Legalized marijuana advocates in California plan to push for reefer gladness again in 2012, when they say recreational marijuana use will have a better chance of passing than it did last week, when it crashed and burned. Go ask Alice, and its odds will be 10 feet tall. Unbowed with the defeat of Proposition 19 Nov. 2, advocates of legalizing weed in the Golden State are “almost giddy” about the chance for passage in a presidential year, when more people go to the polls, the
Los Angeles Times reports.
Looking back, the advocates see Prop 19 as a trial run; looking forward, they envision having more money to convey a better message and tighter measure to voters, the Times reports. Both sides acknowledge that voters rejected this measure but generally are open to legalizing weed, according to the Times.
Voters nixed the proposal 54 to 46 percent, but pollster Greenberg Quinlan Rosner’s post-vote tote found that they back legalization 49 to 41 percent, with 10 percent uncertain, the Times reported.
Optimism about passage springs from the fact that some labor and civil rights leaders support the measure and donors with deep pockets appear ready to drop a dime next time around. Perhaps most importantly, a presidential election is expected to draw more young voters to the polls.
“If they had shown up Tuesday, supporters note, Proposition 19 might have come close to passing. Even so, they also point out with bemusement, legalization outpolled Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina,” the Times reported.
"The question about legalizing marijuana is no longer when, it's no longer whether, it's how," the Times quotes Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, as saying. "There's a really strong body of people who will be ready to pull the lever in the future."
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