POT ADVOCATES WANT STATE VOTE ON LEGALIZATION

SAN FRANCISCO -- Californians could legally possess up to one ounce
of pot and cities could sell and tax the drug under an initiative
marijuana advocates want to place on the state's 2010 ballot.

The Control, Regulate and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 is being pushed by
pot activists who sense a positive shift in public sentiment toward
the federally banned substance. A recent Field Poll found that 56
percent of California voters supported legalizing marijuana for
recreational use and taxing its proceeds.

Backers of the ballot proposal include entrepreneurs in the state's
medical marijuana industry, which has become lucrative since
California voters legalized marijuana for medical use in 1996.

One of the leading proponents is Richard Lee, an Oakland pot
dispensary owner and founder of Oaksterdam University, a medical
marijuana trade school. As California cities confront plummeting
revenues and the state's massive budget crisis, Lee said voters will
be open to new ways to fill public coffers.

"We can't waste money enforcing laws that over 50 percent of people
don't think should be in place," Lee said.

Supporters expect to finalize the proposal's language by the end of
the month. The latest draft gives anyone age 21 or older the right to
possess up to one ounce of marijuana for personal use. Local and
state authorities could raise that amount.

Residents would also have the right to cultivate up to 25-square-foot
plots of marijuana on private property, but only for personal consumption.

At the same time, cities that did not want marijuana within their
limits could continue to bar sales, though they would still have to
permit possession.

For the initiative to reach the November 2010 ballot, supporters must
gather more than 433,000 valid signatures from registered voters. Lee
said he believes they could complete that process by January.

The would-be ballot initiative is not the only effort under way to
liberalize pot laws. Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, is
pushing a bill in the state legislature that would regulate marijuana
much like alcohol.

Under Ammiano's proposal, pot would be taxed at a rate of $50 per
ounce and bring an estimated $1 billion in tax proceeds. The
legislation would only allow taxes on pot to be collected once the
federal government lifts its restrictions on marijuana.

Some critics have said they do not anticipate the federal government
will budge anytime soon. Under federal law, any possession of
marijuana is illegal.

Lee said a ballot initiative is quicker than waiting for any bill on
the contentious issue of marijuana legalization to grind through the
legislative process.

"We believe that the people lead the politicians on this issue," he said.