The citizens of California are going to decide in November if they would like to legalize recreational cannabis. California is the country’s most populated state. California’s secretary of state said on Tuesday that the bill had obtained enough signatures to be put on the ballot. In addition to that, according to a news article, the supporters of the ballot had raised $3.53 million. That’s almost 31 times more than what opponents had generated. The measure would allow adults 21 or older to have, transport, and buy up to an ounce of cannabis. They would also be able to cultivate up to six plants for recreational use.
“Today marks a fresh start for California, as we prepare to replace the costly, harmful and ineffective system of prohibition with a safe, legal and responsible adult-use marijuana system that gets it right and completely pays for itself,” Jason Kinney, spokesman for the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, reports.
If the measure is approved by the people of California, the reduction in costs to local and state governments for enforcing cannabis-related laws could go past $100 million per year, according to the statement from the secretary of state. At the same time, annual state and local tax revenues from a legal cannabis industry could go up to over $1 billion. This would “be required to be spent for specific purposes such as substance use disorder education, prevention, and treatment.”
Here are the supporters of the measure: the California Democratic Party, California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, the California NAACP and the ACLU of California. In addition, former Facebook President Sean Parker has also given a good amount of money. In 2010, a similar bill was rejected, but proponents “say the new measure has a better chance because it adds more regulation at the state level rather than letting locals dictate what happens, and comes after the state has approved a regulatory system for medical marijuana growing, transportation and sales.”
