Clarkston hikes minimum wage to $15; OKs no arrest for small pot possession (Atlanta: sale, how much)

[Airforceguy]

Officials in Clarkston, Ga., just east of Atlanta, voted Tuesday to raise the minimum wage of city workers to $15 an hour, and to reduce the punishment for anyone found with an ounce or less of marijuana.

The $15 hourly wage is almost three times that of Georgia’s official minimum wage of $5.15, reports Atlanta Business Chronicle broadcast partner WXIA.

Clarkston officials have said for some time that they want less stringent marijuana laws. On Tuesday, officials approved a measure that says a person who possesses one ounce or less of the drug would only receive a fine of $75 with no arrest, the station reports.

http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/m...15-oks-no.html

[cqholt]

Good for them.

[DreamerD]

Originally Posted by Airforceguy

http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/m...15-oks-no.html

Wow! That's great news!

[ATLTJL]

Exactly how many city workers are there in Clarkston? I'd venture to say just a small handful. It sounds like this only applies to people who work for the city, not anybody who works IN the city.

[waronxmas]

The marijuana law is the bigger news here. You know good and well that the bubbas at the Gold Dome will have a big problem with this. It'll go to court, and god willing, make it all the way to the Supreme Court to challenge the legality of the marijuana laws in Georgia. With Colorado and Washington's precedent, we might actually have a path to full legalization.

Don't think this will take a generation to sort out either. If I told you just a few years ago that gay marriage would be legal here, and the law of the land everywhere, you would have looked at me like I was crazy.

[PKCorey]

Originally Posted by waronxmas

The marijuana law is the bigger news here. You know good and well that the bubbas at the Gold Dome will have a big problem with this. It'll go to court, and god willing, make it all the way to the Supreme Court to challenge the legality of the marijuana laws in Georgia. With Colorado and Washington's precedent, we might actually have a path to full legalization.

Not going to happen. Someone is going to introduce a bill that says only the state has the power to change marijuana laws and they will override this bill.

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by PKCorey

Not going to happen. Someone is going to introduce a bill that says only the state has the power to change marijuana laws and they will override this bill.

Ah yes, the special 'small government' method of overriding local control. It worked so well in North Carolina!

Honestly, Georgia, were it really business minded, would be clawing at the chance to legalize weed. We are an agricultural state, after all, and could make so much money on the farming, industrialization, regulation, and sale of the stuff.

I don't even smoke, but I think we aught to be establishing ourselves as leaders in the inevitable industry of legal marijuana. Let's grow it here, sell it here, tax it here, and figure out, in conjunction with the other legal states, how to show the rest of the country to run it.

Heck, between Emory and GT, we could even develop the 'sober test' for deciding if a person is dangerously under the influence or not, then produce whatever machines / test materials are needed right here in the state. BAM. New jobs.

We could take all the revenue from taxes collected to offset the lottery earnings, and really pad out the HOPE scholarship, if not introduce more education funding entirely.

[PKCorey]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

Ah yes, the special 'small government' method of overriding local control. It worked so well in North Carolina!

Honestly, Georgia, were it really business minded, would be clawing at the chance to legalize weed. We are an agricultural state, after all, and could make so much money on the farming, industrialization, regulation, and sale of the stuff.

I don't even smoke, but I think we aught to be establishing ourselves as leaders in the inevitable industry of legal marijuana. Let's grow it here, sell it here, tax it here, and figure out, in conjunction with the other legal states, how to show the rest of the country to run it.

Heck, between Emory and GT, we could even develop the 'sober test' for deciding if a person is dangerously under the influence or not, then produce whatever machines / test materials are needed right here in the state. BAM. New jobs.

We could take all the revenue from taxes collected to offset the lottery earnings, and really pad out the HOPE scholarship, if not introduce more education funding entirely.

UGA could come up with good farming practices as well .

That's forward thinking that is not going to happen here anytime soon.

Heck, they should be changing the state law as well to make marijuana a ticketable offense but

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

Ah yes, the special 'small government' method of overriding local control. It worked so well in North Carolina!

Honestly, Georgia, were it really business minded, would be clawing at the chance to legalize weed. We are an agricultural state, after all, and could make so much money on the farming, industrialization, regulation, and sale of the stuff.

I don't even smoke, but I think we aught to be establishing ourselves as leaders in the inevitable industry of legal marijuana. Let's grow it here, sell it here, tax it here, and figure out, in conjunction with the other legal states, how to show the rest of the country to run it.

Heck, between Emory and GT, we could even develop the 'sober test' for deciding if a person is dangerously under the influence or not, then produce whatever machines / test materials are needed right here in the state. BAM. New jobs.

We could take all the revenue from taxes collected to offset the lottery earnings, and really pad out the HOPE scholarship, if not introduce more education funding entirely.

The economic impact is one of the things that make the arguments against legalization the oddest. Just look at how much money Colorado has generated since legalization that they have pumped back in to their State. Imagine how much larger the market would be here from cultivation to sales. It should be a Legislators wet dream.

[John Williams]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

Ah yes, the special 'small government' method of overriding local control. It worked so well in North Carolina!

It's funny how the concept of "small government" is praised just as long as said government follows the conservative status quo. The moment it strays from that, said "small government" gets curbed.