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.....

 

goddamn...in my lifetime. /cry

 

That's pretty cool. Imagine if it actually happened :O

 

I'm movin to Cali-for-nia!

 

^ so will everyone else. there is a spot near humbloldt county ca where i used to live, where if you are looking for a place to live they ask you if you are there to grow pot. if you say yes they wont give you the time of day.

 

i just moved from cali, i really miss the medical marijuana shops.

hopefully it will become legal in california and the rest of the nation will follow suit.

 

i miss the shops too delivery was super sweet. should not have followed my ex to the east coast

 

Arnie would be so fun to get high with. I'd tell him to act like John Kimble from Kindergarten Cop.

I'd be all like *Bong toke* "maybe it's a tumor".

Then Arnie would be like *Bong toke* "IT'S NOT A TUMA!!!"

 

Of course he admitted to smoking weed in the past

 

big surprise
but srsly who's gonna be straight up like that and tell them "yeah i'm turning this house into a grow op"

 

lmao :cheers2:

 

:smilielol5:...

 

main story on msn.com
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.co.../a-budget-cure-marijuana-taxes.aspx?gt1=33002

 

Lol. I love this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPDA05pO0b0

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xqZnmESuiw

 

Get Aout, Get Auot Now!

 

Good ol arnie!

 

hahahah Its not a tuma, no wai

 

well maybe this will just be a begining for the other 49 states

 

I hate Arnold... Until now.