cannabisnews.com: Calif. Voters To Decide Whether To Legalize Pot



cannabisnews.com: Calif. Voters To Decide Whether To Legalize Pot
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Calif. Voters To Decide Whether To Legalize Pot
Posted by CN Staff on March 24, 2010 at 19:30:25 PT
By Cathy Bussewitz, Associated Press
Source: Associated Press
CA -- California voters will decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana use for adults, after the secretary of state on Wednesday certified the initiative for the November ballot.It would become the first state to legalize recreational marijuana use if the proposition is approved. Marijuana use is legal for medicinal purposes in California and 14 other states, but the drug is illegal under federal law.
Secretary of State Debra Bowen certified that the petitions seeking to place the question on the ballot had more than 433,971 valid voter signatures, the minimum number needed to qualify.If approved, the initiative would allow those 21 years and older to possess up to one ounce of marijuana, enough to roll several marijuana cigarettes. Residents also could cultivate the plant in limited quantities.The proposal would ban users from ingesting marijuana in public or smoking it while minors are present. It also would make it illegal to possess the drug on school grounds or drive while under its influence.Local governments would decide whether to permit and tax marijuana sales."The tide has turned," said Dan Newman, a strategist with the campaign backing the measure. "The combination of the broken budget and dysfunctional cannabis laws have created the perfect storm for this initiative to pass in November."Opponents refer to marijuana as a gateway drug, meaning its use is believed to lead young people to try other, harder drugs. They worry that legalization would persuade more people to try it, worsening the nation's drug culture."How can our kids say no when the adults around them are saying yes?" asked Aimee Hendle, a spokeswoman for Californians for Drug Free Youth.Proponents of the measure say legalizing marijuana could save the state $200 million a year by reducing public safety costs and could generate tax revenue for local governments.Stephen Gutwillig, California director for the Drug Policy Alliance, said certification of the ballot initiative marks a watershed moment in the decades-long struggle."Banning marijuana outright has been a profound disaster, fueling a massive, increasingly brutal underground economy, wasting billions in scarce law enforcement resources and making criminals of countless law-abiding citizens," he said.The initiative is the second proposal to qualify for the November 2010 ballot. The other is a $11.1 billion water bond measure that was pushed by state lawmakers.Source: Associated Press (Wire)Author: Cathy Bussewitz, Associated PressPublished: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 Copyright: 2010 The Associated PressURL: http://drugsense.org/url/gevdP1LqCannabisNews  -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #12 posted by Storm Crow on March 25, 2010 at 09:59:46 PT
gloovins and canis420.......
Give me a yell at i.wantgrannyslist(at)greenpassion.org and I'll send you both the special "Equinox Update" - 250 pages of links to scientific MJ studies, and news articles about them!(Just be sure to use the word "equinox" in your email or I may send you the "small" -150 pages- list) Makes convincing folks a lot easier when you have hundreds of studies in hand, all saying that cannabis is medicine! I do have to say that this version of the list isn't perfect. It's just the preview for July's update- I've got some double entries, and minor cosmetic problems, but no actual data errors, that I know of. I'm just sharing this version with a few folks who will really know how to use it! You both qualify!
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Comment #11 posted by herbdoc215 on March 25, 2010 at 09:33:33 PT
Shielde, it is a Latin speicies name
thus an English spell checker will say it's misspelled? It has to do with old (Linnaeus) scientific nomenclature is all, as it is a holdover of an old system. ALL cannabis is really just one species and the indica thing is only a cultivar not a true species according to claudistics (system we use now for naming that takes DNA into account on families and such?) and there really is only one other plant in the entire Cannabidacea family and that is hops which produces a VERY similar drug as cannabis called Humulin that is why beer drinkers enjoy their beverage of choice so much...ironic, eh? peace, steve
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Comment #10 posted by Canis420 on March 25, 2010 at 01:49:48 PT:
Gloovins
Good luck, spread the word, make it happen! Hemp waffles for all! Good wishes from Florida...we all wanna see it!
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Comment #9 posted by gloovins on March 25, 2010 at 01:20:30 PT
The real question...
Why would anyone in their right mind want to only legally offer only killer alcohol and pills and not a non-toxic herb to the masses?Only those with a vested interest in keeping it illegal.Something to ask the otherwise uneducated.Our time in Calif has come. It's all about education at this point. Telling people the truth about this plant. Hell, this legalization of this plant is just the start. We need to tie this in to the hemp movement and get our green on! Textiles, fuel, fiber etc! Let's make jobs, let's promote change, lets make some money for US farmers, let's help mother earth & our air & land, lets allievate pain & suffering, lets promote free speech & assembly, let's have another realistic bio-diesel choice at the pump, let's rein in cops & free them up to battle real crime, lets have hemp waffles!, let's educate people & most important: let's do the right thing and LEGALIZE IT ALREADY! 
Hope all are well, I am going to make it my personal mission to educate every potential calif voter I meet before the Nov election to sway them to vote for this proposition....
