In a few lucky states marijuana is almost, barely, OH BABY I'M SO CLOSE TO....legal. Never failing to stay ahead of the curve, California had a bill introduced by state law maker Tom Ammiano from San Francisco. The main advocacy group behind the proposal was *gasp* NORML, which has been even offered estimates to conservative states such as Texas in light of the United States EPIC FAIL economically. The bill uses the most conservative estimates from the taxing of buying selling and growing, a conservative estimate of....14 BILLION DOLLARS (you should blast cha ching cha ching by Killa cam and re read that last sentence).Of course the response from the law enforcement community, most conservative law makers, and people that don't remember the end of prohibition, is outrage. The usual fears of increased usage leading to laziness, more car accidents, health problems blah blah heard it before. People forget that alcohol underwent a similar change, at first being criminalized by the Progressive party (which pulled a T.I. and J.T. Dead and Gone) during the early 20th century, outlawed, and legalized absolutely to help stem budget shortfalls from the beginning of the Great Depression. An average of 3 nation wide polls (Rassmusen, CBS News, Zogby) was 40% support for legalization, the highest recorded average ever. 13 states have already passed significant decriminalization measures, and several more are going through the process of adding new measures lessening penalties.
If you need more info, don't talk to your local hippe.
