California dreaming not likely to become a reality here; A poll indicates that half of the Sunshine State will vote to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol in November ballot
Vancouver Sun
Mon Jul 19 2010
Page: A5
Section: Westcoast News
Byline: Ian Mulgrew
Column: Ian Mulgrew
Source: Vancouver Sun
While Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government vows to jail marijuana-growers, support grows for California's proposition 19 to legalize, regulate and tax cannabis.
A poll last week indicated 50 per cent of the state is ready to vote to transform the demon weed from a black hole in the state's balance sheet -- a drain of police, prosecution and prison expenses -- into a lucrative revenue stream.
There also are a couple of other legalize-the-plant laws under consideration by state legislators.
Legal pot might remain a Cheechand-Chong joke in Ottawa, but it's no giggling matter south of the 49th parallel.
California is pioneering cannabis legalization, but across America many states are following the path California began blazing in 1996 when it established the first U.S. medical marijuana program.
More than a dozen have such programs today.
The medicinal market already has sparked Colorado, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Washington, D.C., to enact regulations overseeing the production and distribution of cannabis products.
Proposition 19, which is on the November ballot, will control marijuana just like alcohol: adults 21 and older will be allowed to possess up to one ounce. It also gives the state and local governments the ability to tax sales.
Check out www.taxcannabis.org.
The state's current subterranean cannabis market is estimated at $14 billion and initiative backers think legalization will produce $1.4 billion in tax revenue.
(Those figures, by the way, probably mirror the Canadian underground market.)
At the same time, depending on the study, savings in policing, prosecution and prison costs range anywhere from $200 million to $1.9 billion.
A report by the main U.S. marijuana legalization lobby group (NORML. org) suggested the regulated pot industry in California predicts between 60,000 and 110,000 jobs paying between $2.5 and $3.5 billion in wages.
The new above-ground market potentially could create $12-18 billion in spinoff industries.
(The suggestion that the price will drop I think is a canard exposed by Amsterdam, where pot is legally dispensed for prices rivalling Vancouver's. And California's medical dispensaries often charge as much as the black market, as do some of Canada's compassion clubs.)
All that said, there is a great irony here: California is considering legalization in part because of the implosion of America's great get-tough-on-crime experiment.
The mandatory prison, spare-the-rod-spoil-the-child approach helped push California into financial crisis because the state, along with its other fiscal troubles, couldn't afford the cost of housing the crowds these laws jailed. Conditions were so bad courts were compelled to order the release of thousands upon thousands.
Other states, too, awoke to the same fiscal nightmare triggered by the failed War on Drugs.
It is unbelievable that the federal Conservatives are intent on repeating this costly and futile mistake in the face of such hard evidence and common sense.
Just as we have done a good job controlling tobacco and alcohol through public education, advertising curbs and other mechanisms instead of the criminal law, so too can we regulate pot.
A more open and honest environment about drugs, smart doctors on both sides of the border say, gives us a better chance of reaching young people about the true concerns surrounding marijuana use, particularly when smoked in a joint or pipe.
When crime rates have plummeted, why should Canadian taxpayers pay for more cops, jail guards and prisons to lock up more guerrilla gardeners and pot consumers?
As those pushing Proposition 19 say: It's better to tax and control marijuana.
In California they are having a very adult debate about the issue without an overlay of the sophomoric humour that has for too long clouded discussion on this side of the border. We should be listening.
Oh, I forgot, there are still some people who think we can't talk about legalization in Canada because Uncle Sam might take offence and retaliate against us.
(What are they smoking?)
imulgrew@vancouversun.com
WFDS
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