Sammyo
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OAKLAND, California (CNN) -- Richard Lee greets students, shopkeepers and tourists as he rolls his wheelchair down Broadway at the speed of a brisk jog, hailing them with, "Hi. How ya doin'?"
Marijuana activist Richard Lee is a local celebrity in the small district of Oakland, California, called Oaksterdam.
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In this nine-block district of Oakland, California, called Oaksterdam, Lee is a celebrity.
Oaksterdam is Lee's brainchild, a small pocket of urban renewal built on a thriving trade in medical marijuana. The district's name comes from a marriage of Oakland and Amsterdam, a city in the Netherlands renowned for its easy attitude toward sex and drugs.
Lee is the founder of Oaksterdam University, which he describes as a trade school that specializes in all things marijuana: how to grow it, how to market it, how to consume it. The school, which has a curriculum, classes and teachers, claims 3,500 graduates.
Lee also owns a medical marijuana dispensary, a coffee house, a large indoor marijuana plantation, and a museum/store devoted to the cause of legalizing marijuana.
"I really see this as following the history of alcohol. The way prohibition was repealed there," Lee says, adding that he believes he is close to achieving his mission.
Lee is organizing a petition drive to place a marijuana legalization measure on the ballot in 2010, and he thinks the measure stands a good chance of being approved by voters.
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A recent California Field Poll showed that more than half the people in the state, where marijuana for medical use was approved more than a decade ago, would approve of decriminalizing pot.
The state's faltering economy is one reason why. If legalized, marijuana could become California's No. 1 cash crop. It could bring in an estimated $1 billion a year in state taxes.
Democratic State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano is spearheading a cannabis legalization bill in the California Assembly. He believes the state's need to increase tax revenues will work in his bill's favor.
"I think it's a seductive part of the equation," he says.
Ammiano says there are a number of ways legalized pot could be marketed, "It could be a Walgreens, it could be a hospital, a medical marijuana facility, whatever could be convenient. Adequate enforcement of the rules. Nobody under 21. No driving under the influence."
Even California's Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, says legalizing marijuana deserves serious consideration.
"I think we ought to study very carefully what other countries are doing that have legalized marijuana," Schwarzenegger says.
But Ammiano says selling a legalized marijuana bill to his fellow legislators remains a delicate matter.
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"If we held the vote in the hallway, we'd have it done," Ammiano says. "But people are necessarily cautious. They are up for re-election."
And that is why Lee believes voters will approve a marijuana initiative long before the state Assembly acts. Sitting under grow lights in a warehouse filled with hundreds of marijuana plants, Lee sums it up this way: "For some people cannabis is like a religion. As passionate as some people are about their religions and freedom to think what they want and to worship as they want."
But all of that is baloney to Paul Chabot. He is president of the Coalition for a Drug Free California. He says voters should not be fooled by promises of big bucks flowing to the state from marijuana taxes.
"It's their way of sort of desensitizing our communities, our state and our nation to a drug problem that we clearly need to put our foot down on, and say, 'No more. Enough is enough.' "
Chabot points out that California's medical marijuana law has been poorly regulated, and he expects more of the same if marijuana becomes legalized for everyone.
But a substantial number of Californians seem to believe that no amount of enforcement is going to make pot go away -- and that it's time for the state to begin taking a cut of the action.
I mean, why not? If we have legal alcohol and cigarettes, and the gov't makes tax dollars from those "vice products," why not marijuana? Like any drug, it can be used or abused, but millions of people use it every day and function as responsible, decent americans. There's no need to stay in the dark ages, here.
Well, we can't put all the pot smokers in jail, and if they're going to smoke, why not make it legal and tax it. The drug would be cheaper, better regulated, and a source of revenue for the state. Duh.
I don't like illegal drugs, however, I am finally of the opinion that it would be a good thing to legalize drugs, all drugs, in and only in, the State of California.
I don't think that could work very efficently. Either we all go legal or none. We'd have to have drug agents then patrolling Cali's border for any traffickers for one thing. That's then when the Feds have to come in and that just sounds like a huge mess.
Legal taxable pot won't work.
Anyone can grow it and smoke it themselves, maybe sell it cheaper than gov't taxed dope.
This is just a ploy to get it legalized. It's as simple as that.
Legal taxable pot won't work.
Anyone can grow it and smoke it themselves, maybe sell it cheaper than gov't taxed dope.
This is just a ploy to get it legalized. It's as simple as that.
Legalized pot would (at least in part) most likely look a lot like the tobacco industry
Legal taxable pot won't work.
Anyone can grow it and smoke it themselves, maybe sell it cheaper than gov't taxed dope.
This is just a ploy to get it legalized. It's as simple as that.
Beer is very inexpensive and easy to make, and the turnover time between start to finish is a fraction of the time it would take marijuana. Do some people still brew it, most certainly (myself included).
A recent California Field Poll showed that more than half the people in the state, where marijuana for medical use was approved more than a decade ago, would approve of decriminalizing pot.
Been brewing my own for 16 years, and distilling for 3 years. :rofl
Look. I could set up my own grow, outside the law just like they do now. After legalization, I'm home free. I can sell the crap out of it, undercut gov't taxed dope and make a mint. Tax free.
Today's green dope THC level is through the roof, couple hits off a joint is all it takes. People pay top dollar for that sh*t. Doesn't take much to make a pile of money.
Screw licenses. Who needs licenses, it's legal!
But as I said, there would be exceptions, apparently you would be one of those. So what is stopping you from growing and selling it now aside from it being illegal, since you already have hinted that you would not care about the legalities of growing and selling it post-regulation?
The federal government will never allow the absolute legalization of pot. It may allow (depending on the President) medical marijuana, but it won't let it go completely.
That's my point. Anyone with a script can grow green dope right now in CA. Doesn't take much to package and make a few sales to make extra cash, tax free. What's a buyer going to do? Ask for your business license? You see, it doesn't take much to grow high quality green dope and undercut the gov't taxed dope. The gov't will not sell it for free? Right? Doesn't take much to recover your operating costs until a profit is made. Doesn't take much to grow a few plants in your backyard and make an enormous profit.
Damn, I think I might go into farming. :rofl
And you know this how?
The government rarely gives up power once it's seized it.
History is full of the abuses and natural paths of government.
I know this because I pay attention to the world around me.
The federal government will never allow the absolute legalization of pot. It may allow (depending on the President) medical marijuana, but it won't let it go completely.
You mean exactly like growing veggies in your back yard garden, and eating what you grow. Look, you've yet to overcome the "restaurant analogy" that demonstrates that people will pay for a quality product that is convenient. Where there's a demand, there's a supply. Industry will produce a variety of products with a variety of effects that come from blending different strains. You're not going to get that from one or two plants in your basement that are susceptible to bugs, disease, mold and various other natural "enemies". The difference is going to be like the difference between Sam Adams and bathtub beer. Sure, you can make bathtub beer if you've the time and energy, or you can go pick up a six-pack with your burgers and buns, when it's time for a cookout.
Regardless, as i said, where there's a demand, there's a supply. The supply is going to come from one of three basic channels. Free market, black market, and gov't controlled (like tobacco and liquor). Two of those options allow for tax dollars to go to the state. The other doesn't, but rather COSTS tax dollars in regulation and control that doesn't even work. The choice seems rather simple to me.
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