LEGALIZING POT NO LONGER LOOKS SO FAR-FETCHED

The secretary of state's office says California voters will have their
say on a marijuana-legalization initiative in November - which itself
is no surprise. Activists have been at work qualifying the measure for
much of the past year.

But we've already traveled a long way down the legalization road. How
far?

The primary financial backer for the "Regulate, Control and Tax
Cannabis Act of 2010," according to The Associated Press, is Oakland's
"medical-marijuana entrepreneur" Richard Lee. His Oakerstam University
cannabis campus claims some 5,000 graduates, and even though state
authorities say the medical marijuana trade is supposed to operate on
a not-for-profit basis, business has been lucrative enough for Lee
that he had $1.3 million lying around to gather signatures to qualify
the initiative.

And while it's not exactly rare for people involved in the marijuana
business - legal or not - to make a lot of money, they used to be
discreet about it. Lee's a living, breathing example of just how far
the trade has come out of hiding, especially in the past year.

Even in states that have allowed the medicinal use of marijuana -
California was the first in 1996 - or have a libertarian streak,
outright legalization has been an impossible sale.

Twice in the past decade, for instance, voters in anything-goes Nevada
have considered and rejected legalization initiatives much like this
measure, which would allow personal use for anyone older than 21 and
the cultivation of modest amounts.

But the newly overt marijuana sales even in conservative cities like
Redding change the tone of the debate. To a large degree, we're
already living with the effects of partial legalization.

Having given legal marijuana something of a test run, will
Californians go all the way? Or will the widespread perception that
recreational smokers are exploiting a law intended to help the sick
fuel a backlash? Or will values be a side issue with the state so
hungry for new tax revenue?

We'll have the answer in November. Either way, the
marijuana-legalization measure is one more reason why 2010 will be a
very interesting election year.

Our view: The state has almost been running a test of legalization.
Now we'll find out what the voters think of it.