Stay well Martha - I hope Ohio is treating u good, much love 2 you & all c-news readers :) 
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Comment #8 posted by Universer on March 24, 2010 at 23:25:30 PT
GCW
Good catch.I am obliquely involved in the sports world, and therefore I know -- and it should be surpriseless to all of you -- that the "personnel men" SI refers to are almost invariably old, white, crusty, upper-class men with absolutely nothing in common with the players they're deigning to evaluate other than a pig skin in an oblong form.To them, "marijuana" is as it was in the 1970s and '80s: the most base, vile, dirty substance one could ingest, when a single admission of a single use was tantamount to devil-worship and grounds for excommunication or expulsion. They are the brainwashed masses of a brainwashed generation with a bygone mindset, wholly unprepared to accept "dope" as an acceptable item for use by anyone, let alone underprivileged black athletes.So naturally they're "concerned."Our duty, I contend, is to respond, to teach them in our inimitable way the errors of their thinking, and be not dissuaded by their refusal to learn.Remember a few months ago when Tim Lincecum, a two-time Cy Young Award-winning pitcher with the San Francisco Giants, was caught with a dab of weed in his car? It was a story for maybe a day, and the overwhelming sentiment on the comment board on ESPN.com was: So the fudge what?A few weeks later, he signed a huge multi-year contract. Evidently the Giants didn't care either.I see this as a positive step, away from the dark days when a single THC test in the affirmative would result in an automatic gainsay of a person's future. There are so many people now who consume cannabis either medicinally or recreationally that the Powers can't kick us all out. There'd be hardly anyone left, and none with creativity.It's like a form of overgrow.Hail Mary (Jane)!
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Comment #7 posted by The GCW on March 24, 2010 at 22:18:59 PT
Sports Illustrated illustrates discrimination
One of the things that will change is the discrimination.Example:NFL Personnel Men Concerned by Marijuana 'Epidemic' in Draft ClassBy Don Banks, Sports Illustrated - Wednesday, March 24 2010 http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/content/2010/03/24/NFL-Personnel-Men-Concerned-Marijuana-Epidemic-Draft-Class-0-It ironic these 2 stories come out in the same day.Pro sports athletes which are allowed to consume alcohol responsibly should be allowed to use cannabis responsibly too. To do otherwise is discrimination.The NFL has a problem and California will help them fix it.
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Comment #6 posted by The GCW on March 24, 2010 at 21:43:10 PT
Welcome news.
This next step:"the secretary of state on Wednesday certified the initiative for the November ballot"has been completed.This is very welcome news. I AM well pleased.
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Comment #5 posted by Shielde on March 24, 2010 at 21:08:26 PT
Non-violent Peaceful Protest
Just a random thing before i start why is it when typing "cannabis sativa" sativa is considered to be misspelled. One idea I have had to protest the continued prohibition of all types of cannabis sativa would be to import large amounts of viable hemp seeds. Then have persons go to every state in the USA and sew the seeds on the side of the roads. The persons would more than likely need to sew the seeds more than 8 - 10 feet from the side of the road because this is where most road workers stop their work.I know that viable hemp seeds are illegal. The feds and news persons would probably claim that unknown people have been spreading marijuana plants across the country due to the non distinction of industrial hemp and recreational, medical, and spiritual cannabis
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on March 24, 2010 at 20:17:06 PT
Universer 
We have made so much progress since Obama became President. People have stepped out and just aren't afraid like they were. We are making changes from the bottom up not the top down like he said we should do. I find it so peaceful moving forward the way we are. No anger just action. It's a good thing.
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Comment #3 posted by Had Enough on March 24, 2010 at 20:15:29 PT
Prohibition Complex...
“”"How can our kids say no when the adults around them are saying yes?" asked Aimee Hendle, a spokeswoman for Californians for Drug Free Youth.””Ms Hendle...Your “Party of No” and all your lies are about done...get a life...a new job...and leave those kids alone. You are just another ‘Brick in the Wall” and that wall is being torn down. You can either lead...follow...or better yet...get the Hell out of the way...%uck...Fight..or Hold the Light...your choice***Now here is something Ms Hendle and people of her ‘Party of No’ and their entire ilk need to hear & understand...Stephen Gutwillig says...””"Banning marijuana outright has been a profound disaster, fueling a massive, increasingly brutal underground economy, wasting billions in scarce law enforcement resources and making criminals of countless law-abiding citizens,"””But then again...I think they, the prohibitionists, do understand...and are purposely keeping the ruse going...which makes them even more evil than someone who has been brainwashed and carrying their torch for them.
All fueled by the pee testing industry...industrial prison complex...pharmaceutical industry...alcohol industry...chemical industry...on and on...************Pink Floyd - Another Brick In The Wall(Live)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZbM_MIz4RM&feature=related
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Comment #2 posted by Universer on March 24, 2010 at 19:55:02 PT
Dream of Californication
California dreamin'.I won't be truly satisfied until the vote is in the affirmative, and the government in Sacramento creates law in conformity with the voters' wishes.But this is a big large huge fat enormous gigantic healthy step.Let's run hard through the finish line.
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Comment #1 posted by HempWorld on March 24, 2010 at 19:45:16 PT
Yeah Baby!
Let's do this!
Legalise it now, before USA is really bankrupt!
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