California NORML Press Conference on Marijuana Tax & Regulate Bill

San Francisco, Feb 23 – Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-SF) is announcing the introduction of a bill to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol and tobacco at a press conference at the State Building , 455 Golden Gate Ave, 1st floor, 10 am.

The bill would save the state’s taxpayers over $1 billion, according to an economic analysis by California NORML.

“This bill is a winning proposition for California’s taxpayers,” says California NORML coordinator Dale Gieringer, a sponsor of the bill. “In this time of economic crisis, it makes no sense for California to be wasting money on marijuana prohibition, when we could be reaping tax benefits from a legal, regulated market instead.”

The bill would provide for licensed producers and distributors, who could sell to adults over 21. Producers would pay an excise tax of $50 per ounce, or about $1 per joint. Additional revenues would be generated from sales taxes and from employment in the legal marijuana industry. Finally, the bill would save the state $170 million in costs for arrest, prosecution and imprisonment of marijuana offenders, while eliminating such prohibition-related problems as black market dealers, grow houses, and pirate gardeners on public lands.

Ammiano’s bill is the first of its kind in California. The state first outlawed cannabis in 1913. Only after being prohibited did marijuana become widely popular, eventually spreading to millions of Californians. Due to soaring enforcement costs, the legislature decriminalized possession of small quantities in the Moscone Act of 1975, saving the state’s taxpayers $100 million per year. However, production and distribution remained illegal, leading to continued prohibition-related enforcement costs. Last year, agents eradicated a record 5 million illegal plants , up more than tenfold in five years. Marijuana arrests jumped to 74,119 in 2007, their highest level since the Moscone Act. Marijuana accounts for 61% of the illicit drug traffic from Mexico, where prohibition-related violence has killed over 6,800.

A new Zogby poll sponsored by NORML showed western voters favor taxing and regulating marijuana like alcohol and cigarettes by 58%-36%.

“Kudos to Tom Ammiano for recognizing that our marijuana laws are bankrupt,” says Gieringer, “The only solution is legal taxation and regulation.”