As I contemplate the California financial implosion I observe the newly-emerging Medical Marijuana industry, driving the economies of places like Mendocino and Humbolt County, and the city of Amsterdam jumps immediately to mind. The commonalities are striking.
It will be with the fascination with which we watched the formation of the Euro Common Market, that we will watch the transition of the $14 Billion (annual revenues) "weed" industry in California to a home-grown, socialist-capitalist "hybrid".
OK, so the Governor deleted child welfare and AIDS research; in all fairness to His Honor, the governor did what he had to do. His ship is being tossed in a mighty blow, a wicked storm, and he’s steering through it the best he can.
I'd love to see the Medical Marijuana industry step up to the plate and self-impose a "state-of-emergency" tax, earmarked to fund those state social-welfare programs recently deleted. If the industry is a little edgy about conservative political forces suddenly taking it all away, they should push the government a share of the take (maybe 10%?) and the people of California will respond. Make people and their government jobs dependent on your industry, gentlemen, and they will protect your industry. Entrench yourselves, the way every industry must in order to survive its infancy.
Contribute to some campaign funds, gentlemen... it's time to pony up like every other industry does it. One-Hundred-Thousand per candidate ought to do it. Ask the Distillers Association, or here; every industry entrenches itself into the fabric of American Society by bribing its officials. It's just how the system works here...
The industry is understandably on a razor's edge. What they're doing in California is consistent with the commission of a felony in any other state. What they're doing in California is technically a felony in federal court. Sounds amazingly like Amsterdam.
And now, as a result, We, the People are facing a phenomenon heretofore unique to Europe.
In most states (Texas, for one) We can be forcibly detained, convicted on a felony count and serve hard time for the commission of the heinous act of smoking weed. But upon moving across a couple of state lines into California, We can see a doctor, and for a yearly fee of $200, We can spend the year holed up in our apartment, having some guy in a sub-compact delivery vehicle bring us hybrid Euro-bud in a white paper bag, prepaid by credit card over the phone to the corner Medical Marijuana Dispensary.
If I have a prescription in California, and drive my car into Texas, am I crossing a felony-violation threshold, or does Texas law recognize my California prescription for sticky? Does that prescriptive authority cross state lines, or do Californians risk felony time carrying a discrete pharmaceutical "phatty" over state lines? Or are we moving towards a more European-style society, by which we're connected with California by a common currency, but what is openly legal within its borders is a felony violation just over the state line? What exactly do state Boards of Pharmacy have to present regarding recognition of interstate prescriptive authority? Will the reciprocity granted by many states extend into this arena?
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