BIG STEP FROM PIPE DREAMS TO PRACTICALITY

Imagine walking into a coffee shop, corner market or any grocery
store with a state-approved cannabis licenseand buying a joint or an
ounce of pot, plus tax.

Or imagine growing marijuana in a fenced backyard without fear of arrest.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's surprise call last week to debate
legalizing adult use of marijuana in California has drawn
international attention, shifting the prospect of such a change from
the fringe to the forefront.

Advocates of legalization, including state Assemblyman Tom Ammiano of
San Francisco, whose legislation caught the governor's attention,
have created a concept for a system of regulation and taxation that
would make the state's marijuana laws among the most liberal in the world.

"Suddenly this is all open to discussion," said Oakland attorney
James Anthony, who handles land-use and zoning issues for medical
marijuana dispensaries in the state. "When somebody as conservative
and cautious as the governor says it's time to debate ... then we're
in a very different context."

California, in 1996, became the nation's first state to legalize
marijuana for medical use, creating a multimillion-dollar industry
and scores of dispensaries where residents buy marijuana with a
physician's approval.

Ammiano's proposal, at the least, would allow personal possession and
cultivation of as many as 10 plants.

But if the decades-long federal ban on possessing, growing and
selling marijuana were repealed, the state law would legalize pot for
adults over 21 years old, create a regulatory system and impose a
$50-an-ounce sales tax on marijuana, much like taxes on tobacco and alcohol.

Packaged marijuana would be sold from a locked cabinet behind the
counter, similar to hard liquor, under the proposal.

The state Board of Equalization, which collects sales and use taxes,
expects cannabis prices would drop, use would increase and the state
would take in $1.3 billion annually in the fees. The agency estimates
that sales of marijuana for medical use now generate $18 million a
year in taxes.

Ammiano said the state has a history of bucking federal government
regulations with its own, and he thinks the Obama administration may
be open to reforming federal marijuana-enforcement laws.

Where Could Pot Be Sold?

He has yet to ask for anyone to co-sponsor the legislation, which he
plans to move at a deliberate pace over two years. But if federal
laws were changed, Ammiano's proposal would present intriguing and
banal policy questions:

. Would it be regulated by a state agency, such as the state
Alcoholic Beverage Control department, or would local jurisdictions
have that power?

. What zoning issues would a cannabis license be subject to?

. Could local jurisdictions ban the licenses outright - resulting in
"dry" areas?

. Where marijuana could be sold, whether in specialty stores or
everywhere alcohol and tobacco are sold, would also create intense
debate. Would the speciality stores be run by the state, like liquor
stores in Idaho and Oregon, or by private citizens?

'Coffee-Shop Model'

Richard Lee, president of Oaksterdam University in Oakland, a
marijuana dispensary and education group, said he prefers allowing
pot sales only in cafes, as is done in Amsterdam.

"I like the coffee-shop model," Lee said. "I think it goes well
together, like a restaurant that serves alcohol that goes well with a meal."

Lee said he doubts Schwarzenegger would sign the legislation in its
current form, given that the governor has vetoed laws legalizing the
growth of industrial hemp and barring employers from firing workers
who use marijuana.

Initiative in the Works

But he said marijuana advocates are working on a statewide initiative
to carry out the goals of Ammiano's legislation and allow voters to
bypass the Legislature as they did in 1996, with Proposition 215,
which legalized the use of marijuana with a doctor's permission.

A spokesman for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration said
debate over the effects of legalization is good. But he thinks most
people ultimately would side with the status quo.

"I think there are very simplistic catch phrases put out there,"
spokesman Garrison Courtney said. "This is a complex issue and there
does need to be discussion about it. But the thing is, it's not like
there hasn't been discussion."

Feds Say Crime a Problem

He doubted that legalization would push drug cartels out of the state
and said the argument that legalization would reduce violence is just
"scratching the surface."

It's questionable, he said, whether estimated tax revenues would be
offset by the costs of regulation and addiction treatment.

Marijuana advocates challenge those assertions and are ready for
debate, too. Oakland attorney Bill Panzer, who helped draft Prop.
215, says the state should move ahead without consent from the
federal government.

"My feeling is the more you put it in the feds' faces, the more of a
chance you have of actually getting somewhere," Panzer said.