DealFlow Media is hosting The Marijuana Conference in San Francisco on June 16 and 17. This is the only non-biased event covering the business, legal, and health issues surrounding the growing debate over marijuana in the United States. MPP’s own Rob Kampia will be speaking on the opening panel discussing efforts to make marijuana legal in 2012.

For more information on the conference or to register, please visit: http://www.mjbusinessreport.com/conferences/mj_conference_11.cfm

The agenda for this two-day event covers everything from the legal and regulatory concerns, the economics of a small business or dispensary, tax implications, ancillary business opportunities, legislative updates, health issues, the structure of investments, and how federal and state laws impact businesses structuring start-up capital.

Some other guests include:

• Robert Raich, Esq.
• Dale Sky Jones, Coalition for Cannabis Policy Reform & Oaksterdam University
• Stephen DeAngelo, Harborside Health Center
• Ed Rosenthal, Quick Trading Company
• Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco)
• Angel McClary Raich, ARCH Collective
• Dr. Robert Martin, CW Analytical Laboratories
• Cheryl Brown, Medical Marijuana Business Alliance & CSSB Private Bank
• Henry Wykowski, Henry G. Wykowski & Associates
• Al Coles, CBD Science
• Nick Brusatore, Terrasphere LLC  & British Columbia Institute of Technology's Centre for Applied Research and Innovation Advisory Committee
• Annarae Grabstein, Steep Hill Lab
• Justin Hartfield, WeedMaps Media Inc. & General Cannabis Inc.
• Debby Goldsberry, United Cannabis Collective
• John Geluardi, Author: Cannabiz: The Explosive Rise of the Medical Marijuana Industry
• Ralph Morgan, Organa Labs
• Troy Dayton, The ArcView Group
• Steph Sherer, Americans for Safe Access
• Derek Peterson, GrowOp Technology

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“It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.”

- Justice Louis D. Brandeis, 1932

On Thursday, March 3, Rhode Island State Representatives Edith Ajello, Christopher Blazejewski, Peter Martin, Larry Valencia, and Donna Walsh introduced HB 5591, a bill that would tax and regulate the sale and distribution of marijuana within Rhode Island. This marks the second session in a row that Rep. Ajello has championed a sensible approach to marijuana in the Ocean State.

Introduction of this bill also serves to remind us that there are numerous courageous champions of marijuana policy living the eloquent words of Justice Brandeis above. The push to bring to an end to the unjust and destructive marijuana prohibition is, for the most part, coming not from our leadership in Washington, D.C., but from our elected state legislators.

State-level politicians are standing up and making the bold and rational choice to advocate for a “novel social and economic experiment” — ending marijuana prohibition and replacing it with a system of taxed and regulated marijuana distribution similar to the current legal system regulating alcohol, a much more damaging substance than marijuana. Assemblymember Tom Ammiano in California, Representative Mary Lou Dickerson in Washington, Representative Ellen Story in Massachusetts, and many of their colleagues have taken on the failed status quo and are leading the charge for sensible change.

Hear this, change will come. It may be via the ballot or by legislative proposal, but it will come. Support for legalizing marijuana is, and continues to be, on the rise. Sometime soon, some state (Colorado? Washington? California? Rhode Island?) will stand up and say enough is enough. How the federal government will respond is anyone’s guess. But one thing is clear: Several states led the way to repealing alcohol prohibition by refusing to participate in it, and states taking a sensible approach to marijuana will also lead the way to ending marijuana prohibition.

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Yesterday, the California Assembly's Public Safety Committee voted 4-3 in favor of legislation that would make marijuana legal, taxed, and regulated throughout the state. Before the vote, committee members heard supportive testimony from me and the Drug Policy Alliance's Stephen Gutwillig. Not surprisingly, A.B. 390's opponents were mostly entrenched law enforcement officials who make their living waging war on marijuana consumers.

A.B. 390 isn't likely to make it further this year due to a legislative deadline, but that shouldn't diminish the historical significance of this vote. Marijuana has been illegal for nearly 100 years in California and it's no small achievement for the first proposal to reform that arcane policy to be approved by a key legislative committee.

A.B. 390's author, Asm. Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), is committed to introducing similar legislation again in the near future. And, the looming November ballot initiative is also likely to be giving California lawmakers a reason to prioritize the regulation of marijuana in California.

You can watch the full hearing here.

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Tomorrow, I’ll be testifying before the California Assembly’s Committee on Public Safety during a hearing on A.B. 390 – legislation that would remove criminal penalties for personal adult marijuana use and tax and regulate its sales comparably to alcohol. After hearing testimony, the committee is very likely to vote on this landmark bill, which has been introduced by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), the committee's chair.

Regardless of the outcome, tomorrow’s hearing will mark a historic milestone in the road toward bringing the era of prohibition to a close. This is the first time in U.S. history that any state legislative committee will be voting on making marijuana legal, taxed, and regulated – and we actually have a chance of winning!

California residents: Please take a few minutes today to call your assemblymembers in support of A.B 390. MPP’s online action center couldn’t make calling any easier: Just enter your information and you’ll be provided with a phone number for your assemblymember and a script to help guide you through your call.

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Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending a first-of-its kind hearing on the “legalization and regulation of marijuana,” held in the California Assembly Committee on Public Safety. The three-hour hearing included testimony from experts who told the legislature that arresting adults for marijuana is a gross waste of police resources and that the only way to control marijuana is to end prohibition and institute regulations for its sale.

Witnesses advocating for reform included retired superior court judge James P. Gray and former San Francisco district attorney Terence Hallinan – both of whom have seen the futility of marijuana prohibition firsthand from inside the criminal justice system.

Some law enforcement organizations, who make a living arresting people for marijuana, also participated in the hearing. I'm sure readers of this blog won't be surprised to know that these entrenched interests employed their usual tactic of hyperbole and flat-out lies to scare legislators from supporting reform.

One thing is for sure, and it's that yesterday's hearing was another step forward in the march toward marijuana sanity. The more lawmakers and the voting public are exposed to the truth about marijuana and the effects of marijuana policy, the more likely they are call for an alternative to prohibition.

This informational hearing set the stage for another hearing and a vote on A.B. 390 -- legislation to tax and regulation marijuana -- that the Public Safety Committee is expected to hold in January.

Here is one of the news reports covering this historic hearing and both sides of the debate:

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In the shadow of California's historic budget crisis, MPP is airing a TV ad calling for an end to marijuana prohibition in the state.

The 30-second spot features a marijuana consumer who - along with millions of others in in the state - wants to pay taxes to help bridge California's massive budget gap. Nadene Herndon, 58, declares that "instead of being treated like criminals for using a substance safer than alcohol, [marijuana consumers] want to pay our fair share."

The ad will be running on cable and network TV all over California beginning today:

There's a litany of reasons to end marijuana prohibition, but the financial benefits have recently amplified calls for reform in California. In February, State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) introduced a bill that would make marijuana legal for adults over 21, and tax and regulate it comparably to alcohol. The annual state tax revenue from legal marijuana sales is estimated at about $1.3 billion - enough to pay the salaries of 20,000 California schoolteachers.

Not everyone in California wants both sides of the debate aired. Some networks actually refused to run the ad based on the bizarre assertion that it somehow supports illegal drug use

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