MEASURE TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA WILL BE KEY BATTLE IN 2010 ELECTIONS

The Temperature Of The Always Burning Marijuana Issue Will Likely Rise In 2010.

Officials from a group campaigning to put a marijuana legalization
measure before California voters said they have enough signatures to
qualify for the 2010 ballot.

The possibility of marijuana being legalized in the state has riled
area activists on both sides of the issue.

"First off, we don't think it's going to pass at all," said Paul
Chabot, co-founder of the Inland Valley Drug Free Community Coalition.

"California has really woken up since Proposition 215 passed in 1996.
Most Californians now know this fraud is brought to us by those who
funded the (marijuana) legalization initiative."

Proposition 215 legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

A Field Poll conducted in April found that 56 percent of California
residents supported legalizing and taxing marijuana to help bridge
the state budget deficit.

"The question is of the 5 (percent) or 10 percent truly sitting on
the fence," said Lanny Swerdlow, director of the Marijuana
Anti-Prohibition Project. "Those are the groups we're going to have
to educate on why to legalize and tax cannabis. I think we can do it.
We have the attitude. We will raise enough money."

Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project is an Inland Empire medical
marijuana patient support group and law reform organization.

The initiative would legalize possession of up to one ounce of
marijuana for adults 21 and older. Residents could cultivate
marijuana gardens up to 25 square feet. City and county governments
would determine whether to permit and tax marijuana sales within
their boundaries.

Profits would be taxed according to cities and counties, while
medical marijuana facilities would not be affected.

The initiative has far more than the nearly 434,000 signatures needed
to make the statewide November 2010 ballot, said Richard Lee, an
Oakland medical marijuana entrepreneur and the initiative's main backer.

The initiative is also supported by Oaksterdam University, a
marijuana emporium in downtown Oakland. On its Web site, Oaksterdam
describes itself as providing "quality training for the cannabis industry."

Chabot described Oaksterdam as "the same people who run a medical
marijuana business.

"It's been (marijuana proponents') agenda (to legalize the substance)
since 1996. It's never about sick people, it's about drug
legalization. This weakens the medical marijuana argument."

Chabot described the initiative as, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool
me twice, shame on me. We don't think Californians are going to get
fooled again."

Marijuana is illegal under federal law. But some legal scholars have
argued the U.S. government could do little to make California enforce
the federal ban if the drug became legal under state law.

Supporters point to provisions in the legalization measure that call
for jail time for anyone who sells or gives marijuana to children. It
forbids smoking pot in a public place or in front of minors.

Opponents of the measure contend legalization of marijuana will lead
to more drug abuse among minors.

Claremont Graduate University professor of psychology William Crano
said he does not want to see the initiative passed because of that issue.

Crano published a paper in the Association for Psychological
Science's journal Perspectives on Psychological Science stating that
the more involved parents are with their children, the less likely
the children are to use marijuana.

"It's a natural push to model after those respected parents or adults
or people who happen to be 21 and over," Crano said. "It's inevitable
it will make smoking dope seem more legitimate. I've done plenty of
research. And contrary to the people in the marijuana movement, I'd
suggest this is not a good thing for youngsters."

Crano said adolescents who use marijuana "are prone to a host of
negative consequences and reoccurring problems," including
delinquency, affiliation with delinquent peers, mental impairment and
other issues that "lead to more drug use."

Swerdlow thinks the younger generation will help pass the initiative in 2010.

"I think a lot of young people are excited that marijuana has chance
at legalization," he said. "They don't feel like criminals and
they're not doing anything wrong. They want to see it legalized."

Rancho Cucamonga Mayor Don Kurth said it is dangerous for the state
to have a cavalier approach to "potentially addictive drugs." Kurth
is an addiction professor at Loma Linda University Behavioral Medicine Center.

"People who do not have the genetics of an addict are far less likely
to become impaired or addicts," Kurth said. "But people who have the
genetics that predispose them to addiction, to use any of these drugs
could be fatal."

Kurth and Chabot are both running for the Republication nomination in
the 63rd Assembly District next year. They are both former drug addicts.

But Chino resident Darrell Kruse, who operated a medical marijuana
dispensary in Claremont, said passage of the initiative would give
sick people access to necessary medicine.

"I would vote for anyone to have access so that people who are
deprived under current law can get it," Kruse said. "In the current
time, in my opinion, it's not the easiest thing to get a place to
distribute it."

Kruse's dispensary was shut down by court order in 2007.

"Eventually, the courts will recognize" the legal right of people to
have medicinal marijuana, he said.

Jan Werner, operator of a Bloomington and Home Gardens
medical-marijuana collective, said marijuana is a medicine like any
other medicine and should be controlled.

"People who need it (should be) under doctor's regulation and
guidance would be best like any medication," Werner said. "We don't
just legalize valium or legalize vicodin for recreational purposes.
What we do do is provide safe access for qualified patients."

Election officials must validate and count the signatures before the
California secretary of state places the measure on the ballot.
Campaign organizers say they will submit more than 650,000 signatures
of registered voters next month.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.