Pot legalization gains momentum in California - Yahoo! News

Description

Marijuana advocates are gathering signatures to get as many as three pot-legalization measures on the ballot in 2010 in California, setting up what could be a groundbreaking clash with the federal government over U.S. drug policy.

At least one poll shows voters would support lifting the pot prohibition, which would make the state of more than 38 million the first in the nation to legalize marijuana.

Such action would also send the state into a headlong conflict with the U.S. government while raising questions about how federal law enforcement could enforce its drug laws in the face of a massive government-sanctioned pot industry.

The state already has a thriving marijuana trade, thanks to a first-of-its-kind 1996 ballot measure that allowed people to smoke pot for medical purposes. But full legalization could turn medical marijuana dispensaries into all-purpose pot stores, and the open sale of joints could become commonplace on mom-and-pop liquor store counters in liberal locales like Oakland and Santa Cruz.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091008/ap_on_re_us/us_marijuana_legalization;_ylt=Ag9fsT8jfwzigN7Pl_GcmXXCw5R4;_ylu=X3oDMTJzcG9uZjZsBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkxMDA4L3VzX21hcmlqdWFuYV9sZWdhbGl6YXRpb24EY3BvcwM2BHBvcwM2BHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcmllcwRzbGsDbWFyaWp1YW5hbGVn

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091008/ap_on_re_us/us_marijuana_legalization;_ylt=Ag9fsT8jfwzigN7Pl_GcmXXCw5R4;_ylu=X3oDMTJzcG9uZjZsBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkxMDA4L3VzX21hcmlqdWFuYV9sZWdhbGl6YXRpb24EY3BvcwM2BHBvcwM2BHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcmllcwRzbGsDbWFyaWp1YW5hbGVn