[HMF]

Today’s culture warriors have better things to argue about than pot-smoking hippies, yet federal marijuana laws are still stuck in the Nixon-era days when conservatives feared that reefer madness was destroying the minds of America’s youth.

Amid that time warp, efforts by California and other states to nudge Washington in the direction of more sensible drug laws have largely been welcome.

But whether or not you’re in the camp that thinks marijuana should be legalized, a proposal to regulate and tax its sale as a way of helping to balance California’s budget is an idea whose time has not come.

A bill from Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco — where else?) that would do precisely that was introduced Monday.

It would, first, decriminalize the possession and sale of marijuana under state law, and, second, set up a system for regulating and taxing it.

The sales and taxation part only happens, though, if the federal government decriminalizes marijuana too, or at least allows states to make their own decisions about the drug.

It is almost beyond dispute that the federal laws are unjustified by science or common sense.

Under the 1970 Controlled Substances Act, cannabis is a Schedule 1 drug, meaning it has no medical use and cannot be prescribed by a physician.

The many medical uses of marijuana are well documented, and it is not nearly as addictive or intoxicating as less-restricted Schedule 2 drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine.

Moreover, the active ingredient in marijuana, THC, can be sold in pill form as a Schedule 3 drug.

So what makes the plant so dangerous? The problem with Ammiano’s bill, AB 390, is that it would only widen the gray area between California and federal laws on medical marijuana.

Though the state’s acceptance of medicinal marijuana has brought many public benefits, it also has resulted in even more illicit cultivation in places such as Humboldt County, as well as legal and regulatory chaos.

AB 390 would do nothing to increase tax revenues in the absence of federal action, and would probably only further enrich the state’s marijuana black market.

The Obama administration should re-examine the Controlled Substances Act because it’s the right thing to do, not because of an ill-considered taxation scheme from California.

Link: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/359/story/708486.html
Source: Merced Sun-Star

[RelaxationExpress]

I think the first BIG obstacle has been overcome with E. Holders announcement about NEW U.S. Gov policy on MMJ raid in States with MMJ laws. This effectively lays down a ladder to help us out on the next hurdle, which is the reclassification MJ from a schedule 1 drug, with all the states that currently acknowledge the medical uses it is MUCH more difficult for plausible denials for this kind of requests when policy is to NOT interfere with State Laws...


This should also help with counties and cities that have been using Fed policies as reasons to prevent compliance with state laws, if the Fed policy has changed then it really takes away that leg of the argument and opens the door for lifting bans in areas where that REALLY was the main concern of the elected officials... right?