Man, if I’d wanted to *work * at something, I wouldn’t have been a pot head in the first place.
Good one!
Yes California is perfectly free to do that. Just like the federal government is perfectly free to say “Fine, legalize pot. Oh by the way say goodby to federal highway funds, Medicare, etc”.
I am all for this. Further, I would like to see our California representatives introduce legalization bills in Washington. D C. I know they’ll get killed at first, but over time, who knows?
yes 
And it is pretty easy, though you need a decent investment to get started (1000w HPS lights and such). A friend… er, guy I don’t know nor have any connection to, certainly not since we were little kids or anything, makes these great little Aeroponic things where you basically have a the roots hanging in air with water constantly spraying on them (and you put nutrients into the water, obviously) as well as growing in soil indoors and outdoors. It’s not a huge operation, mind you, no more than a few plants maturing at a time, but he’s got 'em on a constant cycle so he never runs out. Man, I miss california.
As for the law… well, they already don’t enforce it very much in several places (including my old college town of Santa Cruz, where it’s lowest priority, meaning they don’t bust you, ever. We got “caught” smoking at a festival a bit north of SC (Half Moon Bay) and the cop just told us not to do it in public)
I think legalizing and taxing it would be a good idea, especially given how much debt the state is in, and the fact that it’s one of the (if not the) biggest cash crops in the world, if you include the production of hemp in there. It’s a known fact that the majority of people in america have smoked at one point or another in their lives, this includes the governor of California and our 3 latest presidents (Obama, W, and Clinton)
If you want it to pass, tell the Pubbies in the legislature that you’ll immediately cut other taxes by $600 million. Then they have to vote for it, based on their inflexible rules. If it is legal in all of CA, I suspect you’d soon see large, open, farms which would undercut the lowlifes.
Now, DC is the big problem. At least we don’t have the Reefer Madness crowd in control anymore. If the feds ignore it (and why is this a national issue again?) it would be fine. But I think the proponent admitted that the national prohibition is the stumbling block.
The prices at the dispensaries here (which are already legal under state law) are pretty much exactly the same as street prices. In fact, a lot of street vendors in Cali just get a medical marijuana card and sell it on the street for a small markup.
If it included reversals of current sentences (which I don’t know that it would or not), I think proponents of the bill would like to downplay the “Bonus: we’re gonna release a ton of people from prison!” aspect.
Don’t the cops get paid the same amount, regardless of what crimes they are investigating? Ditto the court folks? If the cops aren’t busting potheads, they’ll be busting someone else during the same paid work hours, so there shouldn’t be a savings.
Right?
Lets just say, however, that 10% of all investigations are related to pot. If you legalize pot, you just cut the crime rate by 10%, so you’re going to see a drop in the number of arrests, the number of days an officer has to appear in court, the amount of evidence which has to be tested, properly secured, destroyed, etc.
Now, admittedly, what would most likely happen is that those officers would be transferred over other areas of enforcement (many of them no doubt to dealing with harder drugs), but there will be savings. Investigations into things can be wrapped up sooner as more police are available to handle the caseload. You’ll also probably see a drop in the rate of other crimes, as the police are able to keep more criminals off the street. I doubt, if the pot related crime is 10%, that you’d see a 10% drop in what the police need to do their job, but there would be some savings given the lower crime rate. Just not having to house so many people in jails would cut costs.