California is the national trend-maker for America. What starts in California eventually spreads across the rest of the United States. Among the many things Cali has lead the nation on, the area where they are most progressive is the decriminalization of marijuana. The possession of pot has recently been made a citation-worthy offense by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and if voters fall in line as expected on Prop 19, California might be the first state to legalize marijuana.
Proposition 19: The Regulate, Control, And Tax Cannabis Act of 2010, is one of the few laws (or lawmakers) in California to be more popular than it is unpopular. Polls have Prop 19 getting 52 percent of voters in favor of it versus 42 against it, making Prop 19 more popular than any governor candidate running for the state’s highest office. More important, it might be the solution to California’s current budget crisis. Legalizing and taxing marijuana, according to the Cato Institute, would bring in $8.7 billion dollars in revenues while cutting spending by an additional $8.7 billion dollars for the nearly-bankrupt state of Cali.
As the late, fake Delroy Senior might say, “Legalize it, and tax it, mon.”
Tags: California, legalizing marijuana, legal marijuana, decriminalizing marijuana, Proposition 19: the Regulate Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010, Prop 19, state laws, legalizing marijuana use, drugs, the war on drugs, Cato Institute, law and order, legalizing and taxing drugs
