THE BEST CHANCE YET FOR LEGALIZING MARIJUANA

Tax Cannabis 2010 Faces Hurdles As It Prepares for Its Test on the
California Ballot Next November.

It's Dec. 14 and news that the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act
of 2010 has qualified for the California ballot next year has just
exploded in time for the evening news cycle. I am sitting on a sofa in
a nearly empty room at Oaksterdam University, filing an update to my
scoop for AlterNet and waiting for a chance to speak more at length
with Richard Lee, the man behind the measure.

For the better part of an afternoon I've observed -- and waited for --
Lee and his staff as they ably handle a flurry of calls from the media
before disappearing into a campaign strategy meeting. It's now dark
out over downtown Oakland, as Oaksterdam students gather on the
sidewalk after class.

The door opens and Lee parks his wheelchair, softly lands on the
couch, and starts breaking up a bit of weed for a toke. After
lucrative years in the advertising and marketing industry, he has
reestablished himself as a pot entrepreneur and transformed a large
sliver of downtown Oakland into Oaksterdam. As a major proponent of
professionalizing the marijuana industry -- Oaksterdam University is
probably his biggest project in this effort -- today is a big day for
Lee. "It's not a petition anymore, it's an initiative," he says with a
grin, as he lights his joint.

While the campaign won't submit the nearly 700,000 signatures it
collected in two short months until February (and then must wait 90
days for official confirmation of their inclusion on the November
ballot), the people behind Tax Cannabis are preparing to move onto the
next stage. And they do so with a degree of fanfare. Last year brought
an onslaught of positive coverage of marijuana by the mainstream
media. Every outlet from Fortune to Newsweek, from Rachel Maddow to
CBS Morning, has dedicated ink or airtime to the subject of cannabis
reform, aiding in the normalization of the most commonly used, least
toxic illicit substance in America.

This, in addition to the colossal budget crisis in California, has Lee
convinced that 2010 may be the year for marijuana legalization. "Our
initiative will catch up with the reality of what's already going on,"
he says. "There's a lot of variables out of our control -- say, what
the economy does next year. But in general our theory is that the more
people talk and think about the issue, the more we win them over."

Tax Cannabis is betting that the time is ripe for a public education
campaign around ending marijuana prohibition, although the learning
curve remains steep among some.

Later that night at the campaign's Broadway headquarters, I watch Dale
Sky Clare, an administrator at Lee's Oaksterdam University, wrap up an
interview with a local TV news affiliate.

Clare marvels at the reporter's remark that Tax Cannabis "looks like a
real campaign."

Well, it is.

Dovetailing Efforts

The winds of marijuana change are upon us. You can smell it --
literally and figuratively -- throughout California, where weed has
been legalized for medical use since 1996. Proposition 215 succeeded
due to the efforts of those who advocated the compassionate use of
marijuana for patients with chronic diseases such as cancer and AIDS,
but it's common knowledge that you can obtain medical marijuana for
less serious afflictions like menstrual cramps, or in the case of a
graduate-school student I know, thesis anxiety.

Because so many can and do consume marijuana legally, it's no wonder
Lee believes his measure, which would tax and regulate marijuana for
adults 21 and over, will merely be catching up to a reality already in
place.

The measure does not actually legalize pot as much as it absolutely
decriminalizes certain marijuana offenses. (Marijuana has been
"decriminalized" in California since 1975, but it still can generate a
fine, an arrest and a misdemeanor charge on your record.) Tax Cannabis
institutes a one-ounce personal possession limit and allows for
limited personal cultivation.

Interestingly, the ballot initiative refers to local control, meaning
that cities and counties can decide whether to allow regulated
marijuana sales at all, and if so, how that would work. Tax Cannabis
allows for the personal consumption, possession and cultivation of
cannabis by any adult over 21 throughout the state, but the business
of it would be left to local jurisdictions. (A few people suggested
Lee was inspired by his home state of Texas' dry-county, wet-county
policy regarding alcohol sales.)

The Tax Cannabis initiative isn't the only path to legalization
weaving its way through the system. State Assembly Member Tom Ammiano
has introduced a bill that effectively removes marijuana from the
state's criminal and civil codes, though it reestablishes the selling
or providing of cannabis to a minor as a felony with a corresponding
penalty.

