Legalization of pot in Calif. would be a process
By Joe Garofoli, San Francisco Chronicle
Even if California voters legalize cannabis in 2016, it will take “many years” of patience to figure out how to tax and regulate a multibillion-dollar industry that’s forever been largely underground.
That’s the cautionary conclusion of a thorough examination of what it will take to legalize marijuana in the state, led by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and a panel of academic and law enforcement experts.
“Legalization of marijuana would not be an event that happens in one election,” they wrote in the 93-page Blue Ribbon Commission on Marijuana Policy report released Wednesday. “Rather, it would be a process that unfolds over many years requiring sustained attention to implementation. That process of legalization and regulation will be dynamic.”
The report offers 58 policy suggestions on the myriad questions raised by legalization — from how and when to tax cannabis to how to determine when users are driving under the influence.