STATE TO VOTE ON LEGALIZING MARIJUANA

Proposition 19, On The Nov. 2 Ballot, Would Allow Those 21 And Older
To Possess And Grow Pot

Gripping his Bic lighter in one hand and a blue bubbler pipe in
another, David Goldman leans forward on his living room couch and
begins to medicate. The pipe burbles as he takes a long drag of the
premium marijuana doctors have recommended for his chronic pain and
headaches. He waits a moment to exhale, savours the taste, then
releases a long plume of smoke into the air.

"That," he says, "feels wonderful."

It's a feeling Goldman, 59, hopes all adult Californians will be able
to share -- without fear of arrest or jail time -- before much longer.

Fourteen years after California became the first jurisdiction in North
America to allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes, the state
is weighing a history-making ballot measure to legalize the drug for
recreational purposes.

Proposition 19, which Californians will approve or reject on Nov. 2,
would allow anyone 21 years or older to possess up to one ounce and
grow up to 2.25 square metres of marijuana. It would give local
governments the authority to tax and regulate the drug's cultivation
and retail sale in cannabis cafes or other outlets.

The proposition has once again put left-leaning California -- which
only two years ago went through a wrenching debate over gay marriage
- -- on the front lines of America's culture wars.

Public Safety First, the group leading the No campaign on Proposition
19, has raised the spectre of a pot garden in every California
backyard and workplaces rife with stoned employees.

The Obama administration is also raising its hackles.

In a move aimed at giving California voters pause before voting in
favour of legalization, U.S. Attorney-General Eric Holder recently
announced the federal government would continue to "vigorously
enforce" federal drug laws prohibiting marijuana no matter what
California's electorate decides.

"Proposition 19 is not going to pass, even if it passes," said Los
Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, who also promised continued
enforcement.

The warnings came as momentum for legalization in California seemed to
be building. Despite opposition from almost every major political
figure in the state, a Public Policy Institute of California poll in
September found 52 per cent of voters backed Proposition 19.

After Holder's announcement, a PPIC survey released this week found
support had fallen sharply, to 44 per cent.

"There is the potential of some confusion that gets created about
whether California does, in fact, have the right to pass Prop 19,
which it does," says Stephen Gutwillig, the California state director
for the Drug Policy Alliance, an advocacy group supporting the Yes on
19 campaign.

"There may be people who now have questions about whether the federal
government may just simply invalidate the election."

Critics of Proposition 19 say the ballot measure is an unwieldy mess
that creates a patchwork of regulations in counties and cities across
the state. In an editorial headlined No to Ganga Madness, the San
Diego Union-Tribune this week denounced the initiative as "an
invitation to law enforcement chaos."

For supporters of Proposition 19, however, legalization of marijuana
is an idea whose time has come.

Even as lawmakers and editorialists fight the proposal, the Yes on 19
campaign has built a diverse and somewhat surprising coalition of
backers -- including the state's largest labour union, an array of
former police chiefs and civil rights groups such as the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

"I think passage of Prop 19 will be a tipping point," says Goldman, a
patients' rights activist who believes the majority of Californians no
longer accept the sky-is-falling predictions of the anti-marijuana
movement.

In the No campaign's arguments, Goldman hears echoes of the debate in
1996 over medical marijuana.

"They thought the world would come to an end -- kids would be
helplessly seduced into marijuana; the driving fatality rate would
skyrocket, and everyone would be laying out getting stoned all the
time," he says. "And lo and behold, that just hasn't happened."

Many of the pro-legalization arguments are familiar: that marijuana is
less harmful than alcohol or tobacco, and that precious law
enforcement dollars are being wasted on enforcing minor violations.

The most oft-cited statistic? In 2008, there were 61,000 arrests for
misdemeanour marijuana possession in California, while 60,000 violent
crimes went unsolved.

"To spend one single dollar locking somebody up for cannabis just
seems creepy to me," says Julia Negron, a retired addiction specialist
who has joined a group of California mothers supporting the Yes on 19
campaign.

"It's insane -- why would we ever do that? That dollar should go to
education. That dollar should go to treatment. That dollar should go
anywhere but to the prison system."

On that point, outgoing California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger seems to
agree. Earlier this month, Schwarzenegger signed legislation making
possession of an ounce of marijuana an infraction rather than a
misdemeanour -- putting a violation on par with receiving a parking
ticket.

For all the focus on traditional arguments for and against
legalization of marijuana, passage of Proposition 19 may rest on the
Yes campaign's ability to persuade voters it is the fiscally
responsible thing for California to do.

With the state desperate for new sources of revenue to tackle a
$19-billion annual deficit, legalization supporters contend taxation
and regulation of marijuana would provide a much-needed infusion of
cash.

Marijuana production generates $14 billion a year in the state, and
pro-legalization campaigners contend the state could collect up to
$1.4 billion in extra taxes by regulating its production.

Others envision California becoming a destination for marijuana
tourists, with the Bay Area and northern Humboldt County -- where most
of the state's crop is grown -- as the natural hubs.

"I think the Bay Area is going to develop into a mecca along the lines
of Amsterdam," says Chris Conrad, a veteran of California's marijuana
battles and a member of the Yes on 19 steering committee.

Gutwillig believes existing dispensaries, which supply marijuana
legally to patients, could provide the foundation for an emergent
retail industry.

"There is both a brain trust and a relatively small industry of
experts who know how to deliver high-quality, safe marijuana from
cultivators to customers," he says. "One option would be to transform
their medical marijuana dispensaries into marijuana dispensaries for
all adults."

The optimism felt among legalization advocates is being tempered by
increasing anxiety as Nov. 2 approaches.

U.S. midterm elections are usually "not the most hospitable climate"
to test support for socially liberal causes, Gutwillig says, because
older, more conservative voters are more likely to show up to the ballot box.

Major donors were initially reluctant to fund the legalization
campaign because they believed it was a lost cause. Until the most
recent poll, Prop 19 had appeared to defy predictions it would start
out popular then fade as election day drew near.

"We have a bubble of support right now. We don't know how long it
really is going to last," says Conrad. "But we also think that even if
we don't win, if we can make a serious enough showing, it will pave
the way for future initiatives."