SF: Adult Marijuana Consumption Legislation May Pass in CA!!

Chances are high pot measure will pass

Willie Brown
Sunday, September 27, 2009

That proposed ballot initiative to legalize marijuana in California for
people 21 and older - and let local government tax the sales - has a
good chance of passing.

People are no longer outraged by the idea of legalization, and truth be
told, there is just too much money to be made both by the people who
grow marijuana and the cities and counties that would be able to tax it.

Unlike the 1970s, when Mayor George Moscone first moved to decriminalize
pot, marijuana is no longer about hippies. Thanks to medical marijuana,
pot has moved from the alleyways to Main Street, with pot clubs
springing up all over the state.

And let's be honest for a moment. How many of the people going into
those clubs do you think are really sick? Anyone who has observed those
operations knows that much of the pot is being used recreationally
anyway, so we might as well have a discussion about whether to bring it
out in the open.

You might think the Legislature would pick up on this, and indeed
Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, has made a proposal to
legalize and tax pot. But although legalizing marijuana fits both
Republicans' libertarian instincts and Democrats' progressivism, they
won't touch it with a 10-foot-long pack of rolling papers.

For all our weak-kneed politicians, however, I don't see any organized
opposition to legal pot on the horizon. So if the pot growers put their
money in the right places, they win in 2010.

http://www.sfgate. com/cgi-bin/ article.cgi? f=/c/a/2009/ 09/26/BA4019SMHB .D\
TL