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Full headline:In CA on Election Eve, Women Solidify Opposition to Prop 19; Even the Greater San Francisco Bay Area No Longer Supports Legal Marijuana SurveyUSA Breaking News - 8 hours ago [about 5pm edt] On Election Eve, California remains divided on Proposition 19, with women opposing the measure now more than at any point during the campaign and support in the greater San Francisco Bay Area no greater than opposition, according to SurveyUSA's 8th and final pre-election tracking poll , conducted for KABC-TV in Los Angeles, KPIX-TV in San Francisco, KGTV-TV in San Diego, and KFSN-TV in Fresno. "No" has 46%,...

Conventional wisdom says tea party conservatives would vote against marijuana legalization in California. Yet Prop. 19 could test how serious tea partyers are about states' rights. Ronald Reagan didn't start the war on drugs, but he made it a mainstay of his presidency. So it would make sense for tea party members who are inspired by Mr. Reagan to oppose Proposition 19 in California, which would legalize marijuana possession. But conventional wisdom and current small-government electoral fervor may meet in a strange (and potentially smoky) place on Election Day. Instead of opposing Prop. 19, parts of the tea party –...

California’s progressive-era experiment in direct democracy was supposed to elevate the voters above the special interests, allowing voters make law themselves through the statewide initiative process. That this process is now virtually owned by the special interests is yet another example of the immutable Law of Unintended Consequences in government. A brief perusal of the California Secretary of State’s initiative campaign finance disclosure website shows that some $120 million dollars has been raised by 53 groups supporting or opposing California’s nine November ballot initiatives. By comparison, California’s two major candidates for governor have raised or given to their campaigns $176...

In the latest news from my home state, aka La-La Land of the Loony Left, last week's polls showed that the initially high support for Prop 19, which would legalize recreational marijuana, have dropped below 50% .

Prop 19: When Worlds Collide.  NO.   If this simply allowed people to cultivate and smoke marijuana themselves and left the rest of us alone, it would be worth considering.   But it goes much further and provides that “no person shall be … discriminated against or denied any right or privilege” for pot use, inviting a lawsuit every time an employer tries to require a drug test, for example.  If you want to smoke pot in your own world, I don’t care.  But don’t bring it into mine.     Prop 20: Congressional Redistricting. YES.  This finishes the work we began in...

Proposition 19: NO – Marijuana legalization My biggest concern with this initiative, aside from the basic policy considerations, are two large unintended consequences: 1) will drug abuse grow, thus putting more of a strain on our out-of-control welfare system; 2) the impact of lawsuits on employers seeking to enforce a zero-tolerance policy (especially important in the defense industry). Proposition 20: YES – Redistricting reform extended to Congress Prop. 20 will make the independent State Commission on Redistricting re-draw Congressional Districts in 2011, instead of the legislature working with liberal interests, just as the independent commission will re-draw Legislative district boundaries...

MEXICO CITY — Sounds like former President Vicente Fox wishes he could vote in California. Twice on Wednesday, Fox took to the airwaves to encourage Californians Nov. 2 to approve Proposition 19, the ballot initiative to legalize the commercial cultivation and sale of marijuana. “How great it would be for California to set this example. May God let it pass,” Fox told the W radio network in Mexico. “The other U.S. states will have to follow step.” If California legalizes marijuana, it may help Mexican peasant farmers, and boost Mexico's exports, he added.

Our marijuana laws are clearly doing more harm than good. The criminalization of marijuana did not prevent marijuana from becoming the most widely used illegal substance in the United States and many other countries. But it did result in extensive costs and negative consequences. Law enforcement agencies today spend many billions of taxpayer dollars annually trying to enforce this unenforceable prohibition. The roughly 750,000 arrests they make each year for possession of small amounts of marijuana represent more than 40% of all drug arrests. Regulating and taxing marijuana would simultaneously save taxpayers billions of dollars in enforcement and incarceration costs,...

Also visit this informative website before you vote at http://www.caprop19info.org/

SAN FRANCISCO -- As California Democrats gain ground in the polls, one of the big questions left for Californians on Election Day is whether the state will become the first in the nation to legalize marijuana (and not just medical marijuana). As voters continue to mull over the issue, officials in the state and nationally are also considering their next moves. There's new evidence to support the theory that Proposition 19 - the ballot initiative that would legalize marijuana in California and allow it to be taxed and regulated - could help Democrats, who are facing a challenging midterm election...

