Next November’s election for governor and senator may have to take a back seat to a chance to legalize the sale and use of marijuana in California.
Hey, you can always vote for governor and senator, but the chance to open the market for bud …
Richard Lee, co-author of the legalization initiative, announced Wednesday that his group has collected more than 680,000 signatures, far more than the 433,971 needed to put the measure on the ballot. He plans to submit the signatures next month.
Collecting the signatures was no problem, Lee told Carla Marinucci of the San Francisco Chronicle.
“People were eager to sign,” he said. “We heard they were ripping the petitions out of people’s hands to do it.”
Lee, who owns pot-related businesses in Oakland, argues that the cash-strapped state could make more than $1 billion a year by legalizing and taxing marijuana.
Medical marijuana has been legal in California since 1996, when Prop. 215 was approved. That’s likely to make it much easier to pass the legalization measure, Lee said.
That’s one way of looking at it. But it’s also possible that the experience with medical marijuana – and the growing controversy surrounding it – might create a backlash against making it legal to buy, grow, sell and possess pot.
In 1996, supporters of Prop. 215 said in their ballot arguments that the measure “will allow seriously and terminally ill patients to legally use marijuana if, and only if, they have the approval of a licensed physician.”
Opponents argued that backers of the measure were exploiting concern for the sick “in order to legalize and legitimize the widespread use of marijuana in California.”
While the initiative’s backers talked solemnly about the use of pot for diseases like cancer, AIDS and glaucoma, the measure also allowed its use for “any other illness for which marijuana provides relief.”
That’s a giant loophole that could allow doctors to authorize the use of pot for “stress, headaches, upset stomach, insomnia, a stiff neck … or just about anything,” opponents complained.
Flash-forward to 2009 and you can find all of those problems on a list of ailments treatable by marijuana, along with others such as writer’s cramp, obesity and tobacco dependence.
As for the need for a doctor’s recommendation, the Sacramento Bee found that one “health and wellness service” catering to the medical marijuana business now operates 20 offices in California and is opening a new one every few months. They have seen 170,000 pot patients since 2004.
An exhaustive study by the L.A. Weekly found that there were more than 540 pot dispensaries and delivery services in the city of Los Angeles alone, many operating illegally.
“The pot shops are not concentrated near hospitals or sicker, poorer, older populations,” the newspaper found, “Instead, the pot sellers concentrate in wealthier areas including Westwood and the West Valley, tourist areas such as Venice and Melrose and nightlife districts such as Hollywood.”
Complaints from residents about the growing number of pot clubs with very loose definitions of “non-profit” and “medical use” have convinced cities across the state to tighten up local regulations and close some of the outlaw dispensaries.
Plenty of Californians who voted to legalize medical marijuana held a vision of white-coated club operators supplying desperately ill patients with carefully measured doses of generic pot. They likely aren’t thrilled to see clubs designed more like counter-culture candy stores, with a wide selection of dope, food items and regular specials for customers.
Lee doesn’t believe concerns about medical marijuana or the growing awareness of how easy it is to get a doctor’s recommendation will hurt the legalization vote.
“To me, this is codifying what is happening,” he told the Los Angeles Times.
Maybe so. There’s little doubt that public attitudes have changed dramatically since 1972, when Prop. 19, the last marijuana legalization measure to make the ballot, was stomped by a 2-to-1 margin.
Lee also points to polls showing that a majority of California voters favor legalization, especially with the tax money carrot attached. He also said marijuana supporters could raise as much as $20 million for the campaign.
But those polls show support for legalization in the low- to mid-50s, which isn’t as high as political pros like to see for a contested initiative. There’s also likely to be opposition from law enforcement, which means plenty in a statewide race.
Then there’s that pesky little fact that marijuana is still listed as an illegal drug by the federal government. While the Justice Department has decided to look the other way when it comes to medical marijuana, there’s no guarantee the feds will feel the same way about a plan to legalize recreational possession, use and sales in the nation’s largest state.
John Wildermuth is a longtime writer on California politics.