Pot legalization petitions filed in California

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Pot legalization petitions filed in California
By Peter Hecht
[e-mail] The Sacramento Bee
Published: Friday, Jan. 29, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 3A


Heather Ditty, a worker at Sacramento County's registrar of voters, moves boxes of petitions submitted by the campaign for legalization of marijuana. If 433,000 signatures are verified statewide, the measure will appear on the November ballot.


California appears headed for a rollicking November ballot fight over whether to legalize and tax marijuana cultivation and use for adults 21 years and older.

Proponents of the "Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010" said Thursday that they had submitted to the state nearly 700,000 petition signatures – more than enough, if valid, to qualify the measure for the November ballot.

Secretary of State Debra Bowen has until June 24 to certify the measure, which needs 433,000 valid voter signatures to qualify.

But already legalization proponents and opponents are gearing up for a fight. The election battle is expected to feature rival TV commercials that variously extol the tax benefits of a regulated marijuana market or warn of the threat mass legalization poses to communities.

Measure backers promise financial rescue for the state's cash-strapped schools, police agencies and social service providers, saying legalization could generate more than $1 billion in tax revenue.

"This is an historic first step toward ending cannabis prohibition," said Richard Lee, president of an Oakland medical marijuana dispensary and Oaksterdam University, a school dedicated to pot.

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http://www.sacbee.com/capitolandcalifornia/story/2498214.html