Pubdate: Mon, 29 Mar 2010 Source: Record Searchlight (Redding, CA) Copyright: 2010 Record Searchlight Contact: http://www.redding.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/360 LEGALIZING POT NO LONGER LOOKS SO FAR-FETCHED The secretary of state's office says California voters will have their say on a marijuana-legalization initiative in November - which itself is no surprise. Activists have been at work qualifying the measure for much of the past year. But we've already traveled a long way down the legalization road. How far? The primary financial backer for the "Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010," according to The Associated Press, is Oakland's "medical-marijuana entrepreneur" Richard Lee. His Oakerstam University cannabis campus claims some 5,000 graduates, and even though state authorities say the medical marijuana trade is supposed to operate on a not-for-profit basis, business has been lucrative enough for Lee that he had $1.3 million lying around to gather signatures to qualify the initiative. And while it's not exactly rare for people involved in the marijuana business - legal or not - to make a lot of money, they used to be discreet about it. Lee's a living, breathing example of just how far the trade has come out of hiding, especially in the past year. Even in states that have allowed the medicinal use of marijuana - California was the first in 1996 - or have a libertarian streak, outright legalization has been an impossible sale. Twice in the past decade, for instance, voters in anything-goes Nevada have considered and rejected legalization initiatives much like this measure, which would allow personal use for anyone older than 21 and the cultivation of modest amounts. But the newly overt marijuana sales even in conservative cities like Redding change the tone of the debate. To a large degree, we're already living with the effects of partial legalization. Having given legal marijuana something of a test run, will Californians go all the way? Or will the widespread perception that recreational smokers are exploiting a law intended to help the sick fuel a backlash? Or will values be a side issue with the state so hungry for new tax revenue? We'll have the answer in November. Either way, the marijuana-legalization measure is one more reason why 2010 will be a very interesting election year. Our view: The state has almost been running a test of legalization. Now we'll find out what the voters think of it. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake