California Voters to Decide Question of Marijuana Legalization

|

Marijuana laws are complicated – several states have legalized medical marijuana, while the federal government continues its blanket prohibition on the cultivation, sale, and possession of marijuana. The federal government is still perfectly free to arrest and prosecute people for growing and selling medical marijuana, even if it’s completely legal under the laws of the states they live in. The Obama Administration has directed the Department of Justice to cease prosecutions of people who grow medical marijuana in compliance with state law, leading to an uneasy and paper-thin truce between growers and users of medical marijuana, and the federal government

If the backers of an initiative headed to the November ballot in California get their way, the legal status of medical marijuana might get a little bit more complicated, at least when examining the relationship between federal and state marijuana laws. California’s Secretary of State is expected to certify for placement on the November ballot an initiative which would essentially legalize the recreational use of marijuana in California. The blogs have gone crazy over this, and with good reason. This is kind of a big deal

Nowhere in the U.S. is the recreational use of marijuana legal. If this initiative passes, it will be legal for anyone who is 21 years old or older to buy and use marijuana. The sale of marijuana will be tightly regulated, and vendors will likely have to obtain licenses to sell it

Perhaps more importantly (and the reason I think this initiative may actually have more than a snowball’s chance in Hell of passing), every legal sale of marijuana in California will be taxed. Marijuana, whether we like it or not, is a multi-billion dollar industry. It’s obvious that there’s a demand for the product, and people are meeting that demand. We’re simply seeing market forces at work. As a result, massive amounts of revenue are being generated from the sale of marijuana, all of which is going untaxed