PROP. 19: POT LEGALIZATION DEFEATED

When Californians put an initiative on the ballot to legalize
recreational marijuana smoking, the whole nation tuned in to see
whether the state would lead a new marijuana law revolution.

After all, California voters pioneered medical marijuana more than a
decade ago. But Tuesday they doused Proposition 19, rejecting the
country's first effort to legalize marijuana.

As of this morning, the no votes totaled nearly 52 percent.

The defeat came even as voters in San Jose and other Bay Area cities
embraced local regulation and tax measures on pot providers.

Heavily outspent, Proposition 19 opponents had garnered bipartisan
support from the likes of outgoing Republican Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger to Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

"It really showed this is not the direction people in the state of
California want to go," said Tim Rosales, a campaign manager for
Proposition 19 opponents, predicting that a defeat would dampen
enthusiasm for legalization efforts nationally. "Once people get to
read it and see that it really is a jumbled mess, this isn't the way to do it."

Proposition 19 failed to capture the big urban Southern California
counties it needed to prevail, including Los Angeles and San Diego,
as well as others farther north, including Santa Clara and Sacramento.

However, a sizable percentage of Californians were willing to give
legal marijuana a try -- particularly in central coast counties from
Monterey through San Francisco and Alameda north to Sonoma.

Richard Lee of Oakland, the measure's chief proponent, said the
results show growing support for legalizing the drug, calling the
fact that so many voters supported the initiative "a tremendous victory."

Central coast voters who favored the measure cited frustration with a
decades-long war on drugs that has scarcely dented marijuana's
availability on the streets while enriching criminal gangs.

"I'm fed up with the government and the way it's handled it," said
Carole Reis, 63, who lives in the Santa Cruz County town of Felton.
"I'm so tired of all the gangs. If it was all legal, we'd know who's
selling it and who's buying it. It would be more out in the open."

San Jose, which saw a huge spike in medical marijuana dispensaries in
the past year, was among several cities that put their own marijuana
measures on the ballot. San Jose's Measure U would allow the city to
tax marijuana businesses -- medical or otherwise -- up to 10 percent,
and was leading by a wide margin in a county where Proposition 19 was
losing. The City Council will consider a moratorium on new medical
marijuana providers later this month.

Jean Dresden, 55, of Willow Glen voted against Proposition 19,
fearing it would invite the same kinds of problems already evident
with alcohol, and saying she believed many of the medical marijuana
dispensaries appeared to be drawing recreational crowds. But she
voted for the city's measure because "if voters approve 19, I want
San Jose to get its fair share."

Janine Pasion, 55, a card-carrying medical marijuana patient, voted
just the opposite, favoring Proposition 19 but opposing the idea of a
new tax on the drug.

Similar local marijuana measures in Oakland, Berkeley and Albany also
were leading.

Proposition 19 would have allowed people 21 and older to possess,
cultivate or transport marijuana for personal use, and allow local
governments to regulate and tax it.

Backers, including Joseph McNamara, a former San Jose police chief,
said marijuana prohibition has been a costly failure and that the
drug should be regulated and taxed like liquor. Critics said
Proposition 19 would make it harder to keep stoners off the road and
out of the workplace.

California in 1996 led the country in softening marijuana laws for
the sick when voters approved Proposition 215, which legalized
medicinal marijuana. Since then, 13 other states have adopted similar laws.