Ammiano: San Diego is on a Jihad against Marijuana
The historic movement to roll back cannabis prohibition in the U.S. marshaled its forces today at the 38th annual NORML Conference dubbed “Yes We Cannabis!”
With four efforts to legalize the plant in California under way, State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano spoke Friday morning at the conference in downtown San Francisco on his decriminalization bill AB 390, which is pending discussion in committee at Sacramento next year.Ammiano said the issue has become a national conversation on public policy and the economy, and legislators have yet to catch up to it. “In the hallways they said, ‘Tax the hell out of it’,” Ammiano said. “Publicly, they do not want to go there.”
Passing AB 390 will be a challenge said the freshman representative, but “people’s lives are being ruined arbitrarily,” mentioning San Diego’s recent crack-down on dispensaries. The crowd of about 100 gave him a standing ovation.
At 12:30 p.m. today, Oaksterdam’s Rich Lee will be holding a press conference announcing the start of signature-gathering for the front-runner of three 2010 election ballot initiatives to legalize adult use of cannabis.
Stream the NORML conference live via their website, NORML.org
