CALIFORNIA TO VOTE ON LEGALIZING MARIJUANA

LOS ANGELES -- An initiative to legalize marijuana and allow it to be
sold and taxed will appear on the November ballot, California
election officials announced Wednesday, triggering what will likely
be a much-watched campaign that once again puts the state on the
forefront of the nation's debate over whether to soften drug laws.

The number of valid signatures reported by Los Angeles County,
submitted two minutes before Wednesday's 5 p.m. deadline, put the
measure well beyond the 433,971 it needed to be certified. The
measure's supporters collected 694,248 signatures in every county
except Alpine, and county election officials estimated that 523,531 were valid.

Steve King, an Olivehurst resident who's tried to open a medical
marijuana dispensary in Yuba County, said he wishes the measure's backers luck.

If the measure passes, though, he said he's not sure how it would
affect medical marijuana, which was legalized in 1996 under
California's Proposition 215.

"I know there were a couple of measures about legalizing marijuana
out there, and I'm not sure if this one has provisions for
dispensaries," King said. Regardless, he said, he's still hoping one
way or another to open a storefront dispensary within the county. To
do so, he hopes to drum up support, by questions at public debates,
for a supervisorial candidate backing dispensaries.

"I'm going to have to get political," he said.

The measure's main advocate, Richard Lee, an Oakland marijuana
entrepreneur, savored the chance to press his case with voters that
the state's decades-old ban on marijuana is a failed policy.

"We're one step closer to ending cannabis prohibition and the unjust
laws that lock people up for cannabis while alcohol is not only sold
openly but advertised on television to kids every day," he said.

Lee, tapping $1.3 million from his businesses, has already put
together a highly organized campaign that he emphasized Wednesday
would be led by a team of experienced political consultants,
including Chris Lehane, a veteran operative who has worked in the
White House and on presidential campaigns.

"There's all kind of big professional politicos who are coming on
board now to take it to the next level," Lee said.

But opponents have also started to put together their campaign.
"There's going to be a very broad coalition opposing this that will
include law enforcement," promised John Lovell, a Sacramento lobbyist
who represents the California Police Chiefs Association and similar
organizations. "We'll educate people as to what this measure really entails."

The measure, like the medical marijuana initiative, could put
California on a collision course with the federal government. The
possession and sale of marijuana remains a federal crime. Earlier
this month, President Barack Obama's drug czar, R. Gil Kerlikowske,
decried legalization in a speech to police chiefs in San Jose.

The initiative would allow adults 21 or older to possess up to an
ounce for personal use. Possession of an ounce or less has been a
misdemeanor with a $100 fine since 1975, when California Attorney
General Jerry Brown, who was then governor, signed a law that reduced
tough marijuana penalties that had allowed judges to impose 10-year sentences.

Legalization supporters note that misdemeanor arrests have risen
dramatically in California in the last two decades. The initiative
would also allow adults to grow up to 25 square feet per residence or parcel.

But the measure, known as the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act
of 2010, goes further, allowing cities and counties to adopt
ordinances that would authorize the cultivation, transportation and
sale of marijuana, which could be taxed to raise revenues. Supporters
hope this feature will win over voters watching local governments
jettison employees and programs in the midst of a severe budget crisis.

Three other marijuana legalization initiatives have been floated this
year, but are not expected to qualify for the ballot. One failed, one
was withdrawn and one remains active.

Lovell said that the initiative would lead to increased marijuana
use, cause the same kind of social ills as alcohol and tobacco, and
put more demands on law enforcement. He said voters are already
distressed by the medical marijuana law. "Neigborhoods feel very
uncomfortable with these locations that have a lot of dope and a lot
of cash," he said.

Lee countered that the state's experience with medical marijuana
shows "the sky didn't fall." He said the measure would allow police
to focus on serious crime, undercut Mexican drug cartels and make it
harder for teenagers to buy marijuana. Underscoring the importance
the backing of law enforcement will play, Lee's campaign on Wednesday
highlighted the support of retired Orange County Superior Court Judge
James P. Gray, a former Los Angeles County deputy sheriff and a
retired Torrance police officer.

With polls showing that just a slim majority of voters support
legalization, the legalization campaign will be trying to persuade a
slice of undecided voters who are mostly mothers. "It's always easier
for people to say no than to say yes for an initiative," said Mark
Baldassare, the pollster for the Public Policy Institute of California.

Lee hopes to raise as much as $20 million. He will likely be able to
tap a handful of wealthy advocates who have supported efforts to
soften drug laws in the past, including multibillionaire investor
George Soros and George Zimmer, the founder of Men's Wearhouse.
Zimmer has already donated at least $20,000.