Thursday, November 4, 2010

Prop 19: Down, But Not Burnt Out–Advocates See Hope for the Future

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California’s Prop 19 may have failed, but advocates say 2010 was a turning point in the fight for marijuana-law reform. Here’s what’s next for the pro-pot movement

On Tuesday, despite last-ditch advertising efforts and a generous donation, the California initiative to legalize pot squeaked to a stop—garnering just 46 percent of the vote. The measure would have allowed for personal possession of up to an ounce of pot, small-scale cultivation, and the ability for local governments to tax the sale of the drug. Yet despite Prop 19’s failure, the first-of-its-kind measure received the highest level of support to date for a statewide legalization initiative. Advocates say victory or failure, this election will go down in history as a turning point in the fight for pot reform—and one that changed the national discourse for good. “Prop 19's loss was incidental compared to its monumentally positive role in elevating and legitimizing the national debate," Ethan Nadelmann, the executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, tells NEWSWEEK. “This thing has transformed the dialogue about marijuana, here and around the world.”

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