WHITE HOUSE RELAXES MARIJUANA POLICY
October 19, 2009
By Suzanne Zionts
For Fox Business News.com
In a reversal from the last administration, the Obama Justice Department Monday is announcing it won't go after users or suppliers of medical marijuana who comply with state laws. It is sending new, more-relaxed policy guidelines out to federal prosecutors today.
“It will not be a priority to use federal resources to prosecute patients with serious illnesses or their caregivers who are complying with state laws on medical marijuana,” Attorney General Eric Holder said in announcing the new policy.
While recreational marijuana use is illegal in the U.S. under federal law, the medicinal pot business is booming. California became the first state to legalize the sale of marijuana for medical use 13 years ago, since then 13 more states have followed suit: Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. Fifteen more states are currently weighing legislation or ballot initiatives to legalize medical marijuana.
A booming business could be just what the doctor ordered in economically-crippled California, where the Department of Finance expects a $7.4-billion deficit from 2010-2011.
Many argue that legalizing and taxing marijuana could help cure California’s budget crisis and the national deficit as a whole. A legalization bill introduced to the Golden State’s legislature could bring the state a much-needed additional $1.4 billion in revenue, according to the State Board of Equalization. On a national level, Jeffrey Miron, a Harvard economist, estimates legalization of marijuana could bring in about $7 billion annually in added tax revenue.
But this theory doesn’t necessarily fly with lawmakers in Los Angeles.
Lawmakers in LA are preparing a crackdown of its numerous medical marijuana dispensaries, which are commonly referred to as “Cannabis Clubs.” A newly elected city attorney, Carmen A. Trutanich, is looking to enforce a new ordinance which could lead to the closing of many of the city’s medicinal-pot shops.
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