In addition, legalizing marijuana would save the state hundreds of millions of dollars wasted on enforcing stupid drug laws and in trials, transport and housing of drug offenders.

A Rasmussen Reports poll released this week shows that 40% of Americans favor making marijuana legal (4). What is interesting is not that 60% are opposed it's that only 46% disagree and 14% are not sure, so we're close to the tipping point. If California passes the pro-pot legislation and other states see how much money is saved on prisons and how much is gained in taxes, the rest of the nation will quickly follow suit. If pot is legalized nationwide then this economic crisis will have been worth it. Talk about a silver lining.

ENDNOTES

(1):

WSJ, Ruling on California Prison Overcrowding: Cut 57,000 Prisoners

The ruling came in the midst of a lawsuit brought by inmates claiming that the California prison system had deprived them of a constitutional level of medical and health care.

Their order is not final, but U.S. District Court Judges Thelton Henderson and Lawrence Karlton and the Ninth Circuit’s Stephen Reinhardt — a left-of-center panel, to be sure — effectively told the state that it had lost the trial and would have to make dramatic changes in its prisons unless it could reach a settlement with inmates’ lawyers.

“There is... uncontroverted evidence that, because of overcrowding, there are not enough clinical facilities or resources to accommodate inmates with medical or mental health needs at the level of care they require,” the judges wrote in a 10-page decision.

Here is the ruling (PDF) courtesy of the LA Times.

(2):

Civil Liberties Examiner, 10 Feb 2009, California needs to release prisoners; here's a good place to start

Of those 170,129 inmates, 33,738 people, or 19.8%, were imprisoned for drug crimes. The largest proportion of those inmates -- 13,456 -- were serving time for simple possession. But really, none of these people should suffer legal penalty simply for using or trading in officially disapproved intoxicants with other willing adults. If California is serious about alleviating its prison overcrowding problem and leaving some room for real criminals, returning this one-fifth of the inmate population to freedom is a good place to start. ... Well, 6,530 people, or 3.8% of the prison population, were behind bars at the end of 2007 for simple possession of a weapon. Given California's increasingly draconian laws, that's all too easy a "crime" to commit without actually doing anything wrong. Turn them loose, too, unless they face other charges for crimes against people or property.

Inmates convicted of prostitution and gambling are probably classified among those prisoners held for "other sex offenses" (2,776) and "other offenses" (3,903). Let them go. And tell them to have fun, while they're at it.

Do that and you've already released more than half of the required inmates without setting free a single murderer, rapist or burglar, without tinkering with sentences, and without building another prison. By letting loose inmates who never did anything wrong, California could start to alleviate its prison overcrowding problems even as it creates a more-free society, without breaking a sweat.

(3):

SF Weekly, Legalize It: Ammiano to Introduce Legislation Monday to Allow Pot -- and Tax It

Quintin Mecke, Ammiano's press secretary, confirmed to SF Weekly that the assemblyman's 10 a.m. Monday press conference regarding "new legislation related to the state's fiscal crisis" will broach the subject of reaping untold -- and much-needed -- wealth from the state's No. 1 cash crop.

Mecke said Ammiano's proposed bill "would remove all penalties in California law on cultivation, transportation, sale, purchase, possession, or use of marijuana, natural THC, or paraphernalia for persons over the age of 21."

The bill would additionally prohibit state and local law officials from enforcing federal marijuana laws. As for Step Two -- profit -- Ammiano's bill calls for "establishing a fee on the sale of marijuana at a rate of $50 per ounce." Mecke said that would bring in roughly $1 billion for the state, according to estimates made by marijuana advocacy organizations.

(4):

Rasmussen Reports, 19 Feb 2009, 40% Say Marijuana Should Be Legalized

The marijuana debate has come a long way since “Reefer Madness.”

While the Michael Phelps incident has brought the recreational use of pot back into the spotlight, much of the news about the drug in recent years has focused on whether it should be legalized for medical purposes, primarily to reduce pain for cancer victims.

In a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey, Americans are closely divided on the question of whether marijuana should be legalized: 40% say it should be, while 46% disagree. Fourteen percent (14%) are not sure which course is better.