As California state legislators slashed funding for education and social services, and siphoned an additional $2 billion from local government treasuries, voters in Oakland found a way to put some back. On July 21, the city of 400,000 voted for a 1.8 percent extra sales tax on medical marijuana. The measure could raise nearly $300,000 in 2010 alone. State legislators are actually considering legalization. If the state passes the Marijuana Control, Regulation and Education Act, it could put zing in the state coffers to the tune of $1.38 billion a year.
And California is just one of 13 states that have legalized the possession and cultivating of small amounts of marijuana for medical use.
Marijuana is California's most lucrative crop — by a mile. Richard Lee, president of Oaksterdam University, an Oakland company that openly teaches people how to successfully grow and sell marijuana, estimates California's total 2009 haul at $15 billion. While there's no definitive information on how much of this is grown by mom-and-pops, as opposed to foreign drug operations, Lee believes that most of the smaller producers' medicine stays in-state.
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