Oct 27, 2009 2:32 pm US/Pacific
SF Assemblyman To Chair Pot Legalization Hearing
SACRAMENTO (BCN) ―
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A person smoke a marijuana joint.
SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP//Getty Images
A San Francisco assemblyman will chair a legislative hearing in Sacramento Wednesday on the potential ramifications of legalizing marijuana in California.
The Assembly Committee on Public Safety will hear testimony on the social, economic and legal implications of decriminalizing marijuana and regulating its use in the same way that alcohol is regulated.
That idea has been formally proposed in a bill authored by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, the committee's chair. The committee will consider the bill itself at a separate hearing in January.
Wednesday's hearing is an informational session to review recent developments in the general field of marijuana legalization, Ammiano spokesman Quintin Mecke said.
Mecke cited a report issued by the state Board of Equalization in July that estimated that regulation and taxation of marijuana could bring California $1.4 billion annually in tax revenue.
Ammiano released a statement Tuesday calling the hearing a "long overdue discussion of how to best regulate and tax marijuana."
"The reality is clear—the existing model of prohibition has failed, and across the country, the call for a new direction in our drug policy grows louder every day," Ammiano said.
Any change in California marijuana law would not affect federal laws criminalizing use of the drug, however.
The U.S. Justice Department last week announced a new policy that discourages federal prosecutions of patients and providers who comply with state laws, including in California, that allow medical marijuana use.
But Attorney General Eric Holder said federal prosecutors will continue to go after large-scale drug traffickers.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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