Now we can quit throwing around "pretend" numbers about this. The California state Board of Equalization analyzed the financial impact of a bill pending in the legislature to legalize and tax the sale of marijuana. Their projection: California could see a nearly $1.4 billion per year increase in state revenues if it legalized and taxed pot. This conclusion is currently being reported on The Huffington Post. The original article is at
http://www.sacbee.com/...
The SacBee quotes the author of the bill to legalize marijuana, Tom Ammiano on a point that has really come home to Californians, in the midst of the worst state financial crisis EVER:
It defies reason to propose closing parks and eliminating vital services for the poor while this potential revenue is available. California has an historic opportunity to be the first state in the nation to enact a smart, responsible public policy for the control and regulation of marijuana.
The Board of Equalization projection not only matches but exceeds the original revenue estimate Ammiano had guesstimated when he introduced the legalizaiton bill.
Under Ammiano's pending legislation, sales of marijuana beyond medical pot would be dependent on federal permission. Here we are back to Eric Holder. He's on the cover of Newsweek and the magazine takes a historical look at U.S Attorney Generals under the heading, "Independent's Day." The focus of the article regarding Holder is the news that he is leaning toward starting a criminal investigation of Bush Admin torture practices. If Holder is ready to take on the White House on this issue, there's hope he would also be ready to independently say, should Californians legalize and tax pot, that the DOJ won't prosecute anyone who sells pot and pays the proper taxes imposed by the state's new law, which should colloquially be known, I think, as the "Pot of Gold" legislation.
The SacBee also quotes Ammiano as saying
We can no longer afford to keep our heads in the sand when it comes to marijuana. The move towards regulating and taxing marijuana is long overdue and simply common sense. The benefits of regulation are clear - controlling marijuana would generate up to $1.3 billion in much needed revenue for the state, restrict access to only those over 21, end the environmental damage to our public lands from illicit crops, and improve public safety by redirecting law enforcement efforts to more serious crimes
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Let's hope the Board of Equalization's projection of new revenue gives enough boost to Ammiano's frank statements that the public support for legalization of pot in California, already polling at above 60%, will increase to such a level that even cautious "liberals" and fire-breathing "fiscal conservatives" will jump on board the Pot Tamale train.
Apropos of Ammiano's remarks, in Sacramento yesterday the Board of Supervisors voted to restore $10 million to the police budget so the Sheriff's Department can retain 70 officers otherwise slated to the laid off. That's the good news (for the police department, at least). The bad news is that the new county budget still forces the Sheriff to lay off 140 officers, and also forces the Board of Supervisors to find $10 million to cut elsewhere in a budget which already decimates all existing county services. Here's the irony -- legalize pot and we can fund more police officers to patrol our streets (plus they don't have to spend time making pot arrests). This is a win-win.
I recommend folks also read The Daily Pot III: Anti-Drug Campaigns Giving Up on Ganja, an excellent diary posted earlier today by nicweb.