Pubdate: Fri, 07 Nov 2014
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2014 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.utsandiego.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386
Note: Seldom prints LTEs from outside it's circulation area.

HITS AND MISSES IN POT LEGALIZATION MOVEMENT

The nationwide push to legalize marijuana for more and more people 
continued in this week's elections, but with mildly mixed results 
that may not give legalization advocates the full momentum they had 
hoped for as they consider another run at the biggest prize of all - 
California - in 2016.

In San Diego County on Tuesday, two more cities - Encinitas and La 
Mesa - rejected by solid margins propositions to legalize and 
regulate medical marijuana dispensaries. Similar propositions were 
soundly defeated in 2012 in Del Mar, Imperial Beach, Lemon Grove and 
Solana Beach.

Medical marijuana was also rejected Tuesday in Florida, but the 
electoral bar there was high. As a constitutional amendment, the 
Florida proposition required 60 percent approval. It got 57 percent.

Marijuana advocates had better success in Oregon, Alaska and the 
District of Columbia where initiatives to legalize marijuana for 
recreational uses all passed.

What this all means for California in two years is uncertain. 
California in 1996 became the first state in the nation to legalize 
marijuana for medical uses. But that initiative was horribly drafted, 
with nothing but problems in the 18 years since, leading many voters 
to sour on the legalization movement.

If there is to be another statewide legalization initiative, we can 
only hope that, unlike the 1996 proposition, its drafters recognize 
the legitimate concerns for public health and safety and that they 
seek to honestly address them, not pretend they don't exist.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom