Calif. Lawmaker Wants Marijuana For Sale

MYFOX NATIONAL - In an effort to save his state billions of dollars, one Californian assemblyman wants to legalize the sale of marijuana.

"We know that the marijuana industry in California alone nets 14 billion dollars. That's billion dollars that goes up in smoke, literally." says assemblyman Tom Ammiano of San Francisco.

Ammiano suggests a $50 per ounce tax could bring in a billion dollars a year in additional revenue to the state.

Steve Gutwillig, the director of California's drug policy alliance, said that 74,000 people were arrested in California for marijuana crimes in 2007. Most of them misdemeanor offenses that filled the state's criminal justice system.

Ammiano's proposal would prohibit sales to anyone under 21-years old and require a license for businesses selling pot.

At Oakland's Oaksterdam University students learn the business of marijuana and 1,200 students have graduated here.

Richard Lee, the school's president says, communities that might be against marijuana sales shouldn't have to participate.

"I can see different localities doing it different ways. Just as you have wet and dry counties in some states. Where some areas allow sales of liquor and others do not." says Lee.

Ammiano's bill will undoubtedly face stiff opposition in Sacramento. The state attorney general and the U.S. attorney in San Francisco did not respond to this story. A California police group called it a bad idea.