In California, legalizing marijuana not just for hippies

Far from being a war between hippies and police, the fight to legalize marijuana in California centers on whether decriminalizing and taxing cannabis can help fill the state's fiscal hole.

Using the drug for medical purposes has been legal for 14 years in the western state. But a new initiative that will appear on the ballot in November elections is seeking to legalize recreational marijuana use.

The Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 would let cities and counties adopt ordinances authorizing the cultivation, transportation and sale of marijuana, and tax its sale just like it taxes alcohol and cigarettes.

Supporters are hoping the potential tax windfall will help garner support for the measure at a time when California is suffering from a crippling budget crisis.

The debate is heating up, with supporters and opponents investing millions of dollars in their cause amid rising concerns the campaign could have a nationwide impact on relaxing drug laws.

"Due to the economic downturn voters realize we cannot afford to waste money locking up people for something that is safer than alcohol," said Salwa Ibrahim, executive assistant at Oakland's Oaksterdam University, which holds classes to train students to grow pot and run marijuana businesses.

Oaksterdam founder Richard Lee, a well-known marijuana activist who founded the school in 2007, paid 1.3 million dollars to sponsor the campaign to place marijuana legalization on the ballot in November, when Californians will also choose a new governor to replace Arnold Schwarzenegger.

That made the school the initiative's main sponsor. Ibrahim noted that most of the funds came from student tuition and from other activists who support controlling and taxing cannabis.

"We are getting more supporters every day," Ibrahim told AFP, pointing to polls that show 56 percent of California voters back the initiative. "The demographic that supports this initiative ranges from all ages, races and cultures. There is no typical supporter."

According to Ibrahim, voters also saw a link between Mexico's bloody drug war, which has killed more than 15,000 people in the past three years, and cannabis prohibition.

Activists estimate that California could earn 1.5 billion dollars in excise taxes, and save another billion dollars currently spent on law enforcement and prisons by legalizing cannabis. They also point to earnings for marijuana-linked businesses.

Legalization proponents say marijuana possession arrests have risen dramatically in California over the past two decades.

Critics insist the measure will raise virtually no tax money.

"I am confident that we will defeat it in November," John Lovell of the California Peace Officers' Association, said of the initiative, pointing to "shrinking" support for marijuana legalization.

"It prohibits the state from enacting a marijuana tax and it actually could cost the state billions in federal money."

According to Lovell, a lobbyist representing several law enforcement groups opposing the initiative, "drug use among children will rise, highway fatalities will increase, crime will generally rise and the state will lose billions in federal dollars" if the measure passes.

Both sides are confident they will succeed in November, but Lovell acknowledged that legalization supporters have more funds for now.

"We will raise enough money to defeat the measure. The proponents will raise more money, but we will win," he vowed.

Zachary Risner of the Cannabis Club Network said regulating and taxing cannabis "makes much more sense" than spending millions each year on marijuana arrests and prosecution.

"The financial benefits and job creation benefits alone should be enough to impact each voter at the ballot box this November," he said.

Under the measure, people aged 21 and older could own up to one ounce (28 grams) of pot for personal use. Possessing an ounce or less of marijuana has been a misdemeanor with fines of 100 dollars since 1975, when a law was passed that reduced tougher penalties.

It would also allow adults to grow up to 25 square feet (two square meters) of cannabis per residence or parcel.