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# Medical marijuana touted as cure for cities' budget woes
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/270720090841_medical_marijuana_touted_as_cure_for_cities_budget_/
- Published: 2009-07-27T20:40:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-15T12:24:42.000Z
- Description: After Oakland voters backed a marijuana tax expected to raise about $294,000 in its first year, San Francisco and Berkeley are weighing similar measures. A state bill and a proposed 2010 ballot initiative would legalize and tax cannabis more broadly.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Miscellaneous, Health News, Marijuana, #vivvo-import

By Rachel Stockton ([rachels@foodconsumer.org](mailto:rachels@foodconsumer.org)) 

In the aftermath of the overwhelming support for marijuana taxation in Oakland last week, other cities in California, such as San Francisco and Berkeley, are looking to similar legislation as a possible reprieve from dire financial straits.By the end of next year, the Oakland marijuana tax is expected to bring into the local coffers approximately $294,000 the first year. Statewide, officials believe that an official pot club tax could assuage some of the huge debt California is stuck with. Assemblyman Tom Ammiano introduced a bill this year to legalize and tax marijuana. Additionally, a group of defense lawyers have proposed the "Tax, Regulate and Control Cannabis Act.” The proposal needs nearly ½ million signatures to make it to the November 2010 ballot. The Oakland legislation is, at least in part, a result of Obama’s promise not to raid licensed, medical marijuana dispensaries. Although medical marijuana is legal in the state of California, at the federal level, it is still very illegal – and federal law usurps state law in just about every instance. Any such legislation to tax dispensaries would have been moot under the Bush administration, which stringently and actively raided them.The legalization or decriminalization of cannabis is likely to remain a hot topic in the coming months. Those in favor of removing legal barriers to the drug say that the effects of marijuana are much less extreme than that of alcohol; those against legalization believe that the number of addicted persons will increase, should weed suddenly become assessable. According to the New York Times, 9% of adults who have ever tried pot eventually become addicted. That percentage jumps to 30% of those who smoke it daily.