MPP's Sarah Lovering appears on KTTV Fox in LA to discuss the reasons to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol. Today a ballot initiative, TaxCannabis 2010, was approved that will give California voters the chance to allow adult possession and cultivation of marijuana for recreational purposes. 03/24/2010

Sarah Lovering

I'll bet that some social economists out there hope voters will approve the initiative to legalize marijuana in November, if only to see how the marketplace reacts. Proponents are talking about added tax revenue of $1.4 billion a year, which no doubt would trim the state's deficit – some day – and perhaps create tens of thousands of new California jobs, some day. Those numbers are just guesses – the truth is no one has the first clue how this might shake out.

scpr.org

That's the question California voters will face in the fall now that the ballot measure has qualified for the November election.

The state's political candidates got to face it Saturday. And their answers — more or less — were no, no, no and no.

When asked whether any of them had ever smoked marijuana, the answers were, again: No — except for the occasional "dunno."

mercurynews.com

Die USA haben eine Mitverantwortung für die Drogenkriminalität in ihrem Nachbarland Mexiko eingeräumt. Bei einem Besuch in Mexiko-Stadt am Dienstag sagte US-Außenministerin Hillary Clinton: "Ja, wir akzeptieren unseren Teil der Verantwortung."

Dabei nannte sie zum einen die Nachfrage nach Drogen in den USA und zum anderen die Ausfuhr von Waffen nach Mexiko. Gegen beides müsse künftig mehr getan werden, sagte Clinton bei einer Pressekonferenz mit der mexikanischen Außenministerin Patricia Espinosa. Clinton kündigte an, dass die US-Regierung schon bald eine neue Strategie für den Kampf gegen den Drogenhandel vorstellen werde.

derstandard.at

As more U.S. states permit medical marijuana, and California considers legalizing cannabis sales to adults, Mexico is voicing irritation at the gap between drug laws north and south of the border and saying it undercuts the battle against Mexico's violent drug cartels.

Mexico Secretary of the Interior Fernando Gomez Mont said last week the U.S. medical marijuana trend was "worrisome" and "complicates in a grave way" efforts to resolve Mexico's soaring drug-related violence.

miamiherald.com
bbc.co.uk

Marijuana growing has long been a way of life in Humboldt County, especially in recent years as timber and fishing jobs have disappeared along California's North Coast.

Now some residents worry that their way of life is being threatened - not by law enforcement, but by efforts to legalize marijuana in the state.

Community members are gathering Tuesday night to consider the consequences. They worry about the ripple effect that a drop in marijuana prices could have on the county as a whole if legalization undermines the black market.

"We have to recognize that if we have something that is this big a piece of our economy that is subsidized by being illegal, that this is an unsustainable situation," Humboldt County Supervisor Mark Lovelace said.

washingtonpost.com
sfgate.com
msnbc.msn.com
newsok.com

The following speech was given by NORML’s Deputy Director before nearly 500 attendees on Saturday, March 13, at the opening plenary of Students for Sensible Drug Policy’s 11th International Conference, at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco.

norml.org

Neither border crossings, nor sniffer dogs, nor extensive search efforts by authorities are keeping potheads from their appointed task: getting high.

According to U.S. government officials, more marijuana is now being shipped through the U.S. Mail than in recent memory. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, whose seizures of marijuana parcels have increased by more than 400 percent since 2007, says increased seizures almost always indicate a much larger crop being shipped.

abcnews.go.com