The following is the testimony NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano will deliver on Oct. 28 to the California Assembly Public Safety Committee's special hearing on "the legalization of marijuana: social, fiscal and legal implications for California." Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, sponsor of AB 390, The Marijuana Control, Regulation and Education Act, is the chairman of the committee.

By any objective standard, marijuana prohibition is an abject failure.

Nationwide, U.S. law enforcement have arrested over 20 million American citizens for marijuana offenses since 1965, yet today marijuana is more prevalent than ever before, adolescents have easier access to marijuana than ever before, the drug is more potent than ever before, and there is more violence associated with the illegal marijuana trade than ever before.

Over 100 million Americans nationally have used marijuana despite prohibition, and 1 in 10 -- according to current government survey data -- use it regularly.

The criminal prohibition of marijuana has not dissuaded anyone from using marijuana or reduced its availability; however, the strict enforcement of this policy has adversely impacted the lives and careers of millions of people who simply elected to use a substance to relax that is objectively safer than alcohol.

NORML believes that the state of California ought to amend criminal prohibition and replace it with a system of legalization, taxation, regulation and education.

The case for legalization and regulation

Only through state government regulation will we be able to bring necessary controls to the commercial marijuana market. (Note: Nonretail cultivation for adult personal use would arguably not be subject to such regulations, just as the personal, noncommercial production by adults of beer is not governed by such restriction.) By enacting state and local legislation on the retail production and distribution of marijuana, state and local governments can effectively impose controls regarding:

* which citizens can legally produce marijuana;
* which citizens can legally distribute marijuana;
* which citizens can legally consume marijuana; and where, and under what circumstances such use is legally permitted.

By contrast, the criminal prohibition of marijuana -- the policy the state of California has in place now -- provides law enforcement and state regulators with no legitimate market controls. This absence of state and local government controls jeopardizes rather than promotes public safety.

For example:

* Prohibition abdicates the control of marijuana production and distribution to criminal entrepreneurs (i.e. drug cartels, street gangs, drug dealers who push additional illegal substances);
* Prohibition provides young people with unfettered access to marijuana (e.g., according to a 2009 Columbia University report, adolescents now have easier access to marijuana than they do alcohol);
* Prohibition promotes the use of marijuana in inappropriate and potentially dangerous settings (e.g., in automobiles, in public parks, in public restrooms, etc.)
* Prohibition promotes disrespect for the law and reinforces ethnic and generation divides between the public and law enforcement. (According to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report, 75 percent of all marijuana arrestees are under age 30; African Americans account for only 12 percent of marijuana users but make up 23 percent of all possession arrests).

Marijuana is not a harmless substance -- no potentially mind-altering substance is. But this fact is precisely why its commercial production and distribution ought to be controlled and regulated in manner similar to the licensed distribution of alcohol and cigarettes -- two legal substances that cause far greater harm to the individual user, and to society as a whole, than cannabis ever could.

Taxing and regulating cannabis in a manner similar to alcohol will bring long-overdue state oversight to a commercial market that is presently unregulated, uncontrolled and all too often inundated by criminal entrepreneurs.

While this alternative may not entirely eliminate the black-market demand for cannabis, it would certainly be preferable to today's blanket, although thoroughly ineffective, expensive and impotent, criminal prohibition.

Voters nationwide, and in California in particular, support ending criminal marijuana prohibition. This past spring, 56 percent of California voters expressed support for taxing and regulating marijuana in a statewide Field poll.

Doing so would give greater control to state law enforcement officials and regulators by imposing proper state restrictions and regulations on this existing and widespread marijuana market.

I urge this committee to move forward with the enactment of sensible regulations for legalizing marijuana.

Link!


The Case for Marijuana Legalization and Regulation
Paul Armentano
AlterNet
10.28.09
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This would certainly solve the problem of grow houses in towns like Arcata where it is really affecting the quality of life for people who live in those neighborhoods. They could get warehouse/greenhouse space in industrial areas like any other business.
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This would be a major step forward for america.
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This would greatly help out our troubled state of California, not only our economic situation but this would also free up our law enforcement to deal with the many other problems our state faces.

California take the first step toward national legalization and fully legalize the green!
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I saw that "Pot City, USA" show on A&E too. I don't think the issue is that commercial pot farmers need to be persecuted. The issue is that ANYBODY who damages somebody else's property REGARDLESS of WHY they did it should be held accountable and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. There are already laws on the books that protect your property from renters. And if you don't check in on your rental property occasionally then you are somewhat at fault for letting things get out of hand when you're being taken advantage of. I feel bad for the neighbors, but you can't blame pot for the problems created by people who have no respect for others. They're not going to follow any laws.


