California To Try Again For Marijuana Legalization

The group that tried and failed to pass Proposition 19 is working to get it on the ballot again in 2012.

The Coalition for Cannabis Policy Reform 2012 aims to build on the unusual support that coalesced around Proposition 19, which would have allowed adults to grow and possess marijuana and authorized cities and counties to legalize and tax sales.

That campaign drew backing from the California NAACP and the Latino Voters League, which saw it as a way to end disproportionate arrests of African Americans and Latinos for marijuana crimes. Labor leaders in the Bay Area also got behind it, bringing endorsements from some major unions, which saw a legal pot industry as a potential source of union jobs.

The committee announced Friday included Alice Huffman, who heads the California NAACP; Antonio Gonzalez, who formed the Latino Voters League; and Dan Rush, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union official who worked during the campaign to build labor support. It also includes several key players behind Proposition 19, including Dale Sky Jones, who was the campaign’s spokeswoman and will be the chairwoman of the new coalition.

Prop 19 lost 46%-54%, but the hope that with more money and even broader support, it will pass this time.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.