Posted on 06/28/2016 6:55:51 PM PDT by nickcarraway
California voters will decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana after Secretary of State Alex Padilla said Tuesday that initiative proponents turned in more than enough signatures to place the question on the November ballot.
A successful vote in California would mean one in every six Americans lives in a state with legal marijuana sales, including the entire West Coast.
The initiative is promoted by a well-funded and politically connected coalition spearheaded by former Facebook president Sean Parker.
It asks voters to allow people 21 and older to buy an ounce of marijuana and marijuana-infused products at licensed retail outlets and also grow up to six pot plants for personal recreational use.
Smoking weed would remain off-limits in places where tobacco use already is prohibited, including restaurants, bars and other enclosed public places.
Sales of both recreational pot and medical marijuana initially would be subject to a 15 percent excise tax. Cities and counties would retain the right to prohibit pot-related businesses and to impose their own fees and taxes.
State officials estimate the measure would raise as much as $1 billion per year in revenue and reduce public safety costs -- for police, courts, jails and prisons -- by tens of millions. Provisions of the initiative, which requires a simple majority vote to pass, would direct most proceeds to covering regulatory costs, research on the effects of legalization, environmental mitigation, substance abuse treatment and other purposes.
It has drawn support from the California NAACP, the California Medical Association and the California Democratic Party. Sponsors are promoting it as a civil rights issue, arguing that minority communities suffer a disproportionate share of drug crimes and arrests. They also say the initiative would make it harder for people under 21 to obtain pot and easier for police to crack down on illicit sales than it has been in the two decades since California became the first U.S. state to legalize medical marijuana.
Opponents include the California Republican Party, the Teamsters Union and groups representing police chiefs and hospitals.
California voters rejected pot legalization by 7 percentage points in 2010, two years before western states began liberalizing their approach to pot. Colorado and Washington became the first states to allow recreational sales in 2012, followed two years later by Alaska and Oregon.
Initiatives allowing for casual use have qualified for November ballots in Nevada and Maine.
I read that that Denver is cracking down on the beggars on the 16th Street Mall. Looked like most of them were stoners.
The Teamsters don’t like weed?
There have already been court cases that have held up firings because smokers are not a protected class.....yet. I know of few employers who won’t hire you if they find nicotine in your drug screen.
So screw the Tenth Amendment and side with fedgov, right?
Sounds like my county.
There are still dry counties in America and even dry neighborhoods in major cities.
Can own it, can consume it, can’t buy it.
Could be, did you have a big fire in yours in September.lol
Because it non of anyone’s damned business.
Yep. It’s none of anyone’s business what happens to their paycheck. Just do what the government tell’s you, you are governmentioned property.
My friend had to travel to CA for business, and I goaded him to get a Medical MJ card while there.
He had to see a doc, who signed off on his “malady” (which, since I know him, is probably “allergic to hard work”)
He said it was a joke, with folks actually saying stuff like they had a “fever in their foot” to get the card.
As an aside, he is a volunteer fireman and has saved the lives of 2 people already, the latest during our floods wherein the victim was breathing in a tiny air pocket in his car a la Mary Jo Kopechne. I am proud of him.
Ganja has many times the tar as tobacco does, which is why the smart folks vape rather than smoke, as no tar or solid particulates are released via vaping.
yep
Folks that have not suffered a debilitating injury or pain will never understand that to many, MJ is a godsend.
PS: They are making pot now that targets specific maladies, and are breeding the THC out or many strains, because it is not the THC that provides the pain relief.
On what grounds will anti-pot FReepers oppose pot when there is no THC in it? Suddenly they will become anti-terpene? Do they even know what a terpene is?
A hint to all: The component in Lavender that is noted for it’s calming properties is the exact same component in pot noted for it’s calming properties.
Ban Lavender!
The substance in mangoes that temporarily weakens the blood-brain barrier is the same substance in pot that temporarily weaken the blood-brain barrier.
Ban Mangoes!
Marinol sucks.
It is not THC that provides the pain relief in most cases, but the myriad of other components, mainly terpenes.
Thus, there is no reason to take Marinol.
Possibly neighbors, lol that would be a hoot think more of us here then we think. On way to Livermore VA apt, will private mail later.
I’m voting NO on this and YES on the cigarette tax hike.
Come to South Carolina to live. Things are more or less normal here except when the usual suspects go ballistic at mere mention of the Confederate flag. Our Muslim problem is minimal because all us “infidels” are armed to the teeth. There are no dominant subcultures here as in CA; gay events are small & avoidable.
“Expats” are concentrated in the techie corridor around Greenville-Spartanburg but there is no Yankee or liberal invasion as in WA & OR.
Lived here since I came back from Vietnam. Wouldn’t trade it for anywhere else. Y’all come!
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