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They could get land like an other farmer maybe too:-).

Peace,
PL
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indoor is the way to go for large scale profit.. outdoor you wait all year for one crop...

i am behind legalization 100% - i want to see it taken out of the black market to where people can benefit medically, legally, and financially without harming anyone...
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i think outdoor can yield much more weight at a higher profit than indoor. 100 15' tall plants would offer quite a bit of profit

and you wouldnt have the cost of electricity to worry about.
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can't put all the cops out of work (they couldn't get jobs doing anything else)...most drug arrests/charges involve marijuana...
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Outdoor during the growing season, and indoor during winter = most profit lol
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Or both at the same time.... The real field of dreams :-)
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Pot should only be grown on space stations. Real zero-g weed where the tricomes never get folded or break off... the best high!

Right now we're on the right track: space truly is the final frontier, and like the frontiers of the past it is a lawless land.

We need prohibition to continue to drive the prices ... sky high ... until growers move into orbit.

Then it'll be as easy as readjusting your satellite dish, twisting a radio dial, and waiting for the nearest station to rotate and drop a pressure-sealed, impact-resistant 'pot'eorite into your back yard. Nothing on earth can get you as high as space weed.
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The thing that worries me about this concept, while I agree it is the best ( and only really) way of taking control of already entrenched groups who aren't likely to go away, is how will they test for 'impairment'.

It is something that should be controlled, just in a fair way. The half-life is days to weeks. I don't think I should be charged with impaired driving on Friday for that toke I had on Tuesday type thing.

The potency would also be controlled. I think that would be a decrease from what I have been smoking up here in Canada. Get medical grade shit that is pretty potent sometimes.

Something to think about. Needs to watchd so something realistic is constructed as it may set precidents.
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:-) Fuck that, legalize space weed.
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Fuck taxes on plants and government inspection of your home garden.

No taxation, regulation or limitation for self cultivation
http://www.newagecitizen.com/MERP.htm
http://www.newagecitizen.com/MERP/Re...NowObama08.htm
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I have been an active advocate for such measures for years now. I have gone as far as writing my congressmen to try to move forward. Marijuana is such a potential cash-crop, and would help the current administration in raising much needed funds for health care reform and the like.

Also, as all of us are aware, Marijuana is less detrimental to one's health than alcohol and tobacco, so there is no legit reason why it isn't legal and taxed already. This is all the result of the scare tactics and falsely representative ads released in the 50's and 60's by the government. I also attribute the prohibition to the righteous right in this country...the god-fearing heartlanders that feel it is their god-given right to force their will upon others (missionaries in other countries spreading Christianity are a good example).

Most people who are against the legalization and taxation aren't anywhere near the crime-centers of this country (Oakland, New York, New Jersey, Detroit, Houston, etc) and have no idea how big of a role illegally distributed marijuana plays in the gangwars in those areas. If we take away a major cash cow from gangs, we may be able to acheive what law enforcement has tried for years...slow down their business. If there is no money in dealing and killing, how many will still do it?

What me must face as the new generation of this country is the fact that we will inherit the current state of affairs from the pro-Regans out there that really proliferated this war on drugs to a whole new level. We have to stop looking at pot-heads as criminals. Most everyone out there either smokes or has smoked weed, and you would never know it. Most of them are professionals, usually business owners, who don't drive around wrecklessly high, but instead lead honest lives and bring good to their community. I think good people would know if something was hurting those around us. Of course, we are still going to have those that abuse it, but that occurs already with alcoholics. You cannot say the only reason not to regulate marijuana is the fact that people will abuse it. It happens already, with alcohol and illegally distributed marijuana.

The last fact is the best one: if marijuana is regulated, it would be harder for minors to gain access to it. As of now, dealers do not care how old a person is. If you find a hard-up enough dealer, you would probably find him/her selling to kids under 10. Those that are against regulation have never even seen poverty of this magnitude, and have no idea. The taxes gained by marijuana regulation could help reform this country in ways that we cannot even fathom. They say regulation will just cause more people to smoke, but I have news for them: over half of the population already does smoke marijuana. At least we could educate those people, regulate the sales, and use the money to help the economy and the health care system, and help those in poverty get a chance at a normal life.

It's time to actually start getting taken seriously as marijuana users. We have to stand up and make our voices heard. To do that, we have to take the same path that other societies in the past have done: come together and speak with an educated voice, and no longer allow ourselves to fall under the typical stoner stereotypes. We have to prove we are just as educated and just as hard-working as those out there who do not smoke.
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i dont know i think whatever leagalizes marijuana works
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no regulation period!
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All plants should be legal.
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I second this proposal, all in favor...?
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I :-) California
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