Bid to legalize pot in Calif. tops list of Nov. 2 ballot issues

September 9, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

No single election contest this fall combines the buzz and history-making potential of California’s Proposition 19, which would make the state the first to legalize recreational use of marijuana.

It’s the most eye- catching of roughly 150 ballot measures that voters in 35 states will be considering Nov. 2 — encompassing such volatile topics as abortion, affirmative action, health care and liquor sales.

In the littlest state, with the longest formal name, voters will have a chance to shorten it to just Rhode Island instead of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Advocates of the change say the full name evokes images of slavery in a state where merchants once prospered from the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

In California, recent polls indicate voters are closely divided over Prop 19, which would allow adults 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of pot for personal use. Individuals could grow marijuana gardens of up to 25 square feet on private property; cities and counties would decide whether to allow sales and taxation of marijuana within their boundaries.

On both sides, passions are high.

Supporters say it’s a chance for voters to repudiate a failed war on drugs while enabling the deficit-wracked state to profit from pot taxation. Opponents say Prop 19 would increase youth drug abuse, unleash stoned drivers on the highways and attract out-of-state crime gangs who’d buy California marijuana for resale on their home turf.

“The opposition is clearly running scared in the rhetoric they’re using,” said Stephen Gutwillig, a Prop 19 backer who is state director of the Drug Policy Alliance. “It’s status quo fear-mongering that everyone in the country is all too familiar with.”

Susan Manheimer, police chief of San Mateo and president of the state police chiefs association, says Prop 19 would create significant health and safety problems.

“Drug use is damaging to our communities, our youth and everyone we are sworn to serve and protect,” she wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle. “How could we make access to drugs easier?”

The California Chamber of Commerce claims Prop 19 would lead to more workplace accidents by forcing employers to let workers smoke pot on the job. Supporters disagree, contending that employers still would be able to punish employees for marijuana consumption that impairs job performance just as they would for alcohol.

President Barack Obama’s drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske, opposes Prop 19, as do the leading candidates for statewide office, Democrats as well as Republicans.

Proposals to allow medical marijuana are on the ballot in Arizona and South Dakota. With “yes” majorities, they would join 14 other states that already have taken the step.

Beyond marijuana, there are several ballot measures likely to be contested along liberal/conservative battle lines that could have a spillover effect on other races in those states.

Arizona’s ballot includes a measure that would ban affirmative-action programs by state and local governments based on race, ethnicity and sex. Colorado voters will decide on an anti-abortion “personhood” amendment — similar to one they rejected in 2008 — that would give fetuses human rights in the state constitution.

Among other notable measures:

Oklahomans will vote on whether to declare that English is Oklahoma’s “common and unifying language” and that all official state actions must be conducted in English. It would bar lawsuits to have state services provided in languages other than English.

In Illinois, where the two most-recent former governors have been convicted on federal charges, a proposed constitutional amendment would give voters the power to recall governors.

A measure in Massachusetts would cut the sales-tax rate from 6.25 percent to 3 percent, potentially costing the state up to $2.4 billion in annual revenue.

South Dakotans will decide whether to expand the state’s no-smoking bans to include bars, video-lottery establishments and the casinos in Deadwood.