and maybe something else I'm forgetting. Break out the vice to raise some money.

Our culture has been sucking ass especially hard since the bubble burst and the bottom line runs the show. Retro, remakes of music and film, zombie films, reality tv, porn, gladiatorial combat, propaganda-laced news (or news-laced propaganda)...noone is taking creative risks, but they sure don't mind selling out the spectacles and taboos. But, necessity is the mother of invention; I'm not a total cynic.

Regardless of where you stand on the issue and why, legalization of pot for the sake of undermining drug cartels, freedom of choice, etc. this will be a huge revenue generator for California's economy and for raising taxes.

Assembly Plants Seed for Legal Pot in California

By JESSICA GREENE
Updated 1:33 PM PST, Tue, Jan 12, 2010

The first step to legalize marijuana in California is on a roll.

Lawmakers on Tuesday approved Assembly Bill 390 -- legislation to tax and regulate marijuana. The Assembly's Public Safety Committee voted 4-3 on bill at a hearing in Sacramento. The bill will now be passed to the full Assembly on Friday for consideration.

The bill, authored by San Francisco Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, would essentially treat pot the same way alcohol is treated under the law and would allow adults over 21 to possess, smoke and grow marijuana.

The law would also call for a fee of $50 per ounce sold and would help fund drug eradication and awareness programs. It could help pull California out of debt, supporters say, raising up to $990 million from the fees.

Among the supporters of legalizing marijuana is a group of police, judges and prosecutors who formed a group called Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. The organization firmly believes that legalizing marijuana for adults will help improve American society by restricting youth access to it and taking the attraction away from cartels that traffic pot as an illegal substance.

"The mere fact that there will be votes in the Assembly to regulate and control the sale and distribution of marijuana would have been unthinkable even one year ago." Retired Orange County California Supreme Court Judge Jim Gray said via a statement from the group. "And if the bill doesn't pass this year, it will soon. Or, the bill will be irrelevant because the voters will have passed the measure to regulate and tax marijuana that will be on the ballot this November."

Gray testified before the assembly's informational hearing in October 2009 and defined the group's position about why they are for overturning the prohibition on marijuana.

This is the first time in U.S. history any state legislative body has ever considered repealing marijuana prohibition, which has been in place since 1913.