Arizona Lawmaker Introduces Bill To Legalize Recreational Marijuana

[420]

Phoenix - An Arizona Democratic lawmaker has introduced a bill to make marijuana legal for recreational use by adults, but it is expected to face tough opposition in the conservative southwestern U.S. state.

If the bill is voted down in the legislature, it could serve as an opening salvo to put a legalization ballot measure before voters, State Representative Mark Cardenas, who introduced the measure, said on Wednesday.

Arizona is one of 23 states that allow medical marijuana. Voters in four states have opted to legalize its recreational use, with Oregon and Alaska making that move last year after Colorado and Washington state approved it in 2012.

The Arizona bill, which was submitted on Dec. 30 and which Cardenas acknowledges is a long shot, would allow people 21 years or older to buy and possess up to an ounce of pot, and a $50 per ounce tax would be placed on the marijuana sold at state-sanctioned dispensaries.

The tax would generate about $48 million annually, according to estimates by the state Joint Legislative Budget Committee.

"This is my way of thinking of a new and exciting way for us to close the (state) budget shortfall that is out there," said Cardenas, who works in a state legislature dominated by Republicans. "This would help."

A similar measure died last session without being heard.

A spokesman for Arizona House Republicans declined to offer immediate comment on the bill.

Arizona is one of five states targeted by the Marijuana Policy Project, the nation's largest pot policy organization, for putting recreational-use ballot initiatives on the 2016 ballot, a spokesman said. Also on the list are California, Nevada, Massachusetts and Maine.

On Monday, the anti-legalization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana released a report pointing to increased use of pot in Colorado and Washington state since the drug was given state sanction.

Legalization opponents say the two states have been flooded with dangerous products, such as infused candies and concentrates, many far stronger than what might have been smoked in the 1960s. (Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis and Eric Walsh)

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Full Article: Arizona Lawmaker Introduces Bill To Legalize Recreational Marijuana
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[Boscoe]

Why is "it's stronger than in the 60's" constantly used by anti-herb terroristas as some sort of pointless measuring stick?

As long as Coloradans don't start murdering, dying or graduating to meth and heroin en-masse, I think it's safe to say there's no problem. What possible difference does it make how it compares to 50 year old weed?

People are irritating.

 

[hempaz]

I like the idea of an amendment to the Arizona Constitution better than an introduced state house of representatives bill, or an introduced state senate bill for that matter.

Both of which, if approved, would probably end up being vetoed by Arizona's newly elected governor.

Being a political 'do-nut' state, with a conservative base in the center of the state (Maricopa County) and a rim of counties that tend to lean blue, including city #2 Tucson, Arizona legislators are currently stuck in a '50's mindset and I doubt the bill will make it out of committee again.

The $50 tax is a little bit stiff, given the course of retail #MedMj is headed to approximately $25 per pound for hi-quality flower buds with the advent of native american sales now buffeting both the current #MedMj and future #RecMj dispensary models.

Before dispensaries, but after #MedMj was made legal in Arizona by voter decree, the Director of Health and Human Services could stamp each green card approval with the words 'Authority To Cultivate'.

And, as a consequence, each #MedMj patient could grow (12) personal #MedMj plants with a theoretical limit of 2.5 ounces every two weeks.

That right given to us by the voters of the State of Arizona was then repealed by the Department of Health and Human Services with the advent of the opening of legal dispensaries in order to direct cash flow towards the newly awarded dispensaries.

The right of the people of the State of Arizona to cultivate their own medicine should not be abridged.

Especially now that the native tribes of Arizona and New Mexico and Utah all have the option to engage in both #MedMj and #RecMj cultivation with the tacit blessing of the federal government.

And, the natives that opt for cannabis cultivation are not thinking small potatoes.

They want 10,000 heads of 'lettuce' grown in their new acre-wide facilities PER DAY !

Imagine what levels of poundage of cannabis flower buds can be grown in such multi-million dollar mega facilities!

Most of the flower buds will simply be distilled into wax and budder and glass to ease the strain on transportation of the portable pot items into the fledgling marketplace, thus bypassing the current dispensary framework altogether.

Tribal areas of the White Mountains in the eastern part of the state, the Gila River tribal lands immediately east of downtown Scottsdale, areas south of the City of Phoenix, and areas north near the Grand Canyon (Hulapai) and the Coconino National Forest are all now in jeopardy of being overrun with marijuana grows designed to do one thing.

Turn a plant into cash.

RH