MARIJUANA BILLS TEMPT CASH-STARVED STATES

(MCT) WASHINGTON - Mary Lou Dickerson had seen enough. After
wrenching cuts to Washington's state drug and alcohol treatment
programs, Dickerson, a Democratic representative, introduced a bill
this year to sell marijuana in state liquor stores - and tax it.

Dickerson is an unlikely crusader for marijuana legalization. A
63-year-old grandmother who doesn't use it, she says money was the
only reason for proposing her controversial bill. "According to the
state's own estimates, it would bring in an additional $300 million
per biennium," she says. "I dedicated (in the bill) a great deal of
the proceeds from the tax on marijuana to treatment."

The proposal died in committee, but Dickerson, who chairs the House
Human Services Committee, expects to reintroduce it. Other advocates
in almost two dozen states have been making similar efforts to loosen
marijuana laws.

This has been a bumper year for marijuana legislation, according to
state policy observers. Crushing state budget deficits gave advocates
in California, Washington, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York and
elsewhere an opening to pitch marijuana as a new source of tax
revenue. At the same time, the Obama administration gave users and
distributors some breathing room by signaling in October that it
would scale back on prosecuting them as long as they comply with state law.

Eighteen states discussed medical marijuana through legislation or
citizen initiatives this year. Most visibly, California election
officials announced on March 24 that this year's ballot would include
a question to allow local governments to legalize and tax marijuana,
casting a spotlight on the state that first legalized medical
marijuana in 1996.

While most state legislative efforts are likely to fail, a victory in
California could encourage other states to follow suit just as they
did when California approved medical marijuana. A 2009 poll found 56
percent of California voters support outright legalization. Estimates
from California's Board of Equalization peg the amount the state
could raise from marijuana legalization at $1.4 billion.

But those projections rest on shaky assumptions that the state could
keep track of growers and that distributors would accurately disclose
their sales, if at all. And since marijuana is still illegal under
federal law, it's unclear how the Obama administration would
ultimately react to more permissive state marijuana laws.

Officials have struggled for years with the legal questions posed by
state and federal marijuana laws that appear to be in conflict. "The
more people talk about marijuana laws the more people come to the
conclusion that they've completely failed, so we're definitely
optimistic here," said Aaron Smith, California policy director for
the Marijuana Policy Project.

Meanwhile, opponents of legalization in California are gearing up for
their own campaign, knowing that the rest of the country will be
watching. "We have a lot of pressure on us," says Aimee Hendle,
statewide coordinator of Californians for Drug Free Youth. She sees
marijuana advocates as opportunists exploiting the state's financial distress.

"They are seeing the vulnerability of the citizens of California with
the state of our state," she says.

Arizona is also going this route for new tax revenue. Senators there
have already approved levying the state sales tax on medical
marijuana, even though voters won't weigh in on medical marijuana
until this November's ballot. In Nevada, marijuana advocates are busy
collecting signatures to place a legalization measure on the state's
2012 ballot. Rather than leaving the question of legalization up to
local governments, as California's initiative does, Nevada's proposal
would legalize and tax marijuana statewide. Nevada voters have
already approved medical marijuana.

David Schwartz, campaign manager for Nevadans for Sensible Drug Laws,
will be watching his counterparts in California. "If they win, it
will be a stark event in the long battle to end marijuana
prohibitions in this country," he says.

In South Dakota, Emmet Reistroffer is also among those following the
news from California. Last year, he took time off from the University
of South Dakota to gather signatures for a medical marijuana ballot
initiative. It was a home-grown effort, drawing 40 volunteers, almost
no national attention and no funding from major marijuana policy
groups. Reistroffer, a Sioux Falls 20-year-old, took a part-time job
at a local bar to make ends meet.

While he says he doesn't necessarily support outright legalization,
he wants to make marijuana accessible for patients like his mother,
who suffers from lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. She has used
marijuana in the past, he says.

"While I was growing up I had friends in DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance
Education)," he says. I've always looked at it very differently. I've
always seen this injustice and felt obligated to do something about it."

Reistroffer plans to spend his summer trying to convince voters at
county fairs. In 2006, voters turned down a medical marijuana measure
on a close vote, the only state that has ever done so. If the measure
passes this year, it will mark a significant shift in South Dakota's
attitude toward marijuana, he says.

But states shouldn't count on a revenue bonanza from marijuana since
distributors still risk federal prosecution by emerging from the
shadows, according to Robert Mikos, a Vanderbilt University law
professor. Ideally, the thousands of small-scale marijuana farm
operations would consolidate into larger groups that would be easy
for states to tax, but the federal ban makes that unlikely, he says.

"If you get too big, you attract the attention of the federal
government. If you're a mom-and-pop marijuana distributor in
California right now, you have almost no concern about the federal
ban," Mikos says.

Also, states would have to keep track of growers who have paid taxes.
"That's a goldmine of information for the federal government," Mikos
says. "If California requires marijuana distributors to keep records
of all their sales the federal government could sweep in, take that
information and use it to prosecute these people."

In October, the Justice Department released a memo indicating it
would back off from prosecuting medical marijuana users who are
complying with state law, but the memo did not say the department
would tolerate outright legalization in states, opening up more legal
ambiguities.

"The federal government will continue to try to combat recreational
marijuana so California is kind of getting ahead of itself," Mikos says.

But Hendle and other opponents of legalization will also keep up
their fight. "Even if you say it's only for people over the age of
21, that's what they say about alcohol and look at all the underage
drinking that we have," she says. "We're now going to make this a
larger problem."

A HISTORY OF MARIJUANA LAWS

A commission led by former Pennsylvania governor Raymond Shafer
recommends to President Richard Nixon that marijuana be decriminalized.

Oregon decriminalizes possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana.

Colorado decriminalizes possession of 1 ounce or less of marijuana.

Ohio decriminalizes possession of 100 grams or less of marijuana.

California decriminalizes possession of 28.5 grams or less of marijuana.

Maine decriminalizes possession of 1.25 ounces or less of marijuana.

Minnesota decriminalizes possession of 42.5 grams or less of marijuana.

Mississippi decriminalizes possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana.

New York decriminalizes possession of 25 grams or less of marijuana.

North Carolina decriminalizes possession of half an ounce or less of marijuana.

Nebraska decriminalizes possession of 1 ounce or less of marijuana.

Ronald Reagan becomes president. His administration would take a
tough stand against drugs, discouraging states from softening their
marijuana policies.

California legalizes medical marijuana.

Oregon legalizes medical marijuana.

Washington legalizes medical marijuana.

Alaska legalizes medical marijuana.

Maine legalizes medical marijuana.

Hawaii legalizes medical marijuana.

Colorado legalizes medical marijuana.

Nevada legalizes medical marijuana and decriminalizes possession of 1
ounce or less of marijuana.

Maryland establishes a defendant's medical condition as an
affirmative defense in marijuana prosecutions.

Montana legalizes medical marijuana.

Vermont legalizes medical marijuana.

The U.S. Supreme Court finds that the federal government could take
steps prohibiting cultivation and distribution of marijuana despite
state laws allowing medical marijuana in Gonzales v. Raich. The
ruling reinforces the federal government's supremacy over states in this area.

Rhode Island legalizes medical marijuana.

New Mexico legalizes medical marijuana.

Massachusetts decriminalizes possession of 1 ounce or less of marijuana.

Michigan legalizes medical marijuana.

The U.S. Department of Justice signals it will not aggressively
prosecute suppliers or users of marijuana if they are complying with
state medical marijuana laws.

Passed but not implemented

Washington, D.C., has passed a law legalizing medical marijuana.

New Jersey has passed a law legalizing medical marijuana.

Source: The National Conference of State Legislatures, the Marijuana
Policy Project and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws