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Saturday, March 19, 2011

California to Try Marijuana Legalization Ballot Measure Again

Needless to say, every baby step toward a more civil libertarian attitude toward consensual recreational adult drug use should be championed. Every baby step away from panic-based prohibitionist drug policy and toward saner harm-reduction based drug policy should be championed. Every baby in the demolition of the catastrophically failed and racist War on (only some) Drugs should be championed.

From the LATimes:
The campaign behind a failed initiative to legalize marijuana in California announced Friday it had formed a new committee to put another measure on the ballot. The Coalition for Cannabis Policy Reform 2012 aims to build on the unusual support that coalesced around Proposition 19, which would have allowed adults to grow and possess marijuana and authorized cities and counties to legalize and tax sales.

That campaign drew backing from the California NAACP and the Latino Voters League, which saw it as a way to end disproportionate arrests of African Americans and Latinos for marijuana crimes. Labor leaders in the Bay Area also got behind it, bringing endorsements from some major unions, which saw a legal pot industry as a potential source of union jobs….

Proposition 19 lost 46%-54% in November, but it drew worldwide media attention and stimulated a vigorous debate over the nation's drug policies. Polls have shown growing support for marijuana legalization nationwide, and a post-election poll in California suggested the measure might have passed if proponents had had the money for a campaign to reach swing voters.

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