Legislative Analyst's Office Issues Report on Prop 19

Non-Partisan Report Finds Cannabis Initiative Would Put Police Priorities Where they Belong, Generate Hundreds of Millions in Revenue, Protect the Public.

Salem-News.com

(SACRAMENTO) - The California Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO), which provides non-partisan fiscal and policy advice, yesterday released: Proposition 19 Changes California Law to Legalize Marijuana and Allow It to Be Regulated and Taxed. Initiative Statute, a report on Proposition 19, the initiative to control and tax cannabis in California. The report found that Proposition 19 would enable California to steer police resources toward more pressing matters, generate hundreds of millions in revenue to fund vital services, and protect children, roadways, and workplaces.

The report confirms that Proposition 19 will enable state and local governments to tax marijuana and generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. According to the report, "Proposition 19 allows local governments to authorize, regulate, and tax various commercial marijuana-related activities. As discussed below, the state also could authorize, regulate, and tax such activities... we estimate that the state and local governments could eventually collect hundreds of millions of dollars annually in additional revenues."

According to the report, Proposition 19 would enable California to put our police priorities where they belong. The report says the initiative "could result in savings to the state and local governments by reducing the number of marijuana offenders incarcerated in state prisons and county jails, as well as the number placed under county probation or state parole supervision. These savings could reach several tens of millions of dollars annually. The county jail savings would be offset to the extent that jail beds no longer needed for marijuana offenders were used for other criminals who are now being released early because of a lack of jail space."

On the subject of road safety and the protection of minors, the report says that under the initiative, "the smoking of marijuana in the presence of minors is not permitted. In addition, the measure would not change existing laws that prohibit driving under the influence of drugs or that prohibit possessing marijuana on the grounds of elementary, middle, and high schools. Moreover, a person age 21 or older who knowingly gave marijuana to a person age 18 through 20 could be sent to county jail for up to six months and fined up to $1,000 per offense. (The measure does not change existing criminal laws which impose penalties for adults who furnish marijuana to minors under the age of 18.)

When it comes to workplace safety, the report says Proposition 19 "does specify that employers would retain existing rights to address consumption of marijuana that impairs an employee's job performance."

Similar to current alcohol and tobacco laws, the Initiative will give state and local governments the ability to control and tax the sale of small amounts of cannabis to adults age 21 and older. The Initiative includes significant safeguards and controls: it will increase the penalty for providing marijuana to a minor, expressly prohibit the consumption of marijuana in public, forbid smoking marijuana while minors are present, ban possession on school grounds, and maintain the current law against driving under the influence.

California's tax regulator, the Board of Equalization, estimates that marijuana taxes could generate $1.4 billion in revenue each year. State Board of Equalization Staff Legislative Bill Analysis

A summary of the Initiative's fiscal benefits is available at: Fiscal Benefits Fact Sheet

A summary of the Initiative's public safety benefits is available at: Public Safety Benefits Fact Sheet

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Bear September 24, 2010 5:10 am (Pacific time)

Dr. Donald Tashkin, the DEA hired pulmonologist from UCLA, has learned after 30 years of studying heavy majijuana users that it does not cause cancer, emphysema, copd, or anything. Google his name and watch the interview. The brewery industry just donated 10,000.00 to the no on 19 campaign. Seems the only ones still promulgating lies and fear mongering are the law enfocement and prison industry, the liquor industry, and the pharmacy industry. They stand to lose millions in revenue. I will be voting yes on 19 so those folks who want to use cannabis have the right to choose...and by the way researchers are finding that cannabis kills cancer cells such as glioblastoma(brain cancer), lung cancer, prostate cancer, and breast cancer. Go to our own governments NIH health page www.pubmed.com and look uo cannabis and cancer to learn more. The more you know the more ridiculous prohibition is.

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Bear September 24, 2010 5:09 am (Pacific time)

Dr. Donald Tashkin, the DEA hired pulmonologist from UCLA, has learned after 30 years of studying heavy majijuana users that it does not cause cancer, emphysema, copd, or anything. Google his name and watch the interview. The brewery industry just donated 10,000.00 to the no on 19 campaign. Seems the only ones still promulgating lies and fear mongering are the law enfocement and prison industry, the liquor industry, and the pharmacy industry. They stand to lose millions in revenue. I will be voting yes on 19 so those folks who want to use cannabis have the right to choose...and by the way researchers are finding that cannabis kills cancer cells such as glioblastoma(brain cancer), lung cancer, prostate cancer, and breast cancer. Go to our own governments NIH health page www.pubmed.com and look uo cannabis and cancer to learn more. The more you know the more ridiculous prohibition is.

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poolman August 18, 2010 8:33 pm (Pacific time)

there will always be conspiracy theorist

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Concern Californian August 14, 2010 4:13 pm (Pacific time)

Smells like special interest! Why else would wealthy business men like Jeff Wilcox and Richard Lee invested $1.3 million of there own money to hire a company to obtain the requisite signatures for the current proposed initiative? And what about all the donations to Oakland council member Nancy Nadel? I’ll tell you why; so Wilcox and his cohorts at AGRAMED could be granted one the limited permits for mass cultivation!! In turn, he and his investors can monopolize the marijuana market making themselves millions!! And by the same token, they will squash all the small dispensaries that already exist. This sort of thing reminds me of how large predatory corporations like Wal- mart operate... so if passed I guess we'll all be shopping at Agra-mart for our corporate grown pot! Prop 19. Legalize Marijuana, the lie that Jeff Wilcox and his marijuana cultivation corporation Agra Med drafted, is not telling you about their underlying scheme. Prop 19 sounds like one man’s scheme to become the largest and richest dope dealer in the country!! I'll be voting NO.

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Henry July 21, 2010 10:17 pm (Pacific time)

With all these reports and studies predicting positive outcomes for legalization, i don't understand why there are still people out there who are so against proposition 19

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