Lately when I read the flurry of pronouncements from supporters of California’s marijuana legalization initiative, I have to remind myself that the ballot measure actually lost on Tuesday.
The Drug Policy Alliance is nothing if not prolific with its statements—and ever optimistic despite seeing Proposition 19 lose with 54% of voters opposed, in a year when pundits might have assumed that Democratic victories in the California governor’s and U.S. Senate races would bode well for the ballot item.
On Election Day, California alliance director Stephen Gutwillig said in a statement, “Regardless of the outcome, it is clear that Prop. 19 has permanently impacted the national debate.”
The next day, it was more of the same, printed in a Los Angeles Times op/ed piece by Gutwillig: “California’s experience with Proposition 19 has radically expanded and deepened the national conversation about the failure of marijuana prohibition and about the sensible and principled reasons to embrace a policy of marijuana control instead.”
What do you think?
