Gavin Newsom comes 'out of the closet' for pot legalization

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom said he supports the legalization of marijuana in California.

In a New York Times article about the fading stigma of the drug in the Golden State, Newsom told the New York Times' Adam Nagourney, "These laws just don't make sense anymore. It's time for politicians to come out of the closet on this."

Newsom, a former mayor of San Francisco who challenged Jerry Brown for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2010, is the highest-ranking state official to endorse legalization of marijuana.

Under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the state passed laws lowering penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana, making possession of less than an ounce similar to a routine traffic violation.

In 1996, California voters passed Proposition 215, which authorized the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. But state voters narrowly rejected a measure in 2010 an initiative to decriminalize the drug.

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-- Anthony York in Sacramento

Photo: Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, shown in a file photo, says marijuana should be legal in California. Credit: Getty Images.

The nonconformists behind Proposition 37

Ballot measure campaigns attract all sorts. The most colorful group in this year’s election, though, might just be the crusaders for Proposition 37, which would require labels on genetically modified foods.

They are fighting some of the biggest food and bioengineering firms in the world. The likes of Monsanto, DuPont and Kraft have poured millions of dollars battling the measure. The opponents to the measure argue it is based on junk science and would result in endless litigation and higher food prices.

The big corporate money on the pro side? Much of it comes from one company, which is hardly big and hardly corporate. It is called Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps All-One-God Faith Inc. Based in California, of course. Where else would such a company find a home?

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These are the people who make the peppermint and other flavored liquid soaps with all the tiny text crammed onto the label. Perhaps you used it for some of the advertised 18 uses -- brushing teeth, shaving, deodorant, and so on -- on camping trips in your youth. If you squint hard enough you can read some of the inspiration the late Dr. Bronner sought to impart with all those microscopic words. Such as: “Love is like a willful bird, do you want it? It flies away! Yet, when you least expect its bliss it turns around and it’s here to stay!”

A company spokesman called the L.A. Times last week, hoping to get a reporter to include CEO David Bronner’s perspective in a story about all the money going into ballot initiatives. But when the reporter called Bronner, he wasn’t immediately available. The spokesman explained in an email: Bronner was doing his court-ordered community service.

In June, according to the Washington Post, Bronner “locked himself in a metal cage…outside the White House with a stash of hemp plants and equipment, hoping to make enough hemp oil to spread on a piece of French bread.”

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The story goes on. “Park police and Secret Service agents joined D.C. police and fire officials, who worked for a couple of hours to open the cage. Bronner had designed the trailer so it could not easily be broken into or towed away by police.”

Back in California, it seems the quirky Yes on 37 campaign was downright restrained compared to what might have been.

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 -- Evan Halper in Sacramento

Photo: David Bronner of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps sits at his company's booth in front of some of his organic soaps and other body products at the Food Marketing Institute trade show in Chicago. Credit: Brian Kersey / Associated Press

State lawmaker vows to push ahead on medical marijuana bill

As the Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to effectively ban medical marijuana dispensaries, a state lawmaker vowed to push forward on legislation that would establish statewide regulations on growing, transporting and selling medical pot.

After tabling his bill last month in the face of opposition, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) said he would make refinements to AB 2312 in the fall and revive the measure next year. The measure, which was prompted by several federal raids on medical marijuana dispensaries, will be the focus of a legislative committee hearing later this year.

The bill would create a state board to enact and enforce statewide regulations on medical marijuana, require all dispensaries to register with the state and allow cities and counties to tax sales.

“AB 2312 represents my best effort to regulate this industry that has existed in a patchwork of regulations and laws for the past 15 years and has the support of 80% of Californians," Ammiano said in a statement. "While I feel that this is a good policy proposal, having the (legislative) committee involved to work out issues through their process will make it great.”

Medical marijuana advocates have called on the state to clarify the gray legal areas that continue to plague the state's voter-approved program.

Many law enforcement groups, including the Los Angeles County district attorney's office and the Los Angeles Police Protective League, had opposed Ammiano's legislation before he tabled the measure, fearing it would spur an expansion of an industry that they characterized as out of control.

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--Michael J. Mishak in Sacramento

twitter.com/mjmishak

Photo: Raul Barrios, right, with his partner, Wallace Johnson, center, speaks in opposition to a ban on medical marijuana dispensaries during public comment of the Los Angeles City Council meeting on Tuesday July 24, 2012, as council members debated the proposed ordinance repealing and replacing the municipal code concerning medical marijuana clinics. Credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times.

