New Pot Measure Floating in Calif.

Initiative would treat weed like beer, wine
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 26, 2011 1:20 AM CDT
'Regulate Marijuana Like Wine' Measure Circulating in Calif
Medicinal marijuana activist Steve Kubby is one of the measure's main backers.   (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Richard Lam, File)

Voters in America's most populous state are likely to find the question of marijuana legalization on their ballots again next year. Supporters of the "Regulate Marijuana Like Wine" initiative have been given permission to start circulating petitions to get the measure on ballots next year, AP reports. The measure would legalize pot for people over 21, treat growers like microbrewers, and allow anybody to grow 12 pounds a year tax-free, then tax anything over that amount.

"We're repealing bad laws," says medical marijuana activist Steve Kubby, one of the measure's leading proponents. "We're creating a sales tax on the biggest crop in the state, and we're bringing it within a regulated model." The Proposition 19 legalization measure fell 6 percentage points short of approval last November, but Kubby believes this measure has a better chance of passing because of changing attitudes, and because voters in presidential elections tend to be less conservative than midterm voters. (More California stories.)

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