It looks like a marijuana legalization initiative will be on the ballot in California this fall. Today the backers of the Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis Act turned in nearly 700,000 signatures; they need just 434,000 to qualify the measure for the ballot. The Los Angeles Times notes that "a Field Poll taken last April found that 56% of voters in the state and 60% in Los Angeles County want to make pot legal and tax it."Marijuana would still be illegal under federal law but Obama has pledged to respect state law on marijuana and even if the DEA wanted to enforce the federal law they simply don't have the resources to do so without state law enforcement support.
With one of most dysfunctional state governments with the biggest debts in the union - due to insane tax and revenue collection policies that can't be changed as long as a majority of conservative voters refuse to face reality - a major new influx of sales tax cash on pot could be a lifeline for a failed state.
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