Ha, Ha.
Too many pundits and newspapers are out there to inform us, very very seriously, that legalizing marijuana was "soundly" rejected, etc etc ad nauseum.
Don't believe the hype.
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Yes on 19 3,412,387 46%
Whitman , Meg GOP 3,088,070 41%
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Considering that Yes on 19 only raised a few million dollars, most of it in the final month...and Meg Whitman dropped 160$ million into her campaign (a new record)....
well, who's the real joke here?
And thank you Richard Lee, for putting up $1.4 million to get this on the ballot. It's a damn shame that the rest of the black market/grey market marijuana growers/dealers worked to slander you instead of standing up for what's right. It would have been beautiful to see Oakland turn into an Amsterdam of the West Coast. But the haters just don't want progress to be made.
Hey, Obama! Watup!
Are we supposed to see this as a big defeat? Nope. [What this dude said.]
And I better not point this out, don't want to upset the anti-pot d-bags crowing about prop 19's defeat-
Voters in 10 cities around the state on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed local measures to tax sales of medical and recreational pot.
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Voters in several cities also demonstrated that most Californians are comfortable with marijuana used for medical reasons and sold at storefront dispensaries. In Santa Barbara and Morro Bay, voters rejected bans on pot stores, while in Berkeley voters by a large margin approved a plan to allow six commercial marijuana factories in the city’s industrial zone.
With Proposition 19 failing, 54% to 46%, the 10 cities will not be able to approve recreational marijuana and tax it, but most will join Oakland in imposing taxes on medical marijuana sold in dispensaries. Long Beach had proposed the highest tax on legal marijuana at 15%, but several other cities had proposed 10% levies.
Last year, Oakland became the first city in the state to adopt a tax on medical marijuana. Voters passed it 80% to 20%, and other cities took notice. On Tuesday, Oakland voted to raise its tax on the sales of medical marijuana to 5%. With Oakland’s four dispensaries on track to sell pot worth $40 million this year, city officials estimate that the new tax will bring in $2 million.
In addition to Oakland and Long Beach, the California cities that approved pot tax measures were: Albany, Berkeley, La Puente, Rancho Cordova, Richmond, Sacramento, Stockton and San Jose.
Yes, it's sad to see that greed is, as those of us with experience in the cannabis industry know firsthand, a very powerful force in the cannabis "community". It's alway been there, the greed, stoked by the black market profits that Prohibition brings.
Sure, in the long run, this will be seen as a tragicomedy: you had the Emerald Triangle, prop 215 patients (advised by dispensaries), dispensary owners and employees, growers, street dealers, and irrational-paranoid types all form enough of a coalition to make the margin bigger than it should have been. Throw in the relatively low youth turnout, and the outcome actually wasn't that bad. At the very end of the debate, I noticed there was more celebrity support than I had heard about, which was interesting. (Hey, Phil Jackson, what's up?) But Kamala Harris looks to have beatenreefer-madness/wingnut Steve Cooley ! While Eric Holder was making controversial comments about medical mj, Obama was on the campaign trail with Harris. No one seems to know why her race was down to the wire, but the best part was how Cooley declared victory and declared a "victory" press conference and had to cancel. What a moran.
The medical cannabis ballot initiative in Arizona is not dead yet! (if there is something new guys, throw it up in comments.
http://www.thirdage.com/...
http://stopthedrugwar.org/...
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Richard Lee made a great statement on this. Am I allowed to post it in full? It was a press conference.
"The fact that millions of Californians voted to legalize marijuana is a tremendous victory. We have broken the glass ceiling. Prop. 19 has changed the terms of the debate. And that was a major strategic goal.
"Over the course of the last year, it has become clear that the legalization of marijuana is no longer a question of if but a question of when. Because of this campaign, millions now understand it's time to develop an exit strategy for the failed war on marijuana. Across the state our opponents, including many newspaper editorial boards that failed to properly understand Prop. 19, repeatedly stated that their quibbles were not with legalization in general. When we come back with a new initiative in 2012, there will be a seat at the table for all of these new stakeholders. And we will be coming back, stronger than ever.
"With limited resources this time around we were able to build an enormously powerful coalition of cops and moms, law professors and civil rights leaders, liberals and libertarians, conservatives and unions; all hungry for change. For the first time we were able to unite in favor of legalization. Groups like the National Black Police Association, the National Latino Officers Association, the California Council of Churches IMAPCT, California NAACP, SEIU of California, United Food and Commercial Workers Western States Council, members of the U.S. Congress, local Democratic party committees, state legislators and many, many individual law enforcers, faith leaders, civil rights activists, students, professors of law and business leaders said it's time for a new beginning. This coalition will only continue to grow in size and strength as we prepare for 2012.
"Even the establishment was divided. While Senator Dianne Feinstein lent her name to the opposition, others, realizing that legalization is on its way, got in front of the message. When Gov. Schwarzenegger signed SB 1449, the bill reducing marijuana offenses to an infraction, a few weeks ago, it was a clear concession to the power of the legalization movement and a recognition of the obvious failure of our marijuana laws. This singular change in law, brought about by the momentum of our campaign, will protect tens of thousands of Californians from arrest each and every year. It will save California taxpayers money, and it will make our streets safer. But it's only a start, and there's much more work to be done.
"And the American public will help bring about this change. A Gallup poll released just a few days ago found record support for legalization across the country, with 46 percent saying they think marijuana use 'should be made legal.' That's a bigger result than Gallup has ever recorded in its 40-year history asking this question.
"The issue is generational. Fully 70 percent of 18-29 year-olds are in favor of legalization. And, many of the biggest contributors to the campaign were younger and based in Silicon Valley, representing a changing of the guard of political influence and leadership. With the help of our coalition, many of these new leaders are going to bring about the change that is now inevitable. Inspired by the momentum we've generated with Prop 19 here in California, we're beginning to see other states gearing up for legalization efforts, both via ballot initiative in states like Washington, Nevada and Colorado, and in the state legislature in places like Rhode Island.
"And so, while we didn't bring in enough votes tonight to pass Prop. 19, we know that we have achieved an enormous moral victory, and that there are millions of people across the country who are prepared to help finish the job they started here today when we come back to the polls stronger than ever in 2012."
Location:
Oakland, CA
United States