That tazing is closer to our problem then you might think. If you think that sounds wierd wait til you hear the next one. Why are we talking about Gay Marriage? Because they came out of the closet, they didn't fear arrest. All they had to do was sacrifice their anonimity and risk associated ridicule. The pot smokers stay in the closet, they don't want to get tazed, for many of us it could mean we lose our house.
What you have to do is figure out how to package it so everyone can support it, right? How did we get the Lottery?? How did we get Casino Gambling?? They sold us on the benefits, right?? I didn't hear them addressing 'gambling addictions then, now my tax dollars pay for ads and State Programs to help addicted gamblers?? Hmmm......see folks just want to know Whats In It For Me?? How does it benefit me?? Instead of being on the defensive we have to go on offense.
Soo... here it is, my plan to legalize Marijuana in the State of (insert your states name here).
First, find out if the ballot initiative is available in your state, 22 of them have it.
Second, raise a quarter of a million dollars, money attracts money, Barrack proved that, and create a braintrust, you need some established organizations supporting you.
Third, with the help of the group, you hire a legal firm to write a ballot proposal that is 'accepted as to form' by whatever entitiy does that in your state, its the board of canvessors here I think.
The ballot initiative will allow anyone to grow their own Marijuna, not for sale. allow farmers to grow hemp and create a system for the sale and distribution of Marijuana that is grown in our State. The sales will be thru Licensed Liqour outlets ( the rules for this vary from state to state so I can't get real specific here ) that do not also have a license to sell prescription drugs. They may apply for the License to sell with fees appropriate to setting up and administring the program. Any one that wants to can apply for a Growers License, fee of $1000.00. The distributors would have strict requirements for reporting what the bought by weight and what they paid to who and what they sold and to who for reporting purposes only, not available to the general public etc.
Now we come to the tricky part, there will be a sintax imposed on the Maijuana sales. I don't know about you, in my neighborhood not many folks are out buying $500.00 oz, most of us buy a quarter. Around here a 'decent quarter' will get around $50.00. So we set the minimum price per 1/4 at $45.00 + sales tax. Stay with me now...this $45.00 minimum includes the sintax which is $11.25 per quarter.
At the time the distributor delivers the product to the retailor, he collects his price for the products and the sintax, which he forwards to the state, just like they collect for alcohol products, cash at delivery. No new agency is needed, every state controls their own liqour laws and has a tax collecting money pump already in place.
Now lets discuss price, ok? Lets say that you decide you want to be a grower and you think your weed is worth more. Prove it. We didn't set a maximum price, the market place will, and sales tax will be collected on the entire purchase. I would just let em fire up one.lol
The smokers and beer drinkers are tired of paying all of the new taxes, they think the stoners should pay their fair share. We at Taxpayers for Equity agree. The tobacco and liqour taxes or discounts will be frozen at current levels, the money will come from the sintax on Marijuana.
For the first five years it won't change, at 5 years it will be reviewed, to see if we have meet the goal of (in my case I showed how to wipe out my States deficit using the numbers from our states agriculture department ) then the sintax is cut in 1/2, with 1/3 of that reduction going to the retailor, 1/6 to the distributor and 1/2 to the grower.
Now all we have to do is collect about 1/2 million signatures from the regitered voters and put it on the ballot, the opposition will sit back and wait to see if you can and by that time it will be too late. We would have a ballot proposal to raise hundreds of Millions of new dollars, create thousands of jobs in our state, we are importers of weed, and we haven't even talked about the savings for law enforcement yet. VV