Yesterday was a big day in the fight to legalize marijuana. For the first time in history, a piece of United States government legislation to end marijuana prohibition was approved in California. California’s Assembly Public Safety Committee voted 4-3 to approve a bill that would legalize and regulate marijuana. Unfortunately the glory will be short lived, as the bill does not have time to move forward this legislative session. Sadly, it will die at the end of the week.
However the bill’s author, Tom Ammiano, plans to re-introduce a similar bill in the upcoming session. In order for this bill to pass, it has to be approved again by the same committee. From there, it will be debated in another committee, and if passed, it would go for a floor vote. It has to be approved by both chambers of California’s state Congress and signed by the Governor, which will be someone other than Arnold by the time it would get to that point. Then of course you would have the battle with the feds over state sovereignty, pre-emption, and federalism. So needless to say, it was a great day for marijuana fans yesterday, but the fight is FAR from over. However, it’s not every day that you get a majority of politicians to vote for weed!!!
