Pubdate: Wed, 19 Feb 2014
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2014 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  http://www.mercurynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390
Author: Josh Richman
Page: A1

LEADING BID FOR LEGAL POT ON HOLD

California Coalition Ends Push for 2014 Ballot As Backers Try to
Better Organize Campaign

Despite polls indicating that Californians are poised to legalize pot,
the state's best shot for a marijuana measure has suddenly gone up in
smoke - and that likely means the Golden State will have to wait until
at least 2016 to catch up with other pot-friendly Western states.

Backers of the Control, Regulate and Tax Marijuana Act - including the
Drug Policy Alliance, bankrolled by billionaires such as fi nancier
George Soros and the late Peter Lewis - said Tuesday they will stop
gathering signatures to put the measure on the ballot this year.

"We decided it was more important to do it right than to do it fast,"
Stephen Gutwillig, the Drug Policy Alliance's deputy executive
director, said Tuesday. "We ultimately came quite close but just
decided we didn't have enough of the pieces in place right now."

Colorado and Washington have already legalized recreational pot, and a
Field Poll in December reported 55 percent of Californians now support
legalization - the first time in 44 years that the poll found a clear
majority favoring the change. That followed other polls earlier in
2013 showing fast-growing support for legalization - which thrilled
marijuana activists.

But that excitement didn't bring unity. Besides the Drug Policy
Alliance measure, two other legalization initiatives started
circulating in recent months - though neither seems to have the deep
pockets and grass-roots backing needed to successfully gain a
position on this November's ballot.

Disagreements

Proponents of the three measures were never able to come to terms over
how to legalize the weed. They disagreed on how marijuana sales would
be regulated, how much weed people could grow or possess, and how
legalization of recreational pot would interact with California's
existing medical marijuana laws.

The group Americans for Policy Reform still hopes to make a go of its
California Marijuana Control, Legalization and Revenue Act by April's
petition-signature deadline, but Dave Hodges - one of its proponents
- - said fundraising has been difficult, in part because the Drug Policy
Alliance's measure sucked all the air out of the room.

The campaign has raised only about $ 10,000 in recent weeks, and a
finance report shows the campaign was about $ 500 in the red as of
Dec. 31.

Yet Hodges, founder of San Jose's All American Cannabis Club, said he
hopes the money will start rolling in soon. He said the campaign's
short-term goal is about $ 3 million in order to get the measure on
the ballot.

"We're feeling really good about our chances," he said.

Alaska up next

Colorado and Washington voters approved their legalization measures in
November 2012, and Colorado stores began selling marijuana legally to
great fanfare on Jan. 1, while Washington is expected to start in
June. Alaskans are expected to vote on a measure in August; advocates
in Oregon hope to put a measure on November's ballot, but fundraising
has been slow.

In 2010, only 46.5 percent of Californians voted for Proposition 19, a
legalization measure, even though the Field Poll at that time pegged
support for legalization at 50 percent.

Federal law still bans the cultivation, sale, possession and use of
marijuana, though the Obama administration last week issued new
guidelines for federally regulated banks that work with marijuana-
related businesses in Colorado, Washington and the 20 states -
including California - where marijuana is legal for medicinal use.

Gutwillig said his coalition had thought it would be best for
California not to try another legalization measure until 2016, when
the presidential election would mobilize a larger, younger voter
population. But, he said, polling last year showed "Californians are
ready now to control marijuana in a different way; they see
legalization as inevitable."

So his group began hiring consultants, stepping up its research and
drafting a measure. The group fi led it with the state even before the
Field Poll came out in December.

Ultimately, however, the time frame proved too short, Gutwillig said
Tuesday. "If we had a couple more months, we would've been able to do
it," he said, noting that the coalition had lined up enough money to
put the measure on the ballot but not yet enough to run the full campaign.

Yet another measure - the California Cannabis Hemp Initiative - has
been circulating in recent months. Proponent Buddy Duzy, of Simi
Valley, couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday.

Duzy in late January resubmitted the measure to the state Attorney
General's Office, essentially restarting the clock for the measure and
thus making it almost impossible to gather enough signatures by
midApril to make November's ballot.
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MAP posted-by: Matt