Weed Inc.

Dude. They're talking about legalizing weed in California.

It's no joke. As State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano holds a hearing today to discuss the "social, fiscal, and legal implications" of legalizing marijuana, it's worth noting how formalized the business of ganja is becoming in the Golden State.

Medical marijuana shops revitalized a run-down neighborhood in Oakland, spawning coffee shops and bakeries as well as clothing and gift stores. Dubbed Oaksterdam, the area even includes a school for legal pot dealers (Oaksterdam University).

Seeing the potential for revenue, Oakland officials held a public vote in July to decide whether to tax the legal medical marijuana stores, a move estimated to raise around $300,000 when it goes into effect next year. Eighty percent of Oakland voters approved the measure.

Now some folks are looking at the fiscal opportunity on the state level. Ammiano, chairman of the Assembly's Committee on Public Safety, estimates the state can raise $1.4 billion a year in extra revenue by legalizing and taxing marijuana. He sponsors a bill that would do just that. Sales estimates for legal and illegal pot are $14 billion to $15 billion a year.

"The state's finances clearly could benefit," Ammiano spokesman Quintin Mecke says.

While Ammiano's hearing today is an "informational" meeting, he plans to hold a more formal policy meeting in January, Mecke says. In addition to the Assembly proposal, there are at least three campaigns to hold statewide votes next year on legalization. According to one poll, half of the state's voters support the idea.

And the idea is worth debating, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says. While he hasn't fully endorsed legalizing, his call for a debate on the subject speaks volumes. And remember, this is the same guy filmed smoking a joint in the 1977 movie Pumping Iron and who once told a magazine that pot wasn't a drug: "It's a leaf."