Legalize Marijuana

Victor Hugo once famously wrote that “more powerful than the march of mighty armies is an idea whose time has finally come.”

With a $42 billion deficit looming over California it may be time for a paradigm shift. I’m talking about some serious outside-the-box thinking--so far outside the box that we will be practically back in it.

By that I mean this idea is really a no brainer. Legalize marijuana and tax the living snot out of it. It’s not as if the federal government even has the resources to effectively control the illegal sale and consumption of this prolific herb. So let’s join hands and let bygones be bygones.

With the idea of legalizing marijuana now more popular nationwide than republicans in Congress, according to the latest CNN/Time poll, California has demonstrated once again that it is light-years ahead of the rest of the country.

Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, introduced legislation on Monday to legalize marijuana and earn perhaps $1 billion annually by taxing it. Quintin Mecke, Ammiano's press secretary said the proposed bill "would remove all penalties in California law on cultivation, transportation, sale, purchase, possession, or use of marijuana, natural THC, or paraphernalia for persons over the age of 21." The bill would additionally prohibit state and local law officials from enforcing federal marijuana laws.

Ammiano's bill calls for "establishing a fee on the sale of marijuana at a rate of $50 per ounce." Mecke said that would bring in roughly $1 billion to the state coffers, according to estimates made by marijuana advocacy organizations. "The Marijuana Control, Regulation and Education Act (AB 390)" is a simple matter of fiscal common sense.

Now, what were we just talking about?