CALIFORNIA'S MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION INITIATIVE IS ALREADY A WINNER

Californians have a chance to make history in November when they vote
on Proposition 19, which would legalize marijuana for adults over 21.
Polls collectively show voters split but leaning toward this
momentous stand against failed marijuana prohibition. Ten weeks from
Election Day, it's clear how much Prop. 19 has already accomplished
for the drug policy reform movement.

Prop. 19 is arguably the highest profile voter initiative in the
nation and has unleashed a torrent of global interest. The initiative
has generated thousands of international stories, explicitly
discussing this alternative to our disastrous policies. In
particular, Prop. 19 has radically accelerated the public's
understanding of the relative harms of marijuana, tobacco and
alcohol, validating the widespread suspicion that a fundamental
hypocrisy lies at the heart of the outright ban on marijuana -- as
evidenced by the endorsement of former U.S. Surgeon General Dr.
Joycelyn Elders.

Prop. 19 has inspired an unprecedented coalition in support of
reforming our futile and wasteful marijuana laws. Students for
Sensible Drug Policy and Firedoglake.com organized students,
law-enforcement, libertarians and progressives to launch their "Just
Say Now" campaign.

The California NAACP, the state ACLU affiliates and the National
Black Police Association all endorsed Prop. 19, specifically citing
the chilling racial disparities in the enforcement of
marijuana laws. Latino leadership, starting recently with Assemblyman
Hector De La Torre and the Latino Voters League, has just begun to
weigh in as well.

Finally, organized labor -- from longshoremen to food to
communications workers -- for the first time offered endorsements
because controlling and regulating marijuana will mean jobs and
revenue that the state currently cedes to criminal cartels and the
black market.

This coalition signifies that serious people take regulating
marijuana for adults seriously. Prop. 19 is now at the heart of
spirited debates at kitchen tables, in college classrooms and in
halls of power that once assumed the inevitability of the status quo.
In fact, former Mexican President Vicente Fox just endorsed marijuana
legalization precisely to address the prohibition-related bloodbath
in Mexico that has taken 28,000 lives since 2006.

In this country Prop. 19 has truly sped up the political debate on
marijuana policy overall, one that was previously dominated by
medical marijuana issues. The major candidates for statewide office
in California generally oppose Prop. 19. However professional
politicos, including California Democratic Party Chairman John
Burton, already identify marijuana legalization as a potential
game-changing issue to drive Democratic turnout among younger,
progressive voters in this and future elections. That's precisely why
nominee for lieutenant governor, Gavin Newsom, with a potentially
long future in state politics, publicly agonized over his decision,
saying, "I'm frustrated with myself on this one, to be truthful."

Even the California PTA has acknowledged these shifting winds by
taking a neutral rather than opposing position, signaling the
historic debate that must have occurred within its venerable ranks.

Prop. 19 has created opportunities that conventional wisdom simply
couldn't have predicted. Anyone sick and tired of our disastrous
marijuana prohibition has been handed a chance to make history.
California voters should not only go to the polls but also talk to
friends, family and neighbors about Prop. 19. Those of us outside of
California should support the campaign financially right now and help
get out the vote in November.

Prop. 19 is already a winner. Imagine when we make this the vote
heard around the world.