1. Marijauna sould be legalized for two resons.1) if the govenment would go back in time the Amiracan Idians was smokeing pot on peace pipes.witch is the reson they called them PEACE PIPES.2)if the government legalized weed the deficet would go away,Make a pack of weed ciggs put them on the shelf ,tax them,and must be 18 years or older to posess

2.I believe that marijauna should be legalized. There is no reason other than politics that pot should be illegal. The health risks of pot are the same as tobacco, and not nearly as catastrophic as alcohol and presciption pain killers and anti anxiety medications. You can not overdose on marijauna. And if you have to quit you won’t have withdrawl nearly as bad as alcohol and narcotic meds. Thegovernment needs to quit making pot seem so bad. There is nothing bad about it. The only reason the public thinks it is bad and a gateway drug, isbecause the government can’t figure out how to make money off of it. Once they figure that out, it wil be legal and then they will look like the hypocrites they are.

           

California could see a nearly $1.4 billion per year increase in state revenues were it to legalize marijuana, the state Board of Equalization says in an analysis of pending legislation to to do that.

The bill (Assembly Bill 390) by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, is still awaiting its first committee hearing and is likely not to be considered until next year. It would impose not only sales taxes but a $50 per ounce fee on marijuana sales, which would be licensed by the state much as alcoholic beverages are regulated.

Today, although considered illegal by federal authorities, California allows limited sales of marijuana for medicinal purposes, subject to local control, in accordance with a ballot measure approved by voters in 1996. And the state imposes sales taxes on those pot transactions. But wider sales would, under the Ammiano bill, be dependent on federal permission.

California is considered by federal authorities to be the nation’s top marijuana producing state with 8.6 million pounds a year, valued at $13.8 billion, making it one of the state’s largest agricultural crops, much of which is exported to other locales.

           

Reefer Madness! Is marijuana a medical benefit or just a high time for stoners?

And should California – where cannabis is legal for medical use and where dispensaries pay $100 million in taxes annually – legalize marijuana for everyone’s use?

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who’s looking for tax money under every rock and tree trunk, says “I think it’s time for debate. I think all of those ideas of creating extra revenues – I’m always for an open debate.”

Anna Boyce says the governor is blowing smoke. A longtime activist for the medical use of marijuana, Boyce says she’s not a full supporter of legalizing the herb.

“Besides, what difference would it make in California? Medical marijuana is not legal nationally and that’s where the change has to be made,” she says.

The senior activist – she won the Good Character Award from her hometown of Mission Viejo in 2009 – sees this as a senior issue.

Marijuana, derived from the buds and leaves of the cannabis plant, contains more than 400 chemicals, says a report in the magazine “This Week.” One of these chemicals, THC, works its way through the bloodstream to the brain, producing a relaxing “high.”

The herb is used to treat glaucoma, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and high blood pressure, as well as various AIDS symptoms and chemotherapy.

It can impede short term memory, physical coordination and, like tobacco, contains carcinogens. Federal law says marijuana must be a controlled substance.

Despite the federal restrictions, 14 states have voted to legalize use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, with California the leader in 1996. Today, an estimated 250,000 patients receive cannabis at various dispensaries – 180 in Los Angeles alone. Certain doctors routinely authorize marijuana for their patients.

While she’s calling for a national bill, Boyce, a registered nurse, acknowledges it will probably never happen.

“Big pharma will convince people it should not be legalized,” she says. “There’s no money in it for them. You can grow it in your back yard.”

Ah, little wonder this is a political potboiler.

State Sen. Mark Leno has introduced a resolution that urges the U.S. Congress and President Barack Obama’s administration to align national policy with the state laws legalizing the herb.

State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano says legalizing marijuana for general use in California could add $1 billion to the tax coffers. His bill to do that comes up next year.

Meanwhile, the seniors keep on smoking in California.

At a recent Laguna Woods rally for medical marijuana supporters, Margo Bouer, wife of the former mayor, acknowledged she smokes cannabis for relief. She has multiple sclerosis.

“You can’t just go out and buy this stuff,” Boyce says. “You have to get an ID card from the state health department.”

Smoking cannabis is less harmful than smoking tobacco or drinking alcohol, she insists.

“Yet people shut their eyes and their ears. The refuse to investigate the full range of benefits from this magnificent herb,” she says.

“This is not ‘reefer madness’ and people have to stop thinking that way.”

California justices apparently agree with her. On Thursday, a state appeals court ruled medical marijuana growers and patients should be allowed to sue police over illegal raids of their properties.

And one medical marijuana dispenser said earlier in the week he is now making home deliveries to seniors with ID cards allowing them to use cannabis. One of the patients likened ordering the herb to “ordering pizza only better.”

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/marijuana-says-medical-2484916-use-california