California lawmakers OK plan to shift pot shop regulation to state

A proposal that could make it easier to open medical marijuana shops in California was approved Tuesday by the Assembly's Public Safety Committee despite objections from cities and law enforcement agencies that it unreasonably ties their hands.

The measure by committee Chairman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) would shift the regulation of the industry from local governments, some of which have banned the dispensaries, to a new state Board of Medical Marijuana Enforcement that would adopt rules and set fees for medical pot cultivation and sales.

The measure would require that no fewer than one pot dispensary be allowed per 50,000 residents. Ammiano said statewide rules are needed because dispensaries have been harassed by law enforcement in some areas even though they were legalized by California voters more than 15 years ago.

"The worst public policy choice for California is to sit idly by doing nothing and let this failed war on medical cannabis continue unchecked," he said before the committee vote. "The point of regulation is to bring these activities above board to guarantee safe and effective access, with clear rules for those involved in the industry."

The panel voted 4-2, with Republican members opposed, to approve AB 2312, which now goes to another committee before it can reach the Assembly floor. The League of California Cities and the California Police Chiefs Assn. opposed the bill in part because of concern that it takes control over the clinics away from cities and counties.

"It forecloses the ability of local government to take control over their own destiny," said John Lovell, government relations manager for the police chiefs' group.

Assemblyman Stephen Knight (R-Palmdale) voted against the measure, saying it puts local law enforcement at odds with federal law, which still prohibits the sale of marijuana. "This is still an illegal activity," he said.

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Photo: Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco). Credit: Robert Durell / Los Angeles Times

Pot initiative effort dropped as Pat Robertson backs legalization

Medical marijuana advocates are dropping their efforts to place a measure on the November ballot that would regulate California's booming dispensary industry.

A top campaign director told the Sacramento Bee on Thursday that a group of dispensaries, marijuana growers and unions were pulling the plug on the effort, opting instead to spend their money on a "full-on media campaign" to influence the Legislature.

Dan Rush, director of the Medical Cannabis and Hemp Division for the United Food and Commercial Workers, said the move was the result of an impending deadline and indecision among the campaign's major contributors over the direction of the effort.

In 2010, voters rejected a ballot measure that would have made California the first state in the nation to legalize pot for recreational use. Advocates are seeking clearer state regulation of California's medical marijuana industry amid an ongoing federal crackdown.

The California activists' decision comes as the legalization movement won a new advocate: Pat Robertson.

“I really believe we should treat marijuana the way we treat beverage alcohol,” Robertson told the New York Times on Wednesday. “I’ve never used marijuana and I don’t intend to, but it’s just one of those things that I think: This war on drugs just hasn’t succeeded.”

As for his own habits, the evangelical leader told the newspaper that he enjoyed an occasional glass of wine — “When I was in college, I hit it pretty hard, but that was before Christ.” Though Robertson said he did not think marijuana appeared in the Bible, he noted that “Jesus made water into wine.”

“I don’t think he was a teetotaler,” he said.

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--Michael J. Mishak in Sacramento

twitter.com/mjmishak

Photo: A man rolls a joint at the International Cannabis and Hemp Expo in Oakland. Credit: Dean Coppola / Oakland Tribune

Study of marijuana tax gets support in Senate committee

State lawmakers Wednesday took a step toward possibly licensing and taxing medical marijuana sales in California, despite objections that such sales are not sanctioned by federal law.

A bill that would have the state Board of Equalization study ways to tax and license the sale of medical marijuana was approved by the Senate Governance and Finance Committee on a 5-2 vote.

Sen. Ron Calderon (D-Montebello), author of SB 626, said the cash-strapped state was missing out on potentially tens of millions of dollars from the sales.

"There is a real revenue source here that we need to tap," Calderon told the committee, noting that California voters approved a ballot measure in 1996 allowing medical marijuana sales.

Sen. Doug La Malfa (R-Richvale) opposed the legislation, which next goes to a committee on financial issues for consideration. "I can’t support something that in any way legitimizes this product," La Malfa said.

Some supporters of medical marijuana sales like the Calderon bill, though there was grousing over the lighthearted tone of a report by the committee's analysts examining the issue.