"Both the initiative process and the legislative process that have
been introduced have been a great bully pulpit for looking at this as
a serious public policy question," Ammiano told me, adding that even
in conservative areas like Orange County, taxing and regulating
marijuana are viewed favorably: "It's definitely on the radar."

The bill is up for review by two State Assembly committees on Jan. 12.
It must pass both to make it onto the floor, but it is doubtful that
the legislation will live to see Jan. 13.

Given that the vast majority of the 13 states with medical marijuana
laws passed them through ballot initiatives, Stephen Gutwillig, the
California state director of the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), believes
that "it is far more likely that marijuana prohibition will be ended
at the hands of the voters through a ballot initiative than through
legislation in any state." (In addition to California, bills have been
introduced in Washington, Massachusetts and New Hampshire for
consideration in 2010.)

Because voter initiatives are most common in western states, this is
where you are more likely to see these changes. Electorates have voted
on marijuana legalization before -- in Nevada and Colorado in 2006
(both failed) and the city of Breckenridge, Colo. legalized it late in
2009 -- so the California measure isn't groundbreaking, but longtime
drug reform observers believe it's the first statewide initiative with
a solid chance of winning.

Since victory in pot legalization has been scarce, Tax Cannabis took
many marijuana reformers by surprise with the launch of its campaign
efforts in June, and then again with the success of its
signature-gathering effort this month.

One such reformer is James Clark, a criminal defense attorney who
helped Lee craft the language for both Tax Cannabis and a separate
initiative, California Cannabis Initiative (CCI), which Clark
described as "not dead in the water exactly," but acknowledged is
unlikely to meet signature requirements due to lack of funding.

The CCI initiative is the most far-reaching when compared to Lee's
measure and Ammiano's bill. It does not include limits to personal
cultivation and possession, expunges cannabis criminal records and
includes anti-discrimination protections for cannabis users.

But the real story is that Tax Cannabis "is actually going to be on
the ballot," Clark said, adding that he will likely support the
initiative, although he prefers CCI.

And that seems to be the consensus among several marijuana activists,
such as Steve DeAngelo, executive director of the state's largest
medical marijuana dispensary, Harborside Health Center in Oakland.
DeAngelo told me via e-mail that although he does not believe Tax
Cannabis is the "best strategic choice for the cannabis reform
movement, now that it has qualified for the ballot, I hope it is
successful. As a life-long proponent of cannabis law reform, I support
the initiative and hope it wins by a huge majority."

DeAngelo says he will work to help the initiative succeed, and he's
promised Lee a $1,000 check for the campaign.

Political Tradewinds

It's plain to see why potentially recalcitrant pot activists are moved
to support the Tax Cannabis initiative. For one, it's going to be on
the ballot. And second, for those who live the war on drugs every day,
the political tradewinds are finally lining up for marijuana reform,
so although it might not be everyone's ideal measure, it's sure to be
a step forward for most.

The war on marijuana in California is hard to fathom. While medical
marijuana consumption is legal, the framework under which the growers
and dispensaries operate is something of a legal gray area. In
Southern California especially, district attorneys and local law
enforcement raid and shut down dispensaries, because the laws are, to
say the least, vague and confusing, in addition to being in conflict
with federal law. Personal cultivation and consumption of medical
cannabis are also affected by the murky legal system.

The ambiguous web of laws that governs -- or doesn't govern -- medical
marijuana in California is one big reason that propels people toward
marijuana reform, but an even bigger incentive may be the social
justice issues brought to light by the drug war.

Prior to 1975, California's criminal justice system was overloaded by
marijuana offenders. After decriminalization in 1975, arrests were
halved and the state saved millions of dollars in law enforcement
costs within a few years.

But in 1990, a rather remarkable thing happened. Low-level marijuana
arrests, mostly for personal possession, took off in California,
jumping 127 percent between 1990 and 2008, according to the state's
Justice Department. Over the same period, arrests for all other
offenses dropped 40 percent.

To elucidate the current situation, since 2005, marijuana arrests have
increased nearly 30 percent, totaling 78,000 in 2008, according to
figures from the state's Office of the Attorney General. And of those
tens of thousands of arrests, four of five were for simple possession,
and one in five arrested was a minor under 18.

The war on weed has disproportionately affected minorities and young
people. Sixty-two percent of California's marijuana arrestees are
non-white and 42 percent are under 20 years old. Since 1990, there has
been a 300-percent surge in arrests of teenagers of color -- mostly
blacks, who constitute less than seven percent of the state's
population but made up 22 percent of all marijuana arrests in 2008,
also according to the California Justice Department.

