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Blood-shot eyes are on California as it prepares to vote on Proposition 19 and possibly become the first state in the union to allow the legalization of marijuana.
But even if the state legalizes cannabis for personal use, it will remain illegal in the eyes of the federal government, and the complications surrounding those issues have prompted some critics to call the proposition a "jumbled legal nightmare," according to the Los Angeles Times.
California distributors, producers and users of marijuana have been doing a delicate dance with the federal government ever since medical marijuana was legalized in 1996, and those uncomfortable legal situations will likely only become trickier if the state were to pass Proposition 19.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has promised to "vigorously enforce" existing drug laws, Proposition 19 or no. In addition to the continued threat of federal drug raids against locally legal establishments, the much-vaunted tax revenue from legal marijuana could also be put at risk by federal opposition, because anybody paying taxes on their marijuana would be admitting to a federal crime.
Still, some believe that the real financial benefits from legalized marijuana wouldn't be revenues but savings. Groups like Law Enforcement Against Prohibition argue that keeping marijuana illegal leads to prison overcrowding and wasted funding and that legalization would free up money and man-hours for policing more serious crimes, as well as knock out a valuable financial pillar for underground criminal organizations.
The future of the nation's most talked about ballot initiative is unclear, but if it were to pass, it could raise difficult questions about the future of marijuana in the rest of the country. Whatever happens in November, it seems unlikely that the legalization debate is going away any time soon - even Sarah Palin has called marijuana a "minimal problem."
NewsHawk: MedicalNeed:420 MAGAZINE
Source:aolnews.com
Author: Dave Thier
Contact: Top News & Analysis, US, World, Sports, Celebrity & Weird News
Copyright: 2010 AOL News
Website:California Proposition 19 on Marijuana Could Lead to Haze of Complications
But even if the state legalizes cannabis for personal use, it will remain illegal in the eyes of the federal government, and the complications surrounding those issues have prompted some critics to call the proposition a "jumbled legal nightmare," according to the Los Angeles Times.
California distributors, producers and users of marijuana have been doing a delicate dance with the federal government ever since medical marijuana was legalized in 1996, and those uncomfortable legal situations will likely only become trickier if the state were to pass Proposition 19.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has promised to "vigorously enforce" existing drug laws, Proposition 19 or no. In addition to the continued threat of federal drug raids against locally legal establishments, the much-vaunted tax revenue from legal marijuana could also be put at risk by federal opposition, because anybody paying taxes on their marijuana would be admitting to a federal crime.
Still, some believe that the real financial benefits from legalized marijuana wouldn't be revenues but savings. Groups like Law Enforcement Against Prohibition argue that keeping marijuana illegal leads to prison overcrowding and wasted funding and that legalization would free up money and man-hours for policing more serious crimes, as well as knock out a valuable financial pillar for underground criminal organizations.
The future of the nation's most talked about ballot initiative is unclear, but if it were to pass, it could raise difficult questions about the future of marijuana in the rest of the country. Whatever happens in November, it seems unlikely that the legalization debate is going away any time soon - even Sarah Palin has called marijuana a "minimal problem."
NewsHawk: MedicalNeed:420 MAGAZINE
Source:aolnews.com
Author: Dave Thier
Contact: Top News & Analysis, US, World, Sports, Celebrity & Weird News
Copyright: 2010 AOL News
Website:California Proposition 19 on Marijuana Could Lead to Haze of Complications
