While not all out advocating the legalization of marijuana, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said it's time for California to "study whether to legalize and tax marijuana for recreational use." today, according to the Sacramento Bee. When asked about a Field Poll showing that a majority of Californians support legalizing and taxing mary jane to raise revenues for economically-strapped California, Arnold had this to say:
Well, I think it's not time for that, but I think it's time for a debate ... I think all of those ideas of creating extra revenues, I'm always for an open debate on it. And I think we ought to study very carefully what other countries are doing that have legalized marijuana and other drugs, what effect did it have on those countries?
Back in 197, in the homoerotic documentary Pumping Iron, the future governor of California was shown taking a massive rip from a joint, saying, "That is not a drug. It's a leaf." What's more, last year, Schwarzenegger's home country, Austria, authorized the legalization of medical marijuana.
SFist asked Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, who is looking to legalize the kind bud, for his thoughts on today's announcement, "With a majority of Californians now supporting legalization, I look forward to working with the Governor and my colleagues in the effort to be the first state in the nation to enact common sense policy on marijuana," he tells us.