This all for a medicinally powerful drug that at least one-third of
Americans have admitted to trying at least once. You have to wonder
why California is investing so many law enforcement resources into
combating marijuana.

Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), says the rise of low-level marijuana
arrests shot up in California just as they did nationally. Indeed, a
2005 report by the Sentencing Project shows that national
marijuana arrests rose 113 percent between 1990 and 2002.

Several hypotheses exist. One is that Bill Clinton ran on a platform
that promised 100,000 more police officers on the street, a goal he
very nearly achieved through his two terms in office. More cops mean
more arrests. A second theory is that local police depend on federal
funding more than ever. Byrne and HIDTA grants are doled out to high
drug-trafficking areas, and every police district clamors to qualify.

"Poor police forces can now outfit their towns with weaponry and
technology they can't afford on their own," Armentano said. "People
get used to these expensive toys every year so they realize they have
to keep [drug arrest] numbers up in order to keep money flowing in.
Marijuana arrests are relatively safe -- not like marching into a meth
house or dealing with heroin addicts who have needles lying around.
Marijuana arrests are the easiest way for police forces to boost their
stats."

Dale Gieringer, the coordinator for California NORML, thinks less
obvious reasons may also have contributed to the rise of marijuana
misdemeanor arrests in California. He believes low-level marijuana
arrests have been emphasized over higher-level charges because of the
advent of medical marijuana legalization. "The tendency may now be to
go lightly on personal growers and smokers, where they once did not,"
he said.

Gieringer also says the state's anti-smoking rules may have led police
to be more vigilant about smoking in public areas.

Regardless of motivation for marijuana arrests, their rise has moved
Monique, 32, a social worker in Oakland, to join the Tax Cannabis
campaign as a volunteer. "I feel that we're using a lot of money and
time to put nonviolent individuals into jail," she said, lamenting
that her program at Social Services received a 20-percent budget cut
this year due to the state's financial crisis.

California's debt totaled $81.5 billion by Dec. 1, and it's not done
growing yet.

Building a Movement

The Tax Cannabis headquarters are about a block from the new
Oaksterdam University building, in the space the cannabis
industry-training school has now outgrown. That's where I meet the
campaign's first and only full-time employee, Mauricio Garzon.

Garzon strikes me as exceedingly calm considering he is running the
day-to-day operations of what is likely to be the most galvanizing
measure on California's ballot next year. A former derivatives trader
on Wall Street, he left finance eight years ago to "do something
socially relevant." He says he doesn't really smoke weed, or even
drink alcohol much.

The Beatles' "Back in the U.S.S.R." plays on Garzon's computer as he
tells me that he signed on as the campaign's coordinator because of
democracy. "It requires participation, but participation requires
information -- and good information, too," he says. As a result,
Garzon envisions the next stage of the Tax Cannabis initiative as an
education campaign that has the potential to reverse a "horrible
social policy."

Garzon says the campaign is planning its larger strategy for the next
months, and is currently in a phase that will emphasize
coalition-building, fundraising and online organizing. Lee already has
lobbyists in Sacramento, and aims to get labor and other groups with
sway on board early, before potential opposition starts organizing.

"A good opposition can do a lot of damage by spreading untruths," Lee
said. "It's easier, after all, to get people to vote no than vote yes."

That's why messaging is going to be key. Already the campaign has
taken careful steps to use "tax and regulate" over "legalization," and
"cannabis" over "marijuana." Both Lee and Garzon say the campaign will
craft targeted messages for different groups across the state, ranging
from farmers in the Central Valley to social conservatives in Orange
County.

Grassroots outreach is also part of the baseline strategy. House
parties and other forms of local-level organizing and fundraising will
be important, but Garzon aims to take a page from the Obama campaign
and focus a great deal of effort on online outreach.

They're even working with Blue State Digital, which powered Obama for
America's campaign site and social network. Already Tax Cannabis is
making use of its 30,000-strong e-mail list.

Tax Cannabis volunteer Perry Rosenstein, a political consultant in San
Francisco who was the new media director for the Obama campaign in
Nevada thinks this is a good move. "Reaching out in cost-effective
ways to those who support the cause and asking them to do things --
give money or time -- will be extremely important," he said.