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Billionaire financier George Soros has contributed $1 million to Proposition 19, a ballot measure that would legalize marijuana in California, according to papers filed by the secretary of state's office Tuesday.

George Soros, the multibillionaire investor who helped bankroll three initiatives to change drug laws in California, endorsed the marijuana legalization initiative Monday and plans to make a major financial contribution to the campaign. Soros, who invested $3 million in the medical marijuana initiative and two other measures, made his announcement in an opinion piece published online by the Wall Street Journal. "Proposition 19 already is a winner no matter what happens on election day. The mere fact of its being on the ballot has elevated and legitimized public discourse about marijuana and marijuana policy in ways I could not have...

California Dreamin’ By Eric Fry 10/25/10 Laguna Beach, California – California’s Napa Valley gets the headlines, the wine-tasting awards and the black-tie charity dinners…California’s “Emerald Triangle” gets the cash. That’s right, the Golden State’s marijuana crop generates about $14 billion in revenue each year, and most of that revenue flows into the three main cannabis-growing counties of Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity — aka, the Emerald Triangle. $14 billion may not seem like much, as it is roughly the same sum as the bonus pool at Goldman Sachs. On the other hand, $14 billion is larger than the GDP of Iceland,...

To the Editors of the Los Angeles Times: The recent Op-Ed authored by current and former American “drug czars” once again misrepresented the Dutch experience with cannabis “coffee shops” as a warning to Americans about removing cannabis from the black market. First, they refer to “Amsterdam’s ‘coffee shop’ marijuana sales.” Cannabis coffee shops are not just restricted to Amsterdam. Local councils have the right to decide whether or not to allow coffee shops, and they can be found in more than 50 cities and towns across the country, not just in tourist centers, like the capital. Some coffeeshops have even...

Baja California authorities seized 105 tons of marijuana Monday morning in what is believed to be one of the largest drug busts in recent Mexican history, according to Mexican authorities and media reports. About 10,000 packages of marijuana were hidden inside six cargo containers stored in a warehouse in an industrial area of the border city of Tijuana. The marijuana was discovered after police on routine patrol intercepted a convoy of vehicles escorting a tractor-trailer that had left the warehouse, officials said. After a shootout, 11 people were arrested. Police and soldiers, acting on information from the suspects, raided the...

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said Friday his deputies’ marijuana enforcement would not change even if Proposition 19, which would legalize the drug in California, passes Nov. 2. “Proposition 19 is not going to pass, even if it passes,” Baca said in a news conference Friday at sheriff's headquarters in Monterey Park. Baca, whose department polices three-fourths of the county, was bolstered Friday by an announcement from the Obama administration that federal officials would continue to “vigorously enforce” marijuana laws in California, even if state voters pass the measure. Baca said the proposition was superseded by federal law and...

LOS ANGELES — The Department of Justice says it intends to prosecute marijuana laws in California aggressively even if state voters approve an initiative on the Nov. 2 ballot to legalize the drug.

Next month on election day, Californians will have the chance to legalize marijuana for the specific purpose of raising revenues via taxes. Think about that for a moment: legalizing a dangerous product for the specific purpose of collecting more taxes. I guarantee you that the politicians will begin demonizing marijuana the moment the Secretary of State reports the initiative passed. By Christmas they will be telling the public how much revenue they will collect from taxing marijuana, and by next June they will be raising taxes on it to pay for the treatment of those who want to quit...

Attorney General Eric Holder says the federal government will enforce its marijuana laws in California even if voters next month make the state the first in the nation to legalize the drug. The Justice Department strongly opposes California's Proposition 19 and remains firmly committed to enforcing the federal Controlled Substances Act in all states, Holder wrote in a letter to former chiefs of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter, dated Wednesday. "We will vigorously enforce the CSA against those individuals and organizations that possess, manufacture or distribute marijuana for recreational use, even...

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder says the federal government will enforce its marijuana laws in California even if the state's voters approve a ballot measure to legalize the drug. Holder says the Justice Department strongly opposes California's Proposition 19 and remains firmly committed to enforcing the federal Controlled Substances Act in all states. "We will vigorously enforce the CSA against those individuals and organizations that possess, manufacture or distribute marijuana for recreational use, even if such activities are permitted under state law," Holder wrote.