Yvonne Wingett Sanchez

The Republic | azcentral.com

Marijuana supporters are launching a new "Buy American" theme in their campaign to legalize the drug for recreational use in Arizona.

On Tuesday, the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol plans to unveil a billboard in Tempe lauding how Arizonans would be able to "Buy American and Support Schools, Not Cartels," if voters approve their legalization proposal in 2016.

A retired U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency agent who investigated Mexican drug cartels will speak at a 10 a.m. news conference at the Tempe Marketplace shopping center.

The campaign, which has not yet turned in the 150,642 signatures needed to qualify for the November ballot, announced the plans in a Monday news advisory. The campaign is expected to soon turn its signatures in to the Arizona Secretary of State's Office.

“If Arizona regulates marijuana,” the billboard says, “adults could buy American,” instead of buying marijuana that has been illegally smuggled across the Mexican border into Arizona. The billboard also points out taxes collected from marijuana sales would "support schools, not cartels."

According to a Los Angeles Times story, Mexico is still a major marijuana supplier to the U.S., but its market share "is thought to have declined significantly," likely because of marijuana legalization by several U.S. states.

Arizona could see as much as $113 million in new tax revenue if it legalized marijuana for recreational use and imposed a 15 percent levy on the drug, according to a recent study by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol wants to ask voters to legalize the drug for recreational use. If approved, the measure would establish licensed shops where sales of the drugs would be taxed at 15 percent. The proceeds would fund education, including full-day kindergarten, and public health.

Under the proposed Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act, adults 21 and older could possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana and grow up to six plants in their homes without obtaining licenses, as long as the plants are in a secure area. The initiative also would create a Department of Marijuana Licenses and Control to regulate the "cultivation, manufacturing, testing, transportation and sale of marijuana."

Opponents of marijuana legalization have said potential revenues should not outweigh the potential costs of "bad public policy." Legalization, they have said, would be detrimental to education, public safety, public health and Arizona's quality of life. Business groups, wealthy donors and high-profile politicians — including Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey — oppose the initiative.