NOT YET

It may have been one of the most surprising outcomes of last week's
voting: Californians rejected a proposal which would have legalized
the recreational use of marijuana.

The defeat of Proposition 19 has left many in the Golden State and
around the country scratching their heads, in part because of
California's reputation as a liberal trendsetter, and because that
state already had legalized medical marijuana.

Yet the measure allowing adults to have and grow small amounts of pot
went down 54-46, with polls showing opposition across the board
demographically.

According to The Associated Press, momentum for Proposition 19 waned
after "ads, newspaper editorials and politicians, (warned) of a world
where stoned drivers would crash school buses, nurses would show up
at work high and employers would be helpless to fire drug-addled workers."

So we suppose a prohibition of alcoholic beverages is next, no?

"The risks of legalizing something as important as marijuana were far
greater than the potential benefits, and the benefits were far from
guaranteed," Roger Salazar, spokesman for the anti-Proposition 19
movement, told AP.

"Social change doesn't happen overnight," Paul Armentano, deputy
director of the National Organization for Repeal of Marijuana Laws,
said in an AP story in which proponents said they aren't giving up.

What likely will tilt the balance in favor of legalization is money.
There is, after all, sales tax revenue to be had. And don't forget
the new jobs to be created, if a legal marijuana industry emerges.

"The issue is generational," said Richard Lee, whom AP called a
"medical marijuana entrepreneur."

"Many of the biggest contributors to the campaign were younger and
based in Silicon Valley, representing a changing of the guard of
political influence and leadership," Lee said.

Anyone who thinks this subject is going away is just blowing smoke.