AD PUSHES POT AS BUDGET FIX

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A pro-marijuana group is launching another
television bid to legalize pot in California -- this time with the
pitch that legalizing and taxing the drug could help solve the
state's massive budget deficit.

The 30-second spot, airing Wednesday and paid for by the Marijuana
Policy Project, features a retired 58-year-old state worker who says
state leaders "are ignoring millions of Californians who want to pay taxes."

"We're marijuana consumers," says Nadene Herndon of Fair Oaks, who
says she began using marijuana after suffering multiple strokes three
years ago. "Instead of being treated like criminals for using a
substance safer than alcohol, we want to pay our fair share."

State lawmakers are bitterly debating how to close a $26.3 billion
budget deficit that likely means cuts to state services.

In February, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, introduced a
bill to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol. Bill supporters
estimate the state's pot industry could bring in more than $1 billion in taxes.

The ad will air on several cable news channels and network broadcast
affiliates in Los Angeles, Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay area,
according to the Marijuana Policy Project.

The group said in a statement that three California stations --
KABC-TV in Los Angeles, KGO-TV of San Francisco and KNTV-TV in San
Jose -- refused to air the ad.

Representatives from the three stations did not immediately return
calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.

In an e-mail to the group, a KNTV account executive said the
station's standards department had rejected the ad.

Marijuana Policy Project spokesman Bruce Mirken said the ad was meant
to promote conversation about the issues, not to encourage pot use.

"It was consciously unsensational," Mirken said. "It's time to talk
about this, and we feel very frustrated that some of these stations
have taken it upon themselves to stifle the discussion."

In a phone interview, Herndon said that before filming the ad, she
had not told very many people about her marijuana use. But she said
her concern over the state's fiscal crisis and her support of medical
marijuana led her to go public.

"I came out of the closet with this ad," she said.

[sidebar]

AT A GLANCE

. A pro-marijuana group is launching a television bid to legalize pot
in California.

. It's using the pitch that legalizing and taxing the drug could help
solve the state's massive budget deficit.

. State lawmakers are bitterly debating how to close a $26.3 billion
budget deficit that likely means cuts to state services.