Though Lee is a millionaire whose money -- directly or through
Oaksterdam University -- has almost entirely funded Tax Cannabis until
now, Garzon wants the bulk of the campaign's funds to come in the form
of small donations from many people. And he's shooting nationally --
only Californians can vote in the election, but any American can
donate. The campaign is expected to cost between $10 and $20 million.

Field efforts will be important, too, particularly during a mid-term
election, when voters tend to skew older and more conservative. A
strong get-out-the-vote strategy will be necessary to turn out
progressive voters, particularly young ones. Rosenstein, 24, went to
an early volunteer meeting in Oakland, where he felt "there was that
Obama energy there."

"Hopefully Tax Cannabis will continue to harness that," he
said.

Building diverse support is also a goal. Alex Arsenault, 22, a recent
college graduate who worked on the successful marijuana
decriminalization initiative in Massachusetts last year, came out to
California to volunteer for Tax Cannabis. Arsenault was the regional
coordinator for volunteer petition-gatherers in San Diego, Orange
County and the Inland Empire, where he built relationships with the
medical marijuana community and the Libertarian Party.

One thing the campaign will not seek to do is change drug warriors'
minds. "People who see the prohibition of cannabis as working -- I
don't even want to talk to them," said Doug Linney, a campaign
consultant. "Our key swing audience are those who say that the war is
a failure and are looking for another solution."

And polling shows that a growing number of Californians think
legalization is the right solution. A field poll in April showed 56
percent support for legalization. Internal campaign polling in March
found 44 percent support among likely California voters in
non-presidential elections, Linney said. This was followed by an
August internal poll that found 52 percent support by likely November
2010 voters.

Those numbers are promising but not ideal, says Margaret
Dooley-Sammuli, deputy state director for the DPA. She has personal
experience with California ballot measures, as she was deputy campaign
manager for Proposition 5 in 2008, which sought to emphasize treatment
and rehabilitation for nonviolent drug offenders over harsh criminal
consequences.

"We were polling in the mid to high seventies early on but fear
tactics were really effective against Prop 5," Dooley-Sammuli said.
The initiative ultimately failed.

Given that there aren't super-majority poll numbers for legalization
yet, Dooley-Sammuli says Tax Cannabis really has "to get out there and
make a strong case and make sure to lead the story."

Potential opponents include the state's most powerful union, the
California Correctional Peace Officers' Association, as well as the
California Narcotic Officers' Association. Calls for comment to both
were not returned.

Despite no clear signs of organized opposition yet, Stephen Gutwillig,
the DPA director for California, remains "cautiously optimistic but
skeptical that there would be smooth sailing for any marijuana reform
ballot initiative in 2010."

The gubernatorial election in November may also impede Tax Cannabis'
success. Republican hopefuls are sure to oppose the initiative, and
presumptive Democratic nominee Jerry Brown is not likely to come out
for it either. Just last month he told a conservative Los Angeles
radio station that he believes medical marijuana sales are illegal
under current state law.

'The Real Gateway Drug'

It's nearly closing time at the Bulldog coffee shop, another piece of
Lee's Oaksterdam empire.

Qualifying for the ballot was a victory, but Lee knows the campaign
faces an uphill battle. Nevertheless, he remains cheerful as ever
about what Tax Cannabis can accomplish.

At worst, Lee says, the campaign will cause marijuana reform to be a
hot political issue that people think and talk about. "So even if we
don't win, it'll help 2012," he says, unwrapping his Reese's Pieces.

He won't commit to funding another measure if 2010 is unsuccessful,
but given how much of his time and money have gone into rethinking
cannabis in California, he can't write it off either.

Dale Sky Clare, Lee's colleague at Oaksterdam University, comes by the
coffee shop. We head to the back, where seating is arranged beneath a
big kitchen exhaust fan so Oaksterdam staff can take marijuana breaks
without overwhelming the rest of the cafe with the odor of pot.

As sickly sweet plumes of smoke are gathered up by the fan, Clare
talks about the failure of current marijuana policy as it relates to
children, but what she says seems applicable to all society: "The real
gateway drug is dishonesty, not marijuana."

The war on drugs has sown many lies about marijuana and its consumers
into American culture. Tax Cannabis has about 10 months to try to get
a decisive majority of Californians to overhaul decades of
conversation. And what state better than the largest to change the
course of national debate?