The eyes of the country were on California’s Prop 19, a ballot measure to legalize and tax recreational marijuana. Although voters showed very strong support it did not pass. The results were 46% in favor and 54% against.
The campaign took place on the opposite coast but made ripples locally in NJ and PA. My role as a local marijuana advocate puts me in direct contact with dozens of state legislators and their staff in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Almost every one of them have found a moment to ask about Prop 19 over the last few months. Many expressed direct support.
It’s not just state officials who asked about the initiative either. It has been mayors, city councilors, lobbyists, lawyers, doctors, government workers, reporters, my neighbors…pretty much everyone.
In many ways the “Yes on 19” campaign has indeed helped put the writing on the wall with for the end of national pot prohibition in permanent green marker.
The local Philly and NJ NORML chapters were brimming with enthusiasm for the effort. Many NJ/PA locals donated cash, time or their social media to Prop 19.
But the fact that so many local elected officials on all levels and from both parties have been so keen to realistically discuss legalizing and taxing marijuana, even for just a moment, has shown me that the Prop 19 campaign was a success 3,000 miles away.
A few weeks ago US Attorney General Eric Holder flew to California to announce that the federal government would continue vigorous enforcement of federal cannabis prohibition laws in CA, no matter what happened with the voting.
Poll numbers began to slip. Of course, it was a hollow threat. If the fed had the resources or political will it would have already shut down the underground pot market of California. Still, Holder’s statements were the only real cogent opposition to Prop 19.
Holder’s presence also allowed traction for opposition groups internal to the California marijuana community. The debate within was not about legalization, it was about who makes the profit when it happens. With the fed keeping up the pressure on the larger business operators many decided to hold out for a bigger cut of the pie than the tax scheme proposed under Prop 19.
The might of the United States government turned out to be just enough to hold back voter approved recreational cannabis legalization in CA. Proponents in California are already looking towards a renewed effort in 2012.
But Prop 19 garnered national participation. It is the hope of many who volunteered that the enthusiasm, money and support found for the effort can be focused on Congress and the White House. That way marijuana prohibition can end for everyone, not just a single state.
Comments
this is dumb pot should be legal !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
any honky who wants to touch my ass is gana get a big lump of doodooo in there potatoes salad ! ..............420!
IF you're against hemp/marijuana...you're simply uneducated.
this goes to show you as soon as profit is involved on either side. Legalization will remain a connudrum for the govt. However if we can begin to form hemp initiatives to allow for the Hemp production MJ will follow . Thats what NORML should be pushing. That is the flip side to the psychoactive component of the plant , and that can be be easily advertised because of the FACT that it has no significant psychoactive materials.
Last night on late night TV, Jimmy Fallon made a joke referencing the failure of Prop 19. The crowd loudly expressed their discontent with the failure of its election outcome. The real failure was political. Not enough supporters came out to vote.
There is a spectrum of public perceptions on marijuana with the far left being Prop 19, the far right being the total federal prohibition on hemp. The real politik is that the American public wants it somewhere in the middle.
The vote against Prop 19 was a vote in favor of continued controls,..and not that of continued prohibition.
The vote indicates a continued Medicalization of pot, where doctors will prescribe it, like a drug. Doctors should then counsel patients about the potential harms of weed, like a drug. Physicians will need to monitor and adjust its use in the individual patient, like a drug.
It is time for the DEA to change the classification of marijuana. It is a Controlled Dangerous Substance, Schedule I (No medical use and harmful, like Heroin,)...It should be declassified to a schedule II, like a drug, a drug your doctor can prescribe, if he or she is qualified, and if you the patient has an indication for it, and no disqualifying issues...like a medicinal drug,
I was watching a show last night on the history channel about marijuana and they mentioned how it's a schedule I drug and i was like WHAT!! I looked it up and found that cocaine is a schedule II drug! absolutely ridiculous
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