Pubdate: Fri, 18 Oct 2013
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2013 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Joe Garofoli
Page: A1

NEWSOM LEADS PANEL AIMING FOR LEGALIZED POT IN STATE

Marijuana advocates took a step toward making California the third 
state to legalize the drug for adult recreational use Thursday when 
Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and the American Civil Liberties Union opened a 
campaign intended to land a measure before voters during the next 
presidential election.

Newsom, who came out in favor of legalization last year, will lead a 
panel of academics, drug policy experts, law enforcement authorities 
and officials from Colorado and Washington - the two states whose 
voters legalized recreational use last year.

The panel's goal: To answer legal and practical questions about the 
state-endorsed sale of marijuana before advocates move forward with a 
measure to tax and regulate the estimated $1.5 billion cannabis 
industry in California.

Backers intend to go to the voters in November 2016 - coinciding with 
the presidential election, when the electorate is likely to skew 
younger than average and thus more marijuana-friendly.

Even older voters, however, are becoming more open to marijuana 
legalization, according to a pair of recent polls.

One, which the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California 
released last month, found that 60 percent of likely voters overall 
backed legalization. A survey by San Francisco pollster Ben Tulchin, 
commissioned by the ACLU and released Thursday, found that 65 percent 
of 1,200 respondents considered likely to vote in 2016 would support 
a measure to tax and regulate marijuana.

The state's voters rejected a legalization measure in 2010 by 53 to 47 percent.

But not at Costco

"The fact is that the public's support for marijuana is increasing," 
Tulchin said. "The key, though, is that they want regulations and 
limits on this. And they want the revenue (from taxation) to fund 
essential services.

"They don't want to be able to go to Costco and buy it in bulk," Tulchin said.

At a San Francisco press conference Thursday, members of the ACLU 
panel acknowledged that voters will have many questions about what 
legalization would entail. Over the next year and a half, the group 
will travel around the state, holding town-hall meetings and 
periodically issuing recommendations.

"People want to know what a DUI would be. Employers want to know what 
happens if their employee shows up stoned at work," said Craig 
Reinarman, a panel member and professor of sociology and legal 
studies at UC Santa Cruz who has written about drug policy for 30 years.

Looking elsewhere

For answers, advocates will turn to officials and activists from 
Colorado and Washington, who have been wrestling with such issues 
since legalization measures passed in their states last fall. It 
wasn't until this week that Washington's Liquor Control Board adopted 
rules that will permit 334 retail marijuana stores to open statewide next year.

California advocates said they'd like to be able to outline what a 
regulatory system would look like before they go to the voters.

A large incentive for advocates is that federal officials are 
demanding more structure and regulation from states where some form 
of marijuana use is legal, in exchange for leaving them alone.

Federal prosecutors have periodically cracked down on medical 
marijuana dispensaries in California, including some that local 
officials have characterized as model operations. In August, however, 
U.S. Deputy Attorney General James Cole declared that federal 
authorities would go easier on "states and local governments that 
have enacted laws legalizing marijuana in some form" and have "strong 
and effective regulatory and enforcement systems."

California is not one of those states.

Legalization "is not going to happen unless the public and, frankly, 
the federal government are persuaded that this can be done in a way 
that's safe, that makes sense and is tightly regulated," said Allen 
Hopper, director of criminal justice and drug policy for the ACLU of 
California.

Star attraction

Hopper said that although the ACLU and Newsom support legalization, 
several members of the panel do not.

As its chairman, Newsom is the centerpiece of the newly formed group 
and political star attraction. He's believed to be the 
highest-ranking elected statewide official in the country who 
supports legalizing marijuana.

But Tulchin, who was Newsom's pollster during his 2010 lieutenant 
governor campaign, and others say fronting this issue isn't a 
political suicide mission.

Same-sex precedent

Newsom, Tulchin pointed out, was considered in political no-man's 
land back in 2004, when he allowed same-sex couples to marry at San 
Francisco City Hall. Less than a decade and many court battles later, 
hundreds of elected officials support gay and lesbian marriage rights.

"That gives him a lot of credibility on this," Tulchin said.

Other legalization groups are talking about going to the ballot in 
2014. Hopper said the ACLU is not going to run any ballot measures or 
decide who should.

"We want to make sure that whatever coalition ends up doing this has 
the data and the facts and the research to do it right," Hopper said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom