Proposition 19: Backers of legalizing marijuana say 'the world is watching'

They came not to bury Proposition 19 but to praise it. They left having done a little bit of both.

The final election-day news conference on behalf of legalizing marijuana in California was an odd amalgam of get-out-the-vote effort and wake. There were hopeful exhortations and picket signs, but the polls looked bad, and everyone was clad in somber black.

A yes vote, legalization activists urged from the steps of Oakland City Hall, would create jobs, end racism, make the streets safer and ignite a revolution. “Make no mistake,” said a radiant Dale Sky Jones, executive chancellor of Oaksterdam University, “the world is watching.”

But as speaker after speaker stepped up to the lectern, the comments took an elegiac turn.

“Today is a watershed moment in the decades-long history to end failed marijuana policies in this country,” declared Stephen Gutwillig, California director of the Drug Policy Alliance. “Proposition 19 has impacted the national debate on marijuana policy, firmly placing marijuana legalization itself squarely in the mainstream of American politics.”

Oakland City Atty. John Russo, speaking to activists “from the heart,” told the small assembly gathered in the bright autumn sunshine that “even if we are cheated out of a win today, we have changed the debate from licentious hippies versus straight-arrow cops to one that recognizes this issue in all of its complexity.”

Remember, he said, “like other issues where people are working and have worked for justice and common sense, sometimes it takes a longer road than we would like.”

Richard Lee, founder of Oaksterdam University and the major force behind the measure, didn’t even address the crowd -– although he was billed as a main speaker. After the news conference and rally ended, he raced away from reporters and enthusiasts, only to be briefly stymied in his escape by the locked doors of City Hall.

If the measure loses, he was asked, what will be your take-away?

Lee: “Not enough people voted for it.”

Was it a worthwhile effort?

Lee: “Yeah, we changed the debate.”

Is that enough?

Lee: “Uh huh.”

Will you continue working for legalization?

Lee: “Uh huh.”

And if it wins?

Lee: “Let’s move on to the next battle, ultimately changing federal law.”

Will you be at the forefront of that too?

Lee: “We’ll see.”

-- Maria L. La Ganga in Oakland

Photos: California heads to the polls

Photos: The nation heads to the polls

Comments

[ET]

Just because it's the final news conference doesn't mean Prop 19 hasn't won! Get out there and vote you pessimistic marywanna smoker! Do it!

[Dan Wilson]

pass it.

[Kevin]

Richard Lee is absolutely right. Win or lose, Prop. 19 has elevated the debate about this benevolent plant and has taught many people things that they never knew about cannabis.

I will be voting at 4:20PM today. Guess how I'm voting....

[Rob]

I don't believe anything these so-called "polls" say -- It ain't over till it's over!

Vote YES on 19

[Windfall]

Of course it was worth it if only as an eye opener as to who really supports civil liberties and who doesn’t.

Today’s LA Times has a piece entitled “A Conservative’s Guide to The Propositions”. Since when is the LA Times a bastion of conservatism? The LA Times is certainly not the National Review which, by the way, has run several articles in favor of Prop 19.

It’s not the libertarians, conservatives or TEA Partiers that oppose Prop 19.

It’s the Marxist Democrats and their official mouthpiece the LA Times.

California’s Prop 19 is not about marijuana. It’s about freedom. If these polls are correct, it only goes to confirm what most already know: California’s Marxist Democrats hate freedom.

“Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.” - Ronald Reagan

We know from their written records that presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both grew marijuana on their farms in Virginia – and neither one so much as applied to the state for a permit.

“Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.” – Thomas Jefferson

Presidents Bill Clinton, George Bush and Clueless Comrade Barry have all admitted to smoking marijuana to get high. Together with The Father Of Our Nation and The Author of The Declaration of Independence, that’s at least five presidents of the United States that would be felons under the marijuana prohibition laws of the federal government as well as several states– even though their actions brought no harm to anyone.

This is ridiculous.

It makes no difference what “unintended consequences” some post-modern Tory may imagine concerning a man’s right to do that which does no harm to another. For the spirit of man to ascend, men must be free to make their own choices, even their own mistakes, especially, in fact, their own mistakes. The Founding Fathers understood this and supported a man’s right to make his own choices including his own mistakes.

“It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon the supposition he may abuse it.” – George Washington

In the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, no one cares what you smoke or how many harmless plants you grow as long as you’re not out trying to rape, rob or murder somebody or figure out a way to scam a handout from your productive countrymen.

How can a man be said to be free if he doesn’t even have sovereignty over his own body?

We need to send these Nanny State Fascists back to Europe where they belong and return this country to the Rugged Individualists who know what freedom and free enterprise are all about.

“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.” – Abraham Lincoln

Sic simper tyrannis.

[Kyle J.]

LEGALIZE IT! Drug Cartels will be out of business, more jobs, Marijuana is not as harmful as alcohol or cigs. BILLIONS OF TAX CASHMONEY. Drug dealers and growers will only vote no.

[jonathan]

so wat if we dont vote too many people smoke mariguana so that should tell you to lelalize it.

[jonathan]

legalize that weed

[jonathan]

we all blaze it even made people

[jonathan]

if people know the outcome of bud then legalize it

[Hank]

It's a shame if it fails. Hopefully they're right about it being on the national radar. It seems like it still is an issue that is mocked and then dismissed. Well, at least it will keep a lot of police employed for two more years.

[Andrew]

Mexico Juarez: reports that
Mexican Cartels are celebrating the defeat of Prop 19

[Anthony Newton]

Legalize it!

[John]

Im from Omaha NE and im watching

[John]

Im from Omaha NE and im watching

[Shaun]

How can anyone know what the actual outcome is, when it's only 1pm in California when this article was published. There is still plenty of time to vote. This is just another example of the L.A. Times putting out their string of lies and propaganda.

[anon]

Vote yes! Prohibition doesn't work. We need reform.

[Ken]

Get out there and vote! World peace! Yes on 19! Regulate, and Tax! Let's make a positive change, and put an end to the victimless crime. Lets focus millions of our tax dollars on more important things! Get out there and vote California!

[Kris]

Billions in tax dollars that California desperately needs? Billions in savings from not having to enforce silly prohibition laws? Law enforcement for this is very expensive, and rewards the criminals by making them very wealthy.

People that use this substance are currently making Mexican cartels into billionaires, and it's also very easy for a consumer to obtain illegally.

An individual doesn't crash cars or start violent altercations while high on THC...unlike alcohol.

Why should we keep spending tax dollars to deny individual liberty? Personally, I'd rather spend tax dollars on good teachers.

Legalizing Marijuana is now a moral imperative.

[Jon]

We are watching here at University of Toronto. Wishing for a civilization changing outcome.

[Janice Murry]

Prop. 19 on crystallized the fact that California has some major issues:

1. Economic Problems

2. Budget Problems

3. Unemployment Problems

4. Foreclosure Problems

5. Drug use Problems

6. Elected officials condoning illegal activity problems

7. School failure problems

8. Homelessness problems

9. Business leaving problems

10. trying any old thing to fix the problems problems

Yup, 19 was just another slap in the face to California's image internationally.....

[wspanic]

Mexican cartels are already beginning to celebrate because they believe that prop 19 will not pass...That alone is a good enough reason to vote 'YES'.

[DrClue]

Support the United States Constitution as well as the liberties and personal sovereignty for which it stands VOTE YES ON PROP 19

[GotToLegalizeIt]

Maybe if we didn't criminalize marijuana smokers -- and jail people at such high rates for trivial, non-violent 'offenses' -- we'd have less people in jail (currently a staggering percentage), and people might have more respect for the law, and be less likely to break it.

[Justin Herndon]

Good luck, guys. Those of us in less open-minded states are looking to California to show the rest of this backward country that legalizing weed isn't the end of the world.

Even if Prop. 19 fails, though, this is only the beginning.