Time is running out for proponents of marijuana legalization to join forces in support of a single ballot initiative for 2016.
In late December, San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Steven Greenhut wrote that the numerous groups that support legalized recreational marijuana use for adults had coalesced around a proposal backed by former Facebook president Sean Parker. Called the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, it also earned the backing of Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom. Parker, of course, is a billionaire and he has said he will "dedicate millions to the effort," Greenhut wrote. He also said that six people who had been part of ReformCA, another coalition that had submitted its own initiative to the attorney general's office, had signed on to the Parker-backed measure.
This week, ReformCA sent out a news release declaring that "not everyone in the cannabis community is ready to sell out to Sean Parker's highly publicized and supposedly well-funded effort to legalize cannabis in the state of California, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act." The statement went on to note that ReformCA had raised $250,000 in four days �" with a goal of $2 million �" to place an alternative measure on the ballot.
Uh oh.
We need to be clear here: getting voter approval for legalized marijuana in California will not be easy. The first attempt at a statewide initiative was soundly defeated in 2010. If there is more than one competing initiative on the ballot, it's likely that voters will reject all of them, so it's critical to have a single proposition on the ballot. ReformCA folks need to seriously rethink their plan for an alternative measure.
The Adult Use of Marijuana Act has three basic components, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. It would allow adults 21 years and older to possess up to one ounce of marijuana and cultivate up to six plants for personal use; regulate and tax the production, manufacture, and sale of marijuana for adult use; and rewrite criminal penalties so as to reduce the most common marijuana felonies to misdemeanors and allow prior offenders to petition for reduced charges.
But some in the cannabis community fear the Parker-backed proposal is overly restrictive, and it contains 62 pages of new rules. However, as the state has discovered, it took years to regulate medical marijuana, which has been legal since the passage of Proposition 215 in 1996. We expect any statewide legalization effort to include many regulations. People aren't going to vote for this if it's lax. San Francisco is among several cities that saw a significant crackdown on legal medical cannabis during the tenure of former U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag, who was hell bent on closing dispensaries that she thought were too close to schools. San Francisco also recently established a task force so that it's ready if marijuana legalization passes statewide. The Adult Use of Marijuana Act is modeled on the new state law that creates a state bureau to regulate medical marijuana dispensaries, as Greenhut noted. It makes sense that a proposal for legal recreation use would rely on the same framework that state lawmakers have already approved.
One of ReformCA's complaints rings hollow: that law enforcement opposes the Parker-backed measure. We suspect that many law enforcement officials will oppose any effort to legalize marijuana for adult use, whether it's the Adult Use of Marijuana Act or something else.
People who think California voters will check the yes box next to a marijuana legalization initiative that doesn't include penalties or explicit definitions are not realistic. This is a large state, and while it leans left politically, it's also a state that has already voted down a legalization effort. There are lots of people who are concerned about marijuana legalization, and their fears must be neutralized during the campaign, which, by the way, will cost a lot more than $2 million.
Newsom headed the state's blue-ribbon commission on marijuana. He also has a knack for reading the politics of hot-button issues. If he thinks the adult use initiative is the way to go, he's probably right. And while there are problems with the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, we're sure that bringing a competing measure to the ballot would send both up in smoke.