Historic Marijuana Reform Measure Qualifies for California???s November 2010 Ballot
SACRAMENTO, CA — Today, a proposal that would tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol in the state of California secured a place on the November 2010 ballot. Organizers of the Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 had submitted nearly 700,000 signatures to state authorities in January, far exceeding the 433,971 required to place the question on this year's election ballot. Election officials validated the signatures today.
The ballot initiative would make it legal for adults 21 and older to possess up to one ounce of marijuana and allow cities and counties to impose a tax on the sale of marijuana.
"If passed, this initiative would offer a welcome change to California's miserable status quo marijuana policy," said Aaron Smith, California policy director for the Marijuana Policy Project, which recently endorsed the initiative. "Our current marijuana laws are failing California. Year after year, prohibition forces police to spend time chasing down non-violent marijuana offenders while tens of thousands of violent crimes go unsolved – all while marijuana use and availability remain unchanged."
An April 2009 Field Poll showed that 56% of California support taxing and regulating marijuana. A 2009 report published by the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice showed that arrests for every criminal offense decreased between 1990 and 2008 in California except for simple marijuana possession, which skyrocketed by 127%. In 2008, more than 78,000 Californians were arrested on marijuana charges – more than for any other offense. During the same year, the FBI reported that almost 60,000 violent crimes went unsolved.
