Will This Fix California?

The great state of California is in a mess. The state has no money to pay its employees and has even resorted to the use of IOU’S. Yes, this is a state, that if it were a country, would have one of the top 10 GNP’s in the world. After convoluted wrangling, they passed  a budget. Yet, a mere  10 weeks after its passage,the budget is in the red. What is  a governator to do? A spokesman for Arnold, H D Palmer, said there is concern, but whether short or long term, they do not know.

There has even been talk in recent weeks that California could become the first failed state. To add insult to injury, the state is losing population to the likes of Nevada and risks the loss of  a Congressional seat, which could be  a good thing.

There may be hope on the horizon to fix many of these ills or maybe just to help Californians deal better with their trial and tribulations. Marijuana advocates are working at getting enough signatures to place three pot legalizing measure on the ballot next year. And, we know how they loc=ve their ballot initiatives out on the left coast’

A law passed in 1996  allows people to smoke the happy weed for medicinal purposes, uh huh. Thus there is already a healthy marijuana industry in the state. But, one  teensy  pronblem exists. The feds are against legalization. Federal drug czar Greg Kerlikowske says that  legalization is not in either his or the president’s vocabulary.Curiously, the Supreme Court has ruled that the feds can crack down on those in California, both distributor and user, who comply with state law. Now that seems to be a conundrum.

But, if the state legalized the drug, no longer would there likely be  federal state co-operation in making drug busts. Since state officials usually take the lead, that would create issues. The most interesting scenario would be one that would allow local governments to make city by city decisions on legalization. Hello, San Francisco, Berkeley, etc, And if the measure or one of its counterparts becomes law, cities and perhaps the state could very well see a gold mine of new tax revenue.

I close with these interesting counterparts to the statement made earlier by Obama’s drug czar. Attorney  General Eric Holder has said that the Justice Department would defer to state law on  marijuana. And, White House Office of National Drug Control Policy,Doug Richardson, said the office is currently re-evaluating its policies on marijuana and other drugs.

Remember what Rush is wont to say on an issue, follow the money. If the state sees that the money gained would be worth its while, things out west could become interesting . the smog over Los Angeles could have an entire new component.