Posts Tagged ‘Prop 19’
5-day supply [for all USA] of pot seized in Mexico – 105 tons
Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission
Mexican security forces seized at least 105 tons of marijuana bound for the United States in the border city of Tijuana on Monday, by far the biggest such bust in Mexico in recent years.
The drugs were seized by soldiers and police officers in predawn raids in three neighborhoods, Gen. Alfonso Duarte Mujica of the army said at a news conference. The raid followed a shootout with gunmen in a convoy of vehicles, he said, and 11 people were arrested. Soldiers in masks displayed the marijuana, which was found wrapped in 10,000 packages and carried an estimated street value of about $340 million, according to General Duarte. He said the marijuana would be incinerated immediately after the weighing and counting were completed.
The raid began when Tijuana municipal police officers on patrol came under fire from the gunmen in the convoy, General Duarte said. A police officer and a suspect were wounded.
The army and state police sent reinforcements, and the suspects led the security forces to the neighborhoods where the marijuana was found in tractor-trailers and houses.
Let’s see. 5-day supply for the whole United States. So, if California didn’t get their share, that would leave enough for the rest of the country for a couple of months.
The Governator reduces penalty for marijuana possession
Smoke-in at Hippie Hill in San Francisco
Daylife/Getty Images used by permission
A month before California voters decide the fate of a ballot initiative that would legalize marijuana, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill that essentially puts those caught possessing small amounts of the drug on the same level as those caught speeding on the freeway.
The governor — who has come out against the ballot measure, Proposition 19 — cast the new law’s effect as largely administrative, changing the crime of possession from a misdemeanor to an infraction, the lowest level of offense under state law…
About a dozen states have softened their stance on marijuana over the years, including Massachusetts, where voters passed a ballot initiative in 2008 that made possession of less than one ounce a civil offense punishable by a $100 fine…
In his signing statement, Mr. Schwarzenegger was firm in his opposition to Proposition 19, which would legalize, tax and regulate the use of marijuana for those over 21, calling the measure “deeply flawed.”
But as is the case with so many other things in California, where the governor’s approval ratings are at rock bottom, many voters might not see things his way. A Field Poll released on Sunday found that 49 percent of voters approved of Proposition 19, with 42 percent against.
The banning of marijuana followed archaic reasoning in the first place. Back in the day, Feds who couldn’t muster support for appropriate taxes joined with our everpresent religious nutballs to ban a substance roughly akin to beer.
Moralists have had decades to muster a predictable array of rationales and phony gateway defenses to bolster their cupidity. The fact remains that virtually all scientific analysis of cause and effect leaves cannabinoids about as inoffensive as moderate doses of alcohol.
The rest is ideology.
Oakland, California sets tax rates for marijuana
Refrigerator magnets
Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission
Anticipating California voters will back a November ballot measure to legalize casual marijuana use, officials in Oakland have approved two tax rates on pot sales in their city, already a hub of the state’s medicinal marijuana scene.
Oakland’s city council…approved the rates — a 5 percent gross receipts tax on licensed marijuana growers and on businesses selling marijuana for medical purposes, and a 10 percent rate on sales of marijuana used for recreational purposes.
California voters in 1996 approved a measure allowing marijuana use for medical purposes and would legalize its recreational use if they approve Proposition 19 in November.
The measure would allow marijuana possession for personal use and would authorize local governments to issue permits for pot production and sales and to tax it under state law. Selling marijuana would remain illegal under federal law…
Federal authorities have not aggressively interfered with sales of medicinal marijuana sales in California.
Cripes. I’ll bet that even bible-thumper/stoners living in Oakland will vote for Prop 19. Sooner or later, enlightened self-interest has to overcome hypocrisy.
Only the “saved” who want to stick with alcohol for their highs and resent anyone having alternatives will fight to jail people for possession.
