PROP. 19 CALLED A 'DANGEROUS EXPERIMENT'

Opponents of Proposition 19, arrayed in front of the Glendale Police
Department, denounced the marijuana legalization measure Friday,
charging it would lead to more stoned Californians and make schools,
businesses and roads less safe.

"Proposition 19 is a dangerous experiment based on false arguments
and fake promises," said U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.),
co-chairwoman of the opposition campaign who headlined the event.

Feinstein, who also opposed the 1996 initiative that allowed
marijuana to be used for medical reasons, said passing Proposition 19
would tell California's children there is nothing wrong with smoking marijuana.

"The last thing we need to do is make it easier for drug dealers to
increase their consumer base by pushing pot on young people," she
said. "Buying and consuming marijuana, in my view, is already too easy."

The Proposition 19 campaign did not have any official events, but
Stephen Downing, a former deputy chief of the Los Angeles Police
Department, and Hanna Leibman Dershowitz, a lawyer who has been
speaking for mothers who oppose pot prohibition, crashed the news conference.

"This is scare tactics, same old song," Dershowitz said. "Marijuana
is about as available in California as one could imagine it could
possibly be, and I don't see that parade of horribles."

Proposition 19 would make it legal under state law for adults 21 and
older to grow and possess marijuana, and would allow cities and
counties to approve commercial cultivation and retail sales.

The Drug Policy Alliance, flush with money after a $1-million
donation from multibillionaire investor George Soros, unveiled a
final advertising blitz Friday aimed at boosting turnout among young
voters - who overwhelmingly support legalization - and swaying
undecided ones. Ads will run on radio and television, in the Los
Angeles Times and on Google and Facebook.

The opposition campaign has substantially less money to spend, but
has received a boost from the California Chamber of Commerce. The No
on 19 campaign and the chamber are both running radio ads throughout the state.

Feinstein was joined by Glendale's mayor, two police chiefs and
representatives from Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Los Angeles
Area Chamber of Commerce and the Assn. of California School Administrators.