California may vote on legalizing pot

L.A. County petition signatures are expected to tilt the balance for putting an initiative on the November ballot. Governments' budget crises may help the measure's prospects, some say.
By John Hoeffel
Los Angeles Times
Mar. 24, 2010

California may vote on legalizing potL.A. County petition signatures are expected to tilt the balance for putting an initiative on the November ballot. Governments' budget crises may help the measure's prospects, some say.March 23, 2010|By John HoeffelFourteen years after California decided marijuana could be used as a medicine and ignited a national movement, the state is likely to vote on whether to take another step into the vanguard of drug liberalization: legalizing the controversial weed for fun and profit.

On Wednesday, Los Angeles County elections officials must turn in their count of valid signatures collected in the county on a statewide legalization initiative. The number is virtually certain to be enough to qualify the initiative for the November ballot, according to a tally kept by state election officials.

That will once again make California the focal point of the long-stewing argument over marijuana legalization, a debate likely to be a high-dollar brawl between adversaries who believe it could launch or stifle another national trend.

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