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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,504
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Schwarzenegger welcomes debate over legalizing pot [CA]
#10292313 - 05/05/09 06:30 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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Schwarzenegger welcomes debate over legalizing pot May 5, 2009 - Reuters
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Tuesday he welcomes a public debate on proposals to legalize and tax marijuana, which some suggest could provide a lucrative new revenue source for the cash-strapped state.
The Republican governor, whose term in office expires at the end of next year, was asked about the idea of treating pot like alcohol at an appearance in northern California to promote wildfire preparedness.
"No, I don't think it's time for that, but I think it's time for a debate," he said. "And I think we ought to study very carefully what other countries are doing that have legalized marijuana and other drugs, what affect it had on those countries, and are they happy with that decision."
The former Hollywood actor, who has admitted smoking marijuana in the past, cited his native Austria as a country where "they want to roll back some of the decisions that were made in European countries."
He said a decision to legalize marijuana, which has been outlawed in the United States since 1937, should not be made on the basis of raising revenues alone.
Schwarzenegger's comments come days after a statewide Field Poll found that 56 percent of California voters support the idea of legalizing cannabis for recreational use and taxing its proceeds.
A bill introduced in the state Legislature by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, a Democrat from San Francisco, would do just that -- permitting taxed sales of marijuana to adults while barring sales to or possession by anyone under age 21. A similar regulatory structure already exists for alcoholic beverages.
Ammiano said his proposal would generate up to $1.3 billion in revenue for the state, which faces another multibillion-dollar budget shortfall just weeks after a landmark deal closing a $42 billion deficit.
He and others who support legalizing pot say such a move also would improve public safety by redirecting law enforcement efforts to more serious crimes and would end environmental damage to public lands used for illicit cannabis cultivation.
But in 2004, Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would have eased rules on how much medical marijuana patients can possess in California.
Voters in California, the nation's most populous state, became the first to approve the use of marijuana for medical purposes in 1996, putting the state at odds with federal law.
Under the Bush administration federal agents stepped up raids against medical marijuana dispensaries in California and other states that have passed similar laws.
But U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in March that the Justice Department under President Barack Obama has no plans to prosecute such dispensaries in those states in the future. However, Obama, who also has acknowledged smoking pot in his younger days, recently dismissed the idea of legalizing marijuana on a national level.
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PreparationH
apply daily
Registered: 03/28/05
Posts: 18,345
Loc: Amsterdam
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Re: Schwarzenegger welcomes debate over legalizing pot [CA] [Re: veggie]
#10292383 - 05/05/09 06:39 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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Good.
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Groomies
Ghost
Registered: 08/16/07
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Re: Schwarzenegger welcomes debate over legalizing pot [CA] [Re: PreparationH]
#10292404 - 05/05/09 06:43 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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YAY Arnold!!!
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Visionary Tools
Registered: 06/23/07
Posts: 7,953
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Re: Schwarzenegger welcomes debate over legalizing pot [CA] [Re: PreparationH]
#10292432 - 05/05/09 06:48 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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--------------------
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SilverSwami
Mystical Wanderer
Registered: 04/11/09
Posts: 350
Loc: NSW
Last seen: 9 months, 22 days
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Re: Schwarzenegger welcomes debate over legalizing pot [CA] [Re: Groomies]
#10292439 - 05/05/09 06:49 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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*dribblez* look at those ass cheeks. NOM NOM NOM!
-------------------- Yes.
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Doc_T
Random Dude
Registered: 03/06/09
Posts: 42,395
Loc: Colorado
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Re: Schwarzenegger welcomes debate over legalizing pot [CA] [Re: PreparationH]
#10292459 - 05/05/09 06:51 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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Too bad he can't be President, he's a Republican I could vote for. Not just for this- for lots of stuff.
-------------------- You make it all possible. Doesn't it feel good?
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Green_T
Registered: 10/02/08
Posts: 4,042
Loc: UK
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Re: Schwarzenegger welcomes debate over legalizing pot [CA] [Re: Doc_T]
#10292496 - 05/05/09 06:57 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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Once the "debates" happen, its over. There is no way a prohibitionist could win.
-------------------- "I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man" - Thomas Jefferson Legalize Meth | Drug War Victims
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shroomzey
Humble Student
Registered: 05/17/08
Posts: 904
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Re: Schwarzenegger welcomes debate over legalizing pot [CA] [Re: Green_T]
#10292562 - 05/05/09 07:07 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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Let's do this Arnold. Catapult your name into US history and support AB 390!!!
-------------------- 200 years from now, we will look back and laugh at ourselves for how stupid we were. My Glovebox Find a respected member of the community and study them. I give thanks to: RogerRabbit, agar, hyphae, Nibin, fahtster, The shroomy 1, monstermitch, FooMan, HippieChick, Blue Helix, eatyualive, mycofile, and many, many more. Never accept mediocrity, always return the love that is given to you.
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deCypher
Registered: 02/10/08
Posts: 56,232
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Re: Schwarzenegger welcomes debate over legalizing pot [CA] [Re: Groomies]
#10292572 - 05/05/09 07:09 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
Groomies said: YAY Arnold!!!
-------------------- We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
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suburbanned
Stranger
Registered: 02/20/08
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Re: Schwarzenegger welcomes debate over legalizing pot [CA] [Re: deCypher]
#10293228 - 05/05/09 08:31 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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how is it only 56% in cali???
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Vullgar
The Composer
Registered: 04/29/09
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Re: Schwarzenegger welcomes debate over legalizing pot [CA] [Re: suburbanned]
#10293260 - 05/05/09 08:36 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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I always knew he was good for something other than acting.
-------------------- Remember the wigwams of Nazi China? You must be on LSD, then.
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LeftyBurnz
Mr. I Eat Butthole
Registered: 06/21/05
Posts: 24,570
Loc: FL
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Re: Schwarzenegger welcomes debate over legalizing pot [CA] [Re: Groomies]
#10293698 - 05/05/09 09:52 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
Groomies said: YAY Arnold!!!
i remember the day he was elected to office, i said to myself "this guy isnt going to amount to shit as a politician."
i couldnt have been more wrong, and i have gained much respect for arnold over the last several years.
he has a good head on his shoulders.
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Tripp420
What?
Registered: 06/17/08
Posts: 614
Loc: Northern Nevada
Last seen: 11 years, 2 months
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Re: Schwarzenegger welcomes debate over legalizing pot [CA] [Re: LeftyBurnz]
#10294504 - 05/05/09 11:55 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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i love that man....
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ShroomerRoss
Registered: 08/29/08
Posts: 4,444
Last seen: 12 years, 7 months
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Re: Schwarzenegger welcomes debate over legalizing pot [CA] [Re: Tripp420]
#10295533 - 05/06/09 06:40 AM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
*dribblez* look at those ass cheeks. NOM NOM NOM!
i agree
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JohnnyConverse
Stranger
Registered: 04/10/09
Posts: 268
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Re: Schwarzenegger welcomes debate over legalizing pot [CA] [Re: suburbanned]
#10296631 - 05/06/09 12:04 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
suburbantoker said: how is it only 56% in cali???
the voting pop. tends to be slightly more conservative then the entire pop.
It's great that this is happening somwhere. Where I live, just passing out a norml flyer or something is asking to be followed by unmarked cars - the cops have too little real crime and think "reefer madness" is true.
Also, WTF is arnold supposed to say about MJ?
"Oh yes, by da way, you cahnt smoke wheed but it is right and good to put da cattle hormones in your bi-ceps so you will not be the girly man"
He's probably the only repub in the country with a publicist telling him not to make a big deal out of the drug thing.
-------------------- I wasn't an activist until I got put in jail. I sat there in jail seeing what was really going on in America and something changed. Now when people say, "Tommy what was jail like?" I say "You'll see" -- Tommy Chong
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MustNotBe
HPPDer
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Re: Schwarzenegger welcomes debate over legalizing pot [CA] [Re: SilverSwami]
#10300199 - 05/06/09 11:38 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
SilverSwami said: *dribblez* look at those ass cheeks. NOM NOM NOM!
-------------------- Junkies United we stand , Devided we're sick as fuck. - - - "Hallucinations are something heroin users are not at all accustomed to," said Const. Conor King, Victoria police drug expert. "They react like you or I would react if we took Aspirin and all of a sudden the TV got up and started walking across the room." - - - Make drugs legal, or alcohol and tobacco illegal. Either way it's more fair.
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