Thursday, January 28, 2010

Californians to vote on legal weed for all in 2010

I know I've posted about California's 2010 marijuana legalization referendum twice already, but it's a little surreal, so I'm just making sure. But according to the LA Times, the referendum looks like a sure thing:

Supporters of legalized marijuana announced today that they have gathered about 700,000 signatures for their initiative, virtually guaranteeing voters will see it on the November ballot.

They plan to turn in the petitions today to elections officials in some of the state's major counties, including Los Angeles. Supporters need 433,971 valid signatures to qualify the measure.

What's interesting about the whole movement is that it isn't really a popular movement – if you believe the Times, it's the business community that has sprung up in the wake of Prop 215:

Four marijuana legalization initiatives have been proposed, but Lee’s is the only one that appears to have the financial support to make the ballot.

Lee's firm, one of the state's most successful marijuana businesses, has spent more than $1 million on the measure and hired professional consultants to run the campaign. Lee owns half a dozen mostly pot-related businesses in Oakland, including Coffeeshop Blue Sky, a medical marijuana dispensary, and Oaksterdam University, which offers classes on marijuana.

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