California Repeal Cannabis Prohibition Act (2012)

Not on Ballot
This measure was not put on an election ballot

A Repeal Cannabis Prohibition Act (11-0046) did not qualify for the November 6, 2012 ballot in California as an initiated state statute. To earn a spot on the state's 2012 ballot, sponsors of the initiative would have had to collect 504,760 signatures by April 19, 2012.

However, sponsors of the initiative did not file signatures by their signature filing deadline.

If this initiative had earned a spot on the ballot and had been approved by the state's voters, it would have:

• Decriminalized marijuana use, possession, cultivation, transportation, distribution, or sale for adults aged 19 and older.
• Created a "California Cannabis Commission" to regulