Proponents of the "Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010" submitted over 700,000 signatures, far more than the needed 433,000, to the Secretary of State, who should confirm the signatures by June 24th, assign a number to it and then we are off.
Proposition TBD will be the highest profile most fiercely contested proposition this year. It will be this year's Proposition 8 in terms of money spent, media coverage both locally and nationally. It will be hotly contested and it likely will not be along party lines.
And this is not some half-assed attempt to legalize marijuana.
"This isn't your teenager's cannabis initiative. ... This was carefully crafted to build a winning coalition of supporters," said Dan Newman, a partner with SCN Strategies.
Sac Bee
The new initiative would allow California residents to cultivate up to 25 square feet of pot and possess or transport up to 1 ounce. It would include fines and criminal sanctions for providing marijuana to minors.
The initiative would allow cities to tax pot sales and regulate how much pot can be sold legally. It would permit individual cities to ban local sales but let citizens possess and consume marijuana.
I will vote for this, and you know what, I don't smoke pot....at all. But I think it is about damn time. It is an incredible waste of resources, this unnecessary criminalization of a substance that is far less dangerous than something that is sold in grocery stores around the country (alcohol) and kill less people than a substance that has received government subsidies for decades (tobacco). I am not going to sit here and say it is harmless, it isn't, but it is hardly harmful enough to make it worthy of criminalization. But this could raise money through taxes, free up law enforcement resources, manpower and money for other REAL crimes. These things have been discussed ad infinitum on DKos (although I must say I am a bit dubious at the revenue projections, but it doesn't matter, if it raised not one nickel it should still be legalized)
But there are those who disagree:
The initiative will face dogged opposition from law enforcement, church and anti-drug groups.
"This will be a serious campaign," said John Lovell, a lobbyist for the California Peace Officers Association, a group organizing opposition. "They will raise and spend $10 million to $15 million. We will raise a fraction of that. And we will win ...
"The fact is that you can't make a case for legalization of another mind-altering substance."
Bishop Ron Allen, president of the International Faith-Based Coalition, a Sacramento group representing 3,600 congregations, said "angry church leaders" will do "whatever it is going to take to fight this to the very end."
And if the church wants something they are pretty good at getting their message out. Luckily our side is not pussyfooting around:
Lee, whose school specializes in pot law and cultivation, donated more than $1 million for the petition drive to qualify the measure. Proponents said they hope to raise as much as $10 million for the campaign.
The pro-pot coalition has signed on with a prominent San Francisco political consulting firm, SCN Strategies. Proponents also are working with an Internet fundraising firm, Blue State Digital, that helped create the Web network for Barack Obama's presidential campaign.
Vote Yes on Proposition TBD!!!