With layoffs, foreclosures, schools closing and the consideration of shortening weeks to four days, and one of the highest unemployment rates the state has ever seen, California needs all the help it could get.
And politicians are wondering whether marijuana could be the answer to the economic misery that Californians are faced with. Democratic State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) thinks that may be so.
Last month he introduced legislation that would legalize pot and allow the state to tax its sale, meaning billions of dollars in profit for California if the bill is passed.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, marijuana is California’s biggest cash crop, bringing in $14 billion in annual sales. What’s California’s second largest agricultural commodity? Milk and cream brings in $7.3 billion each year.
“With any revenue ideas people say you have to think outside of the box, you have to be creative, and I feel that the issue of the decriminalization, regulation and taxation of marijuana fits that bill. It’s not new, the idea has been around” Ammiano said.
In 1996, California was one of the first states in the nation to legalize medical marijuana. Currently, $200 million in medical marijuana sales are subject to sales tax. If passed, the Marijuana Control, Regulation and Education Act would allow the state to regulate pot sales in a manner similar to alcohol, prohibiting its purchase to citizens under age 21.
Despite the potential revenue, opponents of the act say that legalizing pot will only add to social anguish.
In the Los Angeles Times, Joel Hay, professor of pharmaceutical economics at USC, predicts harm if the bill passes.
“Marijuana is a drug that clouds people’s judgment. It affects their ability to concentrate and react and it certainly has impacts on third parties,” says Hay. “All we have to do is look at the two legalized drugs, tobacco and alcohol, and look at the carnage that they’ve caused. There are probably some responsible people who can handle marijuana but there are lots of people who can’t, and it has an enormous negative impact on them, their family and loved ones.”
Bishop Amat senior CJ Rodriguez agrees.
“We’ve been told that marijuana is bad because it’s a moral issue,” he said. “It breaks our ties with our family and our ties with God.”
However, senior Tom Hess sees decriminalization as a different point of view.
“The legalization of marijuana would bring in an incredible amount of revenue, and it will be easier to maintain,” he said.
Whether it will be passed remains to be seen, but with these two viewpoints it’s clear that the legalization of marijuana will become a very hotly debated issue as the idea gets passed through California’s legislation process in the near future.
