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California Gets Go-Ahead To Vote On Legalization Of Marijuana

California Gets Go-Ahead To Vote On Legalization Of Marijuana

Californians are set to decide whether to make recreational marijuana use legal, as other Western states have done, after the California Secretary of State’s office said on Tuesday the issue could be put to voters in the November ballot.

The proposed so-called “Adult Use of Marijuana Act,” which is supported by Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom among others, would allow people aged 21 and older to possess as much as an ounce of marijuana for private recreational use and permit personal cultivation of as many as six marijuana plants.

“Today marks a fresh start for California, as we prepare to replace the costly, harmful and ineffective system of prohibition with a safe, legal and responsible adult-use marijuana system that gets it right and completely pays for itself,” initiative spokesman Jason Kinney said in a statement.

The measure would also establish a system to license, regulate and tax sales of marijuana, while allowing city governments to exercise local control over or disallow commercial distribution within their borders.

The initiative required just over 402,000 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot and exceeded that number on Tuesday, the Secretary of State’s office said. Secretary Alex Padilla is slated to certify the initiative on June 30.

Opinion polls show attitudes have shifted more in favor of liberalized marijuana laws since California voters defeated a recreational cannabis initiative in 2010.

California led the way in legalizing marijuana for medical purposes in 1996, with 22 other states and the District of Columbia following suit, although cannabis remains classified as an illegal narcotic under U.S. law.

Voters in four states – Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska – plus the District of Columbia, have gone a step further since 2012 in permitting recreational use for adults. Voters in several more states will consider similar legislation in November as well.

Opponents of liberalized marijuana laws have argued that such measures carry public safety risks and would make pot more accessible to youngsters.

A new survey out last week showed however that marijuana consumption by Colorado high school students has dipped slightly since the state first permitted recreational cannabis use by adults.

 

(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Brendan O’Brien and Simon Cameron-Moore)

Photo: A medical marijuana user smells a jar of marijuana at the medical marijuana farmers market at the California Heritage Market in Los Angeles, California July 11, 2014.  REUTERS/David McNew/File Photo

Colorado To Make History In 2014 With Nation’s First Recreational Marijuana Sale

Colorado To Make History In 2014 With Nation’s First Recreational Marijuana Sale

Expect 2014 to begin with a huge puff of smoke — at least in Colorado.

Beginning January 1, licensed marijuana dispensaries in the state will be permitted to sell recreational marijuana to customers age 21 or older, even though the drug is technically still banned under federal law.

Colorado is the nation’s first state to legalize and open recreational pot stores after 55 percent of the state’s voters voted in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana in 2012. The state will also serve as an example for Washington, which also voted yes to legalizing recreational marijuana in 2012, but will not open its first marijuana retail outlets until sometime later in 2014.

As of December 30, the Colorado Springs Gazette reports Colorado’s Marijuana Enforcement Division – which is now in charge of regulating marijuana from manufacturing to distribution – mailed out licenses to 136 pot retailers. Of the over 500 medical marijuana dispensaries located in cities throughout the state, only 160 have actually applied to sell recreational pot. Medical marijuana dispensaries are finding it costly to sell recreational pot – doing so requires the dispensaries to ban all underage patients or create entirely different entrances and inventories for patients and recreational users.

Despite the limited retail access, the state is expected to see a boost in revenues from sales of the drug come 2014. All retail marijuana will be accompanied by a 25 percent state tax, along with an additional 2.9 percent state sales tax. According to CNN, the additional revenue “will initially amount to $67 million a year, with $27.5 million of it designated to build schools.”

Those who continue to purchase marijuana with a doctor’s prescription will not be subject to the additional sales tax.

Recreational users will be limited to buying up to an ounce at a time, which will cost about $200.

Customers will be allowed to smoke only on private properties, with the owner’s permission. Smoking in any public area or government establishment governed by the state’s Clean Indoor Air Act – including marijuana retail outlets and medical marijuana dispensaries – remains illegal in Colorado.

The U.S. Justice Department has said that it will not challenge states that choose to legalize recreational marijuana.

Photo: Jeffrey Beall via Flickr