SACRAMENTO — California lawmakers took a first step toward legalizing marijuana when an Assembly committee approved legislation that would put the drug on the open market as a regulated and taxed product.

But it may have been more of a symbolic victory in a battle that will likely be next waged on the ballot.

Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, is considering either reintroducing the bill later this month, or waiting to see how a ballot measure to legalize marijuana fares in November. He was unable to move his bill, Assembly Bill 390, to the Health Committee, where it had to be heard before reaching the Assembly floor, in time to meet a Friday deadline for all 2009-introduced bills.

It is the first time in U.S. history that a bill that would legalize marijuana has passed a legislative committee, Ammiano said.

“This is a significant vote because it legitimizes the quest for debate, legitimizes the quest for discussion,” Ammiano said. “This is far from over. Not only did we get it out of (the) public safety (committee), but members are now willing to say, yes, this is worthy of discussion.”

Advocates hailed the narrow passage of the bill — it was approved by the Assembly Public Safety Committee on a 4-3 vote — as a major breakthrough that will lead to a national legalization movement.

Bay Area lawmakers were instrumental in getting the bill out of committee: Voting for it were Ammiano, Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley; and Assemblymen Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, and Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo. Opposing it were Assemblyman Curt Hagman, R-Chino Hills, Danny Gilmore, R-Hanford, and Warren Furutani, D-Long Beach.

“This is the formal beginning of the end of marijuana prohibition in the United States,” said Stephen Gutwillig, director of the Drug Policy Alliance Network.

The legislation drew fierce opposition from law enforcement groups and anti-drug advocates, who said it would empower drug cartels, make it marijuana more available to youths and send the wrong message about drug tolerance.

The bill would place a $50 fee on each ounce of marijuana sold to pay for drug education and treatment. Board of Equalization Chairwoman Betty Yee, who has endorsed the bill, said legalization would raise $1.4 billion in state revenues.

“We’re going to legalize marijuana and tax it and then educate our kids about the harms of drugs? You got to be kidding me,” said Assemblyman Danny Gilmore, R-Hanford, a retired 30-year CHP officer. “This is a classic example of the slippery slope. What’s next? Are we going to legalize methamphetamines or cocaine?”

Ammiano dismissed what he described as opponents’ “alarmist” views, saying the state should take heed of the growing movement in California toward legalization. A group backing a measure called the Tax and Regulate Initiative has collected enough signatures to place legalization on the November ballot, and Ammiano and others said it was important that lawmakers control the details of the policy.

Ammiano’s bill would remove all penalties in California law on cultivation, transportation, sale, purchase, possession and use of marijuana, natural THC, or paraphernalia for anyone older than 21.

Creating a legal, regulated market — which the bill’s proponents estimate to be $14 billion statewide — would severely cut into the violent underground drug market that controls marijuana sales today, said Aaron Smith, California policy director for the Marijuana Policy Project.

“Prohibition (of marijuana) has failed to stop or curb marijuana use or availability,” Smith said. “This legislation would end this insane policy of allowing this huge market to go completely unregulated and free of taxes.”

To think that legalizing marijuana would wipe out criminal trafficking is “not only naive but patently dangerous,” said Susan Manheimer, the San Mateo chief of police and acting president of the California Police Chiefs Association.

“Do we think they’re merely going to go away because it’s now been legalized or decriminalized?” Manheimer said. “No, they will be strengthened and will find ways to use fronts to become legal cultivators.”

But one group of police officers, judges and prosecutors — Law Enforcement Against Prohibition — said the benefits outweigh the negatives.

“This will decrease the money coming into the hands of the Mexican drug cartels,” said Jim Gray, a retired Orange County judge. “Marijuana will be less available to kids. It’s easier now to get marijuana than a six-pack of beer because all the drug dealers aren’t asking for their ID.”

Contact Steven Harmon at 916-441-2101.