Marijuana legalization gaining steam

A new advertisement from a marijuana legalization advocacy group “Marijuana Policy Project” frames the debate about legalization of marijuana as a tax issue.

It is short, but arguably compelling:

The Los Angeles Times reports that a number of television stations have refused to carry the ad, but other stations (including CNN and MSNBC) are carrying it.

State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) has introduced a bill in the California Assembly that would place marijuana in the same regulatory framework as alcohol.  The bill would “legalize the possession, sale, cultivation, and other conduct relating to marijuana and its derivatives by persons 21 years of age and older, except as specified.”  The bill would also “set up a wholesale and retail marijuana sales regulation program . . . [and] ban local and state assistance in enforcing inconsistent federal and other laws relating to marijuana.”

Federal law continues to prohibit the possession and use of marijuana.  The Controlled Substances Act lists marijuana (”cannabis”) as a “Schedule I” drug and prohibits possession and use.  Currently, state and federal laws exist in an uneasy tension.  The Supreme Court has recently ruled that the federal government possesses the authority to regulate marijuana, even in the face of contrary state rules.  The fact that states continue to pass medical marijuana bills — and are even now discussing outright legalization — underscores the fact that even in an age of expansive federal power, the states continue to flex their own authority as separate legal and political entities.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 12th, 2009 at 10:14 am and is filed under Alternative Living, Freedom and Democracy, Government Accountability and tagged with california, marijuana, state versus federal, the economy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.