NORML is asking for your support of Assembly Bill 390, the Marijuana Control, Regulation, and Education Act — the first bill ever introduced to legalize the sale and use of marijuana in California.
As introduced, this groundbreaking proposal would raise over $1 billion in annual revenue by taxing the retail production and sale of marijuana for adults over 21 years of age.
The bill would not alter existing legislation on the use of medicinal cannabis, nor would it impose new taxes or sanctions on the noncommercial use and cultivation of cannabis.
Assembly Bill 390 proposes to make California the first state in the nation to enact a rational public policy for the control and regulation of marijuana. Please show your support for this measure by contacting your California Assembly members and urging them to support the Marijuana Control, Regulation, and Education Act. For your convenience, a pre-written letter will be e-mailed to your state elected officials when you enter your contact information at our Legislative Alerts page.
For more information about this measure, please visit: http://www.canorml.org.
Thank you for supporting NORML’s marijuana law reform efforts in California. A sample letter to your Assembly member is provided below.
Subject: Raise Revenue, Improve Public Safety: Support AB 390
I’m writing to urge your support for Assembly Bill 390, the Marijuana Control, Regulation, and Education Act.
This measure seeks to tax and regulate the use of marijuana by adults age 21 and over. A fiscal analysis of this proposal by the State Board of Equalization estimates that AB 390 could raise more than $1.3 billion yearly in tax revenue for the state of California.
In addition to raising needed state revenue, AB 390 would: restrict access to marijuana to those under age 21; and the environmental damage to California’s public lands from the cultivation of illicit crops; and improve public safety by redirecting law enforcement efforts to focus on more serious crimes.
Public support is strongly in favor of AB 390. According to a February 2009 Zogby poll, nearly six out of ten voters on the west coast say that they support taxing and regulating the use and sale of marijuana like alcohol.
It¹s time for California taxpayers to stop wasting money trying to enforce marijuana prohibition, and to instead realize the tax benefits derived from a legal, regulated cannabis market. I urge you to vote “yes” on Assembly Bill 390.
The civil war was started over states’ rights.The people of the south believed that they had the right to own slaves.A war was fought, Americans against Americans, because of this principle. Now a large percentage of Californians are consuming marijuana, and are tired of being treated like criminals.Marijuana may have some supposed health risks, but is it inhumane? It is the cure for bordom. It makes u laugh, and isn’t laughter the best medicine? Maybe someone doesn’t have a health plan, and can’t afford to get anti-depressents or pain medicine, so instead grit their teeth, wipe a tear, and smoke a joint….. Who stocks your shelves, who makes your burgers, who sells your liquor, who mowes your lawns,… who delivers your pizza, who digs your ditches,who works midnight shifts, through all the yawns,…who blows their money, all up in sm0ke,… could it be your moms? Taxation and legalization of marijuana is the only reasonable thing to do this broken economy. We tax many “legitimate” addictions …money, oil, cigs, commercial goods, and even hot food.
TO ANY FOLLOWERS OF THE HOLY BIBLE WHO DO NOT AGREE WITH THIS: CRACK OPEN YOUR BIBLE AND FLIP THROUGH THE FIRST FEW PAGES OF GENESIS. LOOK FOR SOMETHING ABOUT “GREEN HERBS BEARING SEED”.
END GLOBAL WARMING…GROW WEED EVERYWHERE!!!
END GLOBAL WARMING…GROW WEED EVERYWHERE!!!
I hope this idea spread all cross the country. Bless those who work to make this possible. For they are true crusaders of light! May the shine for all to see!
i completely support bill 390, the best idea for economic stimulus we could hope for
I support it. Let’s get the revenues out of organized crime’s hands and into the state’s coffers where it’s needed. I am sorry to say this but it if people think substance abuse is ruining our society or they don’t want to send the message that drug use is ok, then why did we ever repeal the prohibition on alcohol? And the those who say young kids are already using, it’s because gangs don’t care where they get the money from. I support D.A.R.E and it kept me not wanting drugs until I became an adult and started making my own decisions that affect my own life. It hurts me to see kids, trying other drugs (fatal drugs) because they want to get high and do silly stuff. Prescriptions, alcohol, whip-its. I even remember kids dying from helium huffing. The worst thing I remember was kids eating moonberries and dying. A legal “weed” has many applications. Will the people speak up?
decriminalize it first. The CA government should grow it or contract growers and charge a license fee for the distributors just like alcohol. If they can make a better and more affordable product(after tax) then more power to them. don’t forget the Free market… local growers will still have a fighting chance to make ends meat through loyal customers.they should be free from any growing licensing fee, as should anyone who want to grow their own personal crop.
Sorry about that – I’ve fixed the link and the text above. Just go to http://capwiz.com/norml2/issues/alert/?alertid=12758896&type=ST&show_alert=
Maybe I’m just not looking in the right place but I don’t see any way to add my name to this.
This article says “For your convenience, a pre-written letter will be e-mailed to your state elected officials when you enter your contact information below.”
Ok, where do I do that?
Defacing currency is a federal crime. Even if you were to take a marijuana leaf and then have it made into a stamp and keep a pad of dark green ink with it and applied that stamp on every bill you touch, I still believe that would be illegal and I could never recommend that you do that. So don’t. Really. Don’t do it. I mean it.*
Checks, on the other hand, I believe you can print on them any ol’ design you like.
*This routine brought to you by the Eddie Izzard Entertaining Information Organization, the people who brought you my New Years Resolution to always say f’nTAStic instead of fantastic. Cake or death?
yes indeed, our founding fathers would be turning in their graves.
“We shall, by and by, want a world of hemp more for our own consumption.”
- John Adams
I have a small but possibly very significant suggestion for pro-cannabis action. It’s clear that the prohibitionists will never respect our preference, but some of them may respect our dollars. The Kellogg’s boycott is a good start, but hard to pull off, as some have noted, and it doesn’t quite show off the economic might of the cannabis consumer. Instead, let’s show them how strong we are through a simple but effective stealth campaign:
MARK EVERY DOLLAR!
You don’t have to spend your money any differently, just put a mark on every bill you get to show you support cannabis law reform. I’ll leave it to the internet hive-mind to come up with the mark. I thought perhaps “C = $” would be simple enough to get attention, while putting a doobie in George Washington’s mouth would pay tribute to his farming practices. I find the leaf is too hard to draw regularly, but if you like that, go for it. In the end, it doesn’t matter so much that we all use the same mark, but that every dollar we use gets marked.
The beauty of this campaign is that the message gets across while being covert. What, there’s a cannabis leaf on my bills? I got them like that…. they just seem to be showing up these days.
So I will be hitting the ATM these days, instead of using the card, and I’ll break out the ballpoint pen.
Let this go viral! Send to every stoner in California!!
do it
Lol. Good one about the Save the Exclamation Points Society, Radical Russ.
As for A.B. 390, I’d rather it pass and have cannabis legitimized, than uphold the status quo and have the morally irresponsible law enforcement/judicial system “bend [us] over w/no lube and [not] kiss when they are done.”
Taxes < being treated like a criminal.
So, then, do you prefer being arrested and locked up versus paying a tax? (It’s AB 390, by the way. You’re thinking of CNN’s AC 360.)
This message brought to you by the Save the Exclamation Points Society, which reminds you that the once flourishing population of exclamation points has been devastated and become endangered due to overuse and mismanagement in the wild.
You people have got to be kidding supporting this. Just another way for fiscally irresponsible politicians to bend you over w/no lube and no kiss when they are done.
The founders of this country would be ashamed of anyone supporting AB 360.
Are we as a “free people” going continue being taxed to death on every aspect of our lives?
No on AB 360!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
More people have died from tainted peanut butter crackers (8 to date) than have died from Marijuana use in the thousands of years humankind has been using Cannabis. That’s right folks to date the number of deaths (world wide) directly attributed to Marijuana is still 0!
More people die from prescription drugs they were prescribed from their Doctors (and I’m not counting those who use scripts for recreation and OD), wanna talk about hypocrisy / irony!
As hopeful as I am that this Bill will pass, there is no way on this green earth that Pharmicutical, oil, and textile companies and their well paid lobbiests are going to let it happen. Let’s face there’s more cash in misery and injustice (disguised as morality), than there is in freedom and peace. Just ask the Bush administration.
[...] Title: Support California Assembly Bill 390 (the Marijuana Control … [...]
I fully support AB 390. There is no proven reason which supports the prohibition of marijuana. I could write a book’s worth of substantiated reasons that marijuana should be regulated to adults over 21 years of age nationwide. I will not vote for anyone who is pro-prohibition.
Michael D. Wandzilak
CEO / Wandzilak Web design
There is an error in the final sentence of your sample letter:
“I urge you to vote ‘yes’ on Assembly Bill 309.”
This should be:
“I urge you to vote ‘yes’ on Assembly Bill 390.”
Keep up the good fight!
waiting for this to HIT HuffPo and the MSM.