Did California Legalize Recreational Marijuana? Proposition 64 Is Passing in Early Returns

UPDATED AT 11:27 P.M.: With 40.9 percent of the results in, Proposition 64 is passing with 56 percent for and 44 percent of the vote against the legalization of marijuana, according to the California Secretary of State.

Publications such as the Los Angeles Times and New York Times have declared the measure passing, effectively legalizing the recreational use of marijuana in California. The passage of Proposition 64 will make California the largest state to legalize marijuana, tripling the size of the nation's cannabis market.

It's opponents decried its presumed passage Tuesday night while the cannabis industry cheered.

“The greatest thing that Prop 64 will do for our businesses is drastically increase the addressable market in California and decrease the stigma of cannabis. This will act as strong signaling to investors and entrepreneurs that have been waiting on the sidelines and should spur more activity on both sides," said Ben Larson, co-founder of Gateway, a cannabis startup incubator. "We're anticipating a greater volume of interested investors and new entrepreneurs entering the industry when Prop 64 passes.... California is by far the largest cannabis market in the US, and is the 6th largest economy in the world in general. You better believe that this will put pressure on the federal government to address the already tenuous situation.”

It's an increased consumption of marijuana that has Proposition 64 opponents concerned.

“We are, of course, disappointed that the self-serving moneyed interests behind this marijuana business plan prevailed at the cost of public health, safety, and the wellbeing of our communities,” Chief Ken Corney, president of the California Police Chiefs Association told the Los Angeles Times. “We will take a thorough look at the flaws in Proposition 64 that will negatively impact public health and safety, such as the initiative’s substandard advertising restrictions and lack of prosecutorial tools for driving under the influence of marijuana, and begin to develop legislative solutions.”

Support for the measure represents a dramatic shift from just six years ago when California voters rejected a similar measure.

What caused the shift?

For many advocates of measure, it’s a social justice issue. Minority communities are disproportionately affected by the war on drugs. And, for many, the solution to California’s overcrowded prisons problem, is to legalize marijuana.

Marijuana at the Polls

In Patch's exit interviews voters said the time has come to decriminalize marijuana.

“I think they should go ahead and legalize it,” Shon Hayes, a school bus driver told Patch outside his San Diego polling place Tuesday. “It’s more for health and to keep our jail not be overcrowded for a little small thing.”

The proposition's authors hope most voters will see it as a social justice issue.

“The crux of the proposition is reform and control. Right now there are communities across California that are devastated by drug dealers selling on the corners and people have no idea what they are buying. Proposition 64 will regulate, which is bad news for drug dealers,” said Michael Bustamante, spokesman for the Yes on Prop. 64 campaign. “This is really a social justice issue. Communities of color are disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs, which has been an abject failure. This is an opportunity for communities of color to get out from under the harm the war on drugs disproportionately causes them.”

Treigh Mulvaney, a 47-year-old construction industry salesman from Carmel Valley, San Diego describes himself as both liberal and conservative depending on the issue. With Proposition 64, he finds a happy medium.

“I think pot should be legalized," he said. "I think it could be a good revenue stream for the whole United States.”

However, Ruben Bustamante, a 66-year-old retiree from Garden Grove, said he couldn't bring himself to vote for the measure despite seeing numerous benefits to legalizing marijuana.

"I had a lot of pros for the marijuana initiative, but, ultimately, I voted against it," he said. "You never can tell who is driving out there. There are too many on the road and no way to tell if they are on drugs."

In that, Bustamante echoes the primary problem with the initiative cited by opponents like Corney of the California Police Chiefs Association .

Its critics warn the passage of Proposition 64 will pave the way for a marijuana industry the likes of which this nation has never seen. Within just a few years, California will have a multibillion-dollar marijuana industry, a proliferation of dispensaries, and marked increase in drug-related traffic fatalities, they warn.

California law enforcement isn’t ready for a spike in drivers under the influence of marijuana, he said. The scientific community appears to be years away from developing a field device that could measure marijuana intoxication the way a breathalyzer can determine blood alcohol levels.

“The problem is the way the initiative is written and sponsored and funded by groups that plan to profit from the explosion of the marijuana industry in California,” said Corney. “It’s set to create the big tobacco of marijuana.”

Photo: Wikimedia Commons