The official state report, which was used as the basis for the committee action, contained a serious analysis of the legal and policy issues involved, but under chapter headings that included: "What’s so great about short-term memory anyway?" "Learn to focus better," and "Just Doob it."

-- Patrick McGreevy in Sacramento

Bill to buffer homes from marijuana dispensaries advances

State lawmakers Wednesday took a step toward banning medical marijuana operations from within 600 feet of residential areas.

The proposed restriction was approved by a key Senate committee at the request of Anaheim City Councilwoman Kris Murray, who said the pot shops were popping up in residential neighborhoods. Residents have complained about the dispensaries drawing traffic at all hours and of customers smoking marijuana in neighborhoods, Murray said.

Residents "didn’t feel safe on their own street any more," she told the Senate Governance and Finance Committee, which agreed to send the legislation to the Senate Rules Committee.

Sen. Doug La Malfa (R-Richvale) said voter approval of a state ballot measure permitting medical marijuana sales and use in 1996 had created a "wild west" for the industry. Regulators are trying to catch up.

"It’s just out of control right now," La Malfa said. "These things generally make pretty poor neighbors for people who don’t partake in this product."

The legislation by Sen. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) would create buffer zones and allow cities to adopt even more stringent ones.

Supporters of medical marijuana said the proposal, SB 847, violated Proposition 215, which mandates access for patients. They note many commercial areas suited to dispensaries are close to residential zones where patients live. "This bill could serve to choke off access to collectives or cooperatives," said Don Duncan, California director for the group Americans for Safe Access. "We don’t want to push safe access into the shadows."

-- Patrick McGreevy in Sacramento

Schwarzenegger Tells Leno: 'No one cares if you smoke a joint'

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday that he suspects Californians voted against legalizing recreational use of marijuana in last Tuesday’s election because a law he signed this year has all but decriminalized smoking pot.

The new law, SB 1449, signed by the governor last month, changes possession of less than an ounce of marijuana in California from a misdemeanor to an infraction, which Schwarzenegger said is like “a speeding  ticket.”

“No one cares if you smoke a joint or not,” he said in an appearance on NBC’s “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.”  “But, I mean, this Proposition 19 went a little bit too far, I think, and it was written badly.”

Voters defeated the ballot measure last week, 46% to 54%.

--Evan Halper in Sacramento

Prop. 19 headed to defeat, exit polls show

California voters appear to have rejected Prop. 19, an effort to legalize marijuana and allow local governments to tax the sale of the drug.

Prop. 19 received national attention, but relatively little money was spent on the campaign. While millions of dollars was spent on other ballot measures, the Prop. 19 campaign was modest by California political standards. Still, no issue received more attention around the state.

The measure was opposed by law enforcement groups and elected officials from both political parties.

U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder had said the Obama administration would "vigorously enforce" federal drug laws against Californians who grow or sell marijuana for recreational use even if voters passed the legalization measure.

The Times is projecting Proposition 19's defeat based on preliminary information from the National Voter Pool survey, conducted for The Times by Edison Research. The National Voter Pool is a consortium of the major television news networks and the Associated Press. The survey was conducted at 50 polling places among roughly 2,200 election day voters and was supplemented by a telephone survey of roughly 600 voters who cast ballots by mail.

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-- Anthony York

Photo credit: Ed Andrieski / Associated Press

Governor, Senate races up for grabs as polls close in California

The polls have closed in California, with races for governor and U.S. Senate and a fight over the legalization of marijuana among the races and issues to be settled by state voters.

Californians will elect a successor to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger following the most expensive governor's race in state history. Republican Meg Whitman spent more than $141.5 million of her own money in her bid to defeat Democrat Jerry Brown.

Brown served two terms as governor, from 1975 to 1983, and would be the oldest person ever elected governor if he wins tonight. Whitman is vying to become the first female governor in state history.

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer is in a tight race with Republican Carly Fiorina, the former chief executive of Hewlett Packard. Boxer is seeking her fourth Seante term against Fiorina, who has never held elected office.

Californians are also voting on nine measures on the November ballot, including Prop. 19, a measure that would legalize the sale and use of marijuana. You can see results from all of the state's races on the secretary of state's website.

Check PolitiCal throughout the night for updates on all of the key races.

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-- Anthony York

Photo credit: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Photos: California heads to the polls

Photos: The nation heads to the polls