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Does Pot Have a Shot at Being Legalized in the U.S.?

By Brendan McKenna

Rhode Island, which legalized medical marijuana in 2006, is now wrestling with the next big question on that front: whether to become the first state in the U.S. to make pot legal for recreational use as well. The motive? Money. The Associated Press reports that, if the proposal goes into law, wholesalers would be on the hook for a $50 per ounce excise tax, and retail licenses would cost $5,000 per year. And of course, all retail marijuana sales would be subject to sales taxes imposed by the cash-strapped state. The AP reports the proposal would also allow individuals to grow up to three pot plants per person -- but only if they've paid $100 per plant. (How exactly that last provision would be enforced is unclear. Obviously, large-scale grow operations are relatively easy to sniff out, but if someone has four or five or six plants basking on the windowsill or in a greenhouse, they presumably aren't going to be living in fear -- or writing a check -- anytime soon.) Meanwhile, on the Left Coast, budget woes are firing up a similar debate in the state of Washington. On Wednesday, Seattle's city attorney, a former federal prosecutor, and...

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on March 18, 2011 (boomark / email).