IN OAKLAND, DEFEAT OF MEASURE ISN'T THE END

The television news crews that descended on Oakland last week to
cover the outcome of Proposition 19, which would have legalized
marijuana in the state, are now long gone, along with the high hopes
of many local cannabis entrepreneurs.

But Oakland's vision of becoming a global center of the marijuana
industry lives on. Proposition 19 would have given the city's plans
to allow four enormous cultivation factories a stamp of approval at
least on the state level. With 54 percent of state voters rejecting
full legalization, Oakland will now push further into a legal gray
area by trying to permit and tax large medical marijuana operations.

The Oakland City Council will vote Tuesday on how to handle
applications for four industrial cannabis farms.

"All of this wasn't predicated on Prop. 19, and so whether or not
Prop. 19 passed or failed, we were going to move forward," said Larry
Reid, a council member who co-sponsored the marijuana-farm
legislation with Rebecca Kaplan.

Asked if it was legal under current law, Mr. Reid answered casually,
"We'll find out if it is or not."

Existing medical marijuana law requires that operations be run as
collectives of caregivers and patients. But lawyers including William
Panzer, who helped write the state's medical marijuana law, question
how that will be possible with such large operations.

Even the Oakland city attorney, John Russo, a big supporter of
Proposition 19, appears skeptical. Mr. Russo did not sign the
cultivation ordinance -- normally a formality -- and declined to
comment for this article because of potential litigation.

Mr. Panzer said he feared that the effort to make marijuana a
mainstream industry was moving too fast in light of the fact that it
is still illegal under federal law.

"Imagine you're driving and you're going 56 on the highway and you
haven't got a ticket so you say maybe I can go 57," Mr. Panzer said.
"Well, they said I'm going 58 and I'm not getting a ticket so maybe
I'll go 95 -- you tell me what's going to happen."

Oakland is not alone in pushing ahead. Berkeley voters passed a
measure on Tuesday that would allow six 30,000-square-foot indoor
growing operations in West Berkeley. And advocates are already
gearing up to put legalization on the ballot again in 2012.

Meanwhile, on the streets of Oakland, it is not clear how much will change.

Groups of teenagers gathered Tuesday night outside Oaksterdam
University, the hub of the local medical marijuana trade, along with
reporters and campaign workers. Morgan Almason, who after clarifying
that the measure would not make marijuana legal for teenagers said
she was "21 for tonight," was with her friends smoking marijuana.

Ms. Almason said she supported Proposition 19 because "I support
marijuana," although she later admitted that she had not voted in the
election. As the night wore on and Proposition 19 began to look like
a sure loser, she commented, "That's not going to stop me."