The Assembly Public Safety Committee, chaired by San Francisco’s Tom Ammiano, held a hearing on Ammiano’s AB 390 to legalize and regulate the sale and distribution of marijuana.

Advocates said legalization and regulation could bring as much as $1.4 billion in state and local excise and sales tax revenue per year; control the drug’s potency; do more to keep it out of children’s hands; and end a centurylong double standard in which alcohol and tobacco – which they say are more harmful – are legal while marijuana isn’t, leading to a war on drugs particularly destructive to people of color.

Law enforcement officials testified the harms caused by marijuana legalization would far outweigh whatever tax revenue it might bring – more, not less, use by children; more people driving under the influence, causing more injuries and deaths; decreased worker productivity that could hurt the economy; and a still-thriving black market. (Bay Area News 10/29/09)

As it stands, it will be a while before there are any where the number of votes necessary to pass this bill.  Beyond the majority vote measure to legalize, there is also the 2/3 part of this that would tax. Ammiano would have to convince more than just Democrats to get this thing passed.

Of course, these debates become more of an issue if any of the four measures currently out for signatures gets on the ballot. Polls have consistenly shown support for regulation and taxation of marijuana to be hovering around the 55% mark for about a year now.  Once a campaign starts, all bets are off, especially with former Senate President pro tem Don Perata throwing his weight behind one of the measures.

Before I start this post, I should put this out there: I’m a nerd. Always have been, always will be. My experience with marijuana is limited to a couple of times in college and an accidental brownie in Golden Gate Park.  That being said, the statistics and research all say one thing: Marijuana is Safer than alcohol. (Again, square alert, I drink one beer a week at most and I’m tipsy at the first sniff of alcohol.)

We mentioned in an open thread a few days ago that there were a couple of initiatives that have been approved for circulation to legalize mariujana.  And one of these measures now looks like it might have some momentum behind it.

In a rather smart move all around, former State Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata has joined the effort to tax and regulate marijuana.  As a candidate for Mayor of Oakland, this can’t help but be an asset in the campaign. After all, the voters in the City of Oakland recently passed a measure to tax marijuana by a vote of 80%-20%.

Given the poll numbers showing such a measure passing by about 10 points now, this certainly has a shot at passing. While the state laws would be superceded by the federal laws, the statement alone would result in a push for bringing the conversation up in DC.  If this can get on the ballot, this might be an interesting item to watch.

Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-SF) has been known as a big idea guy for a while here in San Francisco.  His record as a legislator on the Board of Supervisors is really without comparison. You probably have heard about AB 390, that would legalize, regulate, and tax the sale of marijuana.  Many simply laughed at the idea, but when a recent Field poll (PDF) showed that 56% of the state favored the idea, well, a lot fewer people are laughing now.

Someone else who isn’t laughing? Well, that would be our very own Governator, who told reporters today that he thinks the idea should be open to discussion.  From the Bee:

“Well, I think it’s not time for that, but I think it’s time for a debate,” Schwarzenegger said. “I think all of those ideas of creating extra revenues, I’m always for an open debate on it. And I think we ought to study very carefully what other countries are doing that have legalized marijuana and other drugs, what effect did it have on those countries?”

This still isn’t very likely to get passed anytime soon, but if we can get it done in the next decade both at the state and federal levels, we will spend a whole let less on the “War on Drugs” and putting it to better use.  Oh, and we get a new product to put a sin tax on.