I think you have to safegaurd the market, you have to allow reasonable limits on the amount of plants grown, those are details that must be filled in by all of us that would benefit from such a ballot initiative. 22 State have some form of ballot initiative there is not a Federal one. Politicians are waking up and the general public is tired of hearing about it. We can make everyone pay attention at the local level and get it done while they sleep.
I gathered signatures to put medical marijuana on the ballot and attended the meeting where the board certified the signatures, they were stunned. The politicians had been dodging the question with..." Well lets see them get it on the ballot" type bullshit, now its kinda hard for them to come out in support. We are losing everything at the state level just like your state is, California's governor wants to cut state workers back to minimum wage its so bad, and ending the prohibition of Marijuana can be shown to fix this problem IF, it is done in a logical way that is acceptable for the general public. If its not, we will just continue what we are doing now, growing $30 with a B, of untaxed. And the US will go bankrupt. If you follow all of the argument put forth by LEAP, you will see that this is really about saving this country. We have to save the politicians from themselves. Make a legal market for product grown in the United States, of course that would have to be grown in the state were it is purchased. You have to do it at state level. Why?? Because you can specifically show 'Whats in it for me', without getting into all the political bullshit. How did we get a State Lottery and Legal Casino's? They sold us the benefits, school funding, revenue, tourism, jobs. I think they may even pay for some of the advertising about Gambling Responsibly. We have a record deficit, almost 1/2 trillion dollars, and that is just at the federal level, the states can't have deficits, they are going to have to raise taxes or cut services, we could bail them out with legal weed, I don't want to do it forever, and that is why you have to write an end to the sintax into the petition. It starts at $45.00/ oz, sold in 1/4 oz pckages at a minimum of $45.00. According to the Michigan Department of Agriculture, Marijuana is the third leading crop grown in Michigan, retailing around $4000/ lb average. $720 of that would be the sintax, did I mention its included in the MInimum price, and you would pay the normal 6% sales tax to avoid hassels and give another little source of income, plus the facts that it is now a recorded sale, tracking for effect can be set up as easily as the lottery machine, you could even put software in any scan register.
We could say, ok folks, here is the program, now lets talk about the expected effects. 70,000 pounds @ $720.00 per pound + the 6% sales tax on the average retail sale of $4000.00 for the 70,000 and the increased revenue thru the store, more business for the small businesses. And we haven't even started about talking about the savings to law enforcement, the corrections department or the increase in tourism, which I guess would have to be our number one industry, since the decline of the auto manufacturing jobs.
Have I got you sold yet or should I tell you more?? VV
