California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (not actual size) on Tuesday said it was time for a discussion on the idea of legalizing and taxing marijuana. Although he said he doesn't support it now, he welcomed a debate on the issue.
(NEWSCOM/FILE)
Legalize marijuana? Schwarzenegger says let’s debate it
By Jimmy Orr 05.06.09
It wasn’t as though Arnold Schwarzenegger held a press conference with Cheech and Chong in the back of a van and said, “Whoa, I have this awesome idea, man…”
The governor was asked if he would support the legalization and taxation of marijuana to help the state of California get out of its budgetary mess.
No, he doesn’t support that — at least right now. He said specifically, “No, I think it’s not time for that.”
Debate
It was the rest of his statement, however, that’s caused a stir around the pro-legalization world. The governor said it should be talked about.
“I think it’s time for a debate,” he said. “I think all of those ideas of creating extra revenues, I’m always for an open debate on it.”
As part of that debate, the governor said Californians need to look to the countries — like his native Austria — that have already relaxed drug laws.
“I think that we ought to study very carefully what other countries are doing that have legalized marijuana and other drugs, what effect it had on those countries, and are they happy with that decision,” he said. “Or, like for instance in Austria, I’ve heard that they are unhappy with that and they want to roll back some of the decisions that were made in European countries.”
Poll
Late last week, the director of a pro-marijuana legalization group praised a recent poll that showed 56 percent of Californians are OK with the legalization and taxation of marijuana.
“Right now people in the Capitol are laughing off the idea of taxing and regulating marijuana. This will show them there’s some serious voter support on the issue,” said Aaron Smith, the Marijuana Policy Project’s California policy director.
It’s not just a California poll. A WashingtonPost/ABC survey, also released last week, revealed that 46 percent of Americans support legalization of small amounts of marijuana for personal use — that’s double the support it had a decade ago.
Money
If it were legalized and taxed, how much of an impact would it have on California’s budget? According to the author of a bill in the California State Assembly, it could add $1.3 billion to the state’s coffers.
But Assemblyman Tom Ammiano said it’s not about the money.
“It’s also about the failure of the war on drugs and implementing a more enlightened policy,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle. “I’ve always anticipated that there could be a perfect storm of political will and public support, and obviously the federal policies are leaning more toward states’ rights.”
Marijuana law not worth cost of enforcing
By Record Searchlight Editorials Sunday, May 10, 2009
Our view: It makes far more sense to raise taxes from pot sales than to waste our shrinking resources in a futile effort to stop them.
Trying to twist a tourniquet on the state of California's still-bleeding finances, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration last week reportedly floated a plan to commute the sentences of 38,000 "low-level" inmates and possibly close state prisons and send the convicts to county jails.
Which must sound like a bit of black humor to Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko. The jail is already routinely full, and early releases are a chronic problem. And on top of that, Bosenko is suggesting that he might have to close a floor or two of the eight-story jail as part of county budget cuts. That will leave local criminals less accountable for their actions even as local police agencies are cutting their staffs.
A recipe for a crime wave? Perhaps, but the looming crisis should also prompt a hard look at what we consider crimes. In particular, let's take up Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent call for a debate on legalizing and taxing marijuana.
In 2006, the most recent year for which statistics are available, police in California made 65,000 felony and misdemeanor arrests for marijuana. Relatively few of those lawbreakers ended up doing hard time in state prison, but the endless pursuit of marijuana smokers and suppliers is a substantial drain on increasingly scarce law-enforcement resources at every level, from police to courts to probation offices.
And for what? Marijuana use remains common, even among the teenagers whose well-being is the most common rationale for our current drug laws.
Indeed, among teenagers pot smoking appears to be at least as prevalent as tobacco use. A 2006 survey by the California Tobacco Control Program found that about 15.4 percent of high schoolers had smoked a cigarette within the past 30 days, but the state Justice Department's most recent survey of youth drug use found 15 percent of ninth-graders - and 24 percent of 11th-graders - had used marijuana in the past 30 days.
So the ban isn't keeping our children safe, even as the profits of an illicit business drive pot growers to take over our backcountry and fuel drug wars that make the headlines from Mexico scarier than those out of Iraq.
Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, a Democrat from San Francisco, has introduced a bill to legalize marijuana, treating it essentially the same as alcohol. Users would have to be 21 years old. Smoking would still be banned in public, much as liquor is barred in parks. Driving under the influence would still be a crime.
Oh, and dealers would be licensed and taxed, raising an estimated $1.3 billion a year. Heaven knows the state could use the extra money. The budget crisis is forcing massive school cutbacks, dramatic reductions in health services for the poor, the sacking of police and firefighters.
Let's save a few cops' and teachers' jobs by raising money from marijuana sales instead of spending money in a vain attempt to stamp them out. Let's keep embezzlers and car thieves and repeat DUI drivers locked up over pot dealers whose only crime is supplying consenting adults.
We don't want to see more marijuana use, especially among young people. But higher taxes and education have steadily cut tobacco use over the years - to trust the numbers, far more effectively than the outright ban on marijuana. Isn't it time we try what's worked instead of what's proven to be a dismal failure?
