Portland Lawmaker Proposes to Legalize Marijuana
Rep. Diane Russell (D - Portland) offers a few of the many reasons to end marijuana prohibition, which is exactly what her bill, LD 1453, would do in Maine.
Excerpt:
Russell's bill would permit people to cultivate small amounts of marijuana and buy it from licensed caregivers. It would impose a seven percent sales tax that she estimates would bring in about $8.5 million dollars for the state. That doesn't include payroll and income taxes that would also be generated.
Russell says it's time to change the paradigm of the nation's, and Maine's, failed drug policy. "Painkillers are the drugs killing Maine people," she says. "So why are we spending an estimated $26 million per year in Maine to root out, prosecute and jail people for the possession and sale of marijuana? Let's channel that money toward the real drugs at the core of our addiction issue in Maine."
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