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Always wanting to be a step ahead of other states and currently in the middle of a terrible budget deficit to the tune of $16 billion due to the recession, California may become the first state in the U.S. to legalize marijuana for recreational use and therefore make a killing off of taxes on the drug.

The Snitch, the San Francisco Weekly’s blog, broke the news yesterday that Assemblyman Tom Ammiano will introduce legislation to legalize marijuana in all forms, removing “all penalties in California law on cultivation, transportation, sale, purchase, possession, or use of marijuana, natural THC, or paraphernalia for persons over the age of 21,” according to Ammiano’s press secretary Quintin Mecke.

In addition, the bill would prohibit local and state police from enforcing federal marijuana laws and would place a tax on the sale of the substance in an amount of $50 per ounce. It’s estimated that this will bring in over $1 billion per year to the struggling California state government.

The question now becomes if a bill like this will make it though the legislature. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has yet to comment on the bill, but he has come out and said that the state really needs all the help that it can get right now. He famously thanked President Obama for the stimulus bill despite other Republicans’ opposition to it, and also criticized other Republican governors like South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford for saying they may refuse the money.

“I’ll take it. I’m more than happy to take his money or any other governor in this country that doesn’t want to take this money,” Schwarzenegger said on ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos.”

Perhaps if California does pass this bill other states will follow. It’s estimated that marijuana is the #1 U.S. cash crop, and recent polls show that the public opinion for legalization is approaching 50%. Perhaps the day is finally here and the government can stop wasting money and crowding our prisons with nonviolent pot smokers. A national pot tax wouldn’t completely solve this financial crisis, but it would be a great way to make up some of our lost revenue.