Articles Posted in California marijuana legalization

A teenager arrested for tending a marijuana plantation has told authorities it was his job to pay off the smugglers who helped him get out of Mexico, the Mercury News reported.

It’s hard to argue that legalizing marijuana wouldn’t help prevent criminals from profiting. We have no doubt politicians will argue it. But it’s a tough argument to make. The same was true during prohibition when gangsters like Al Capone made their fortune providing bootleg liquor.

Our Los Angeles marijuana defense attorneys and Ventura County immigrant rights lawyers work with clients facing all types of state and federal charge in connection with marijuana or immigration charges.

The 16-year-old was one of two teenagers who were arrested as authorities cleared marijuana groves in the Los Padres National Forest. He said he was working to pay off the smugglers who helped him cross the border last month. A 17-year-old teenager declined to speak to investigators.

Law enforcement has spent weeks chopping down hundreds of thousands of marijuana plants grown on public lands. If Proposition 19 passes in November, it would legalize marijuana for personal use and allow local governments to raise money by taxing its sale.
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A Sacramento Bee poll found a narrow margin of support for the marijuana legalization measure on the November ballot. The Los Angeles area also had among the highest percentage of admitted pot smokers in the state.

Our Los Angeles marijuana defense attorneys have reported on our Marijuana Lawyer Blog that the vote on Proposition 19 will likely go down to the wire in November.

In the latest poll, 51 percent favored legalization; four percent favored its legalization and use by anyone, while 47 percent favored legalization with strict controls similar to alcohol. Nineteen percent said current laws should be strictly enforced, while 14 percent said new, even tougher laws should be passed.

The remaining 13 percent said the current laws should remain in place but the penalties should be less severe.

In what is perhaps the most recent and comprehensive poll of marijuana use, a near-majority of people admitted to trying marijuana at least once and about 1 in 10 Californians admitted to using marijuana in the last year.

Bay Area: 11.4 percent admitted to smoking pot in the last year.
Los Angeles County: 8.8 percent Northern California: 8.1 percent Southern California: 7.7 percent San Diego/Orange Counties: 4.8 percent
The number of people who admitted to smoking marijuana at least once has doubled, from 28 percent in 1975 to 47 percent this year.
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An opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times challenges the contention that California cannot legalize marijuana because of conflicting federal law.

As our Los Angeles marijuana defense attorneys reported recently on our Marijuana Lawyer Blog, a federal crackdown could come if Proposition 19 passes and recreational marijuana becomes legal in California.

For starters, the U.S. has entered into treaties with other nations that require marijuana to remain illegal (an exemption exists for medical purposes). But, as a far more practical matter, marijuana legalization could significantly reduce the price of marijuana and a legal marijuana industry in California could fuel the illegal marijuana drug trade in much of the rest of the United States and Canada.

The U.S. Department of Justice has said enforcing federal marijuana laws are not a priority in states that have legalized medical marijuana. But that could change with the news that recreational marijuana is legal in California.

Hanna Dershowitz writers in the Times that it is incorrect to assume that federal agents will begin raiding farms and shops should the state pass Proposition 19. She argues that either the state or the federal government is permitted to outlaw marijuana but neither is required to do so. She writes that both New York and California repealed state laws abolishing alcohol, despite the continued existence of a federal ban during prohibition.

She claims federal agents attempting to enforce small-time marijuana violations would flood federal courts and require copious amounts of additional funding, while making virtually no dent in the use of marijuana in California.

She also points out that legalization would force the federal government to justify marijuana’s prohibition in the first place. And that the feds could respect state’s rights by amending the Controlled Substances Act to permit marijuana. But Dershowitz, who is a member of the Proposition 19 legal subcommittee, does not address the motivation that might be present on the part of the feds if large scale marijuana operations begin fueling the supply in states that do not wish to legalize it.

Nor is the federal government overly concerned with state’s rights, as has been evident with the recent lawsuit over Arizona’s immigration law.
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The California Democratic Party has officially decided not to endorse Proposition 19, the effort aimed at legalizing marijuana, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Our Los Angeles marijuana defense lawyers continue to monitor the marijuana legalization issue as our medical marijuana dispensary defense lawyers represent more than a dozen legal medical marijuana businesses that are being threatened with closure by local ordinances.

Democrat party officials made the decision on Sunday. The Times reported the short but passionate debate in a hotel meeting room left little doubt that most planned to support the legalization measure at the polls in November. But the state party opted to adopt a neutral position on Proposition 19, which leaves the many local democratic committees and organizations free to endorse the measure.

As we reported on our Marijuana Lawyer Blog, the measure has picked up the high-profile support of the food services union, the California NAACP and a former U.S. Surgeon General.

While many supported the measure, the overwhelming argument was that statewide support could hurt Democratic candidates in close local races.

“We’re concerned that our candidates, Jerry Brown, Barbara Boxer and others, who have actually come out against this are going to be compromised,” said Steve Preminger, the chairman of the Santa Clara County Democratic Central Committee, “so we’re going to get lost in a discussion about the merits of whether we should legalize or not, when, really, we the Democratic Party want to put all of our efforts into electing our ticket.”

Proposition 19 would permit those over 21 to grow, possess or transport marijuana and would permit cities and counties to tax marijuana sales.

The Democratic party’s executive board voted 101 to 85 against an endorsement.
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The future of medical marijuana and the legalization of marijuana remain uncertain. But corporations are already jumping on the bandwagon and cities are watching what could become a billion dollar industry.

Our Los Angeles medical marijuana attorneys reported last week on our Marijuana Lawyer Blog that the City of Oakland moved to approve four huge, industrial growing operations which could bring in millions in tax revenue, billions in wages, and thousands of jobs.

MSNBC reports it could be the beginning of marijuana’s industrial age. Having failed to draw high-tech jobs, Oakland could be the Silicon Valley of marijuana. Though not on the scope of Microsoft, but more in line with a Trader Joe’s, a California discount chain best known for $2 bottles of Charles Shaw wine — known affectionately as Two Buck Chuck.

“The new Two Buck Chuck will be $40 an ounce pot,” said Jeff Wilcox, who pushed Oakland to move toward an industrial growing operation in anticipation of marijuana’s eventual legalization. Wilcox says small growers could produce high-end product, while he supplies the masses with a clean, controlled, great-value product.

Of course there are all kinds of problems with this scenario. Beginning with the fact that Oakland’s own city attorney warned city leaders that such growing operations remain illegal under both state and federal law. And, as our Los Angeles marijuana lawyers reported last week, the challenges of marijuana legalization could reach a boiling point if cheap California pot threatens to fuel the illegal marijuana markets throughout the United States and Canada.

Still, many are betting that passage of California’s Proposition 19, which could legalize marijuana in November, will signal the beginning of a the nation’s move toward the drug’s eventual legalization in the rest of the country.
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A major food union has become the latest to throw its support behind California’s marijuana legalization initiative on the November ballot, the Examiner reported.

As our Los Angeles marijuana defense attorneys reported on our Marijuana Lawyer Blog, Proposition 19 would legalize possession of up to an ounce of marijuana by those over the age of 21. Support and opposition are running neck-and-neck in polls and the outcome will likely be in doubt right up until the election.

The 200,000 member United Food and Commercial Workers Union has officially thrown its support behind the measure.

“We view Proposition 19 as an enhanced version of the previous proposition, that creates taxable revenue, and produces jobs in agriculture, health care, retail and possibly textile,” said George Landers, executive director of the food workers union. “We further believe that the proposition will deprive narco-traffickers of a significant source of criminal revenue.”

The union’s Local 5 has about 26,000 members in California and has already started a drive to organize workers. It also seeks to add employees of the expanding marijuana industry to its membership.

Meanwhile, The New York TImes reports that blacks are split on the issue despite the California NAACP’s decision support marijuana legalization. However, those courting the black vote got a boost recently with the endorsement of Dr. Joycelyn Elders, the first black to hold the position of U.S. surgeon general, the nation’s top medical officer.
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The Los Angeles Times reports that passage of a measure to legalize marijuana in California means little if federal authorities decide to enforce nationwide drug laws.

However, as our Los Angeles marijuana defense lawyers have reported, an Obama Administration memo indicates that the U.S. Department of Justice has been told that enforcing federal law regarding marijuana is not a priority in states with conflicting state laws.

In other words, the feds have better things to do.

Proposition 19, which would legalize possession of up to an ounce of marijuana, will decide the issue on the November ballot. Supporters contend local governments can realize millions in tax dollars and legitimize the income now going to the illegal drug trade.

However, conflicts with federal law continue to arise, as cities like Berkley and Oakland are considering starting huge industrial growing operations, which is currently illegal under both state and federal law. As the Times points out, the federal Controlled Substances Act still makes it a felony to grow and sell cannabis. And any grower or seller filing paperwork with the state to pay taxes would, in effect, be confessing in writing to a federal felony.

Even the unofficial federal moratorium on enforcing marijuana laws relies upon exclusions for medical use. That’s because the illegalization of marijuana extends into international treaties the U.S. has entered into with other countries that have agreed to ban its production and sale. The Times reports that those treaties allow for an exclusion for medical use.

Additionally, with medical marijuana prices hovering at about the same level as prices on the black market, the federal government can take a pass on enforcing the law in California. However, some are concerned that a legalized non-medical cannabis industry in California would quickly fuel the illegal drug trade in the rest of the country.

If the cost of marijuana dropped to $40 an ounce, from a current price of about $300, what would that do to the illegal marijuana trade in the rest of the country? The Times reports that pot dealers from as far away as Canada would flock to California to stock up.

And the federal government could no longer afford to look the other way.
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