BERKELEY'S MEDICAL MARIJUANA MEASURE GOES UP IN SMOKE

Although it came within tenths of a percentage point of winning, a slow
creep of support for Berkeley's latest medical marijuana initiative wasn't
enough for it to pass.

Measure R would have given the city the most lax marijuana laws in the
nation by eliminating limits on the number of marijuana plants a patient
can grow -- currently capped at 10 -- and authorizing medical marijuana
collectives to police themselves through a peer review group process.

It also would have given new medical marijuana dispensaries the right to
open without first having a public hearing.

Immediately following the election, it appeared as though Measure R had won
48.8 percent of the vote. As the provisional votes were slowly counted, the
pro-R tally climbed higher. Provisional votes are those cast at a location
other than the resident's designated polling place.

Final results released Tuesday by the Registrar of Voters show that voters
rejected R by a margin of 191 votes - 25,167 to 24,976.

Elaine Ginnold, assistant registrar of voters for Alameda County, said such
post-election changes happen regularly.

"It's not uncommon," she said. "It's just one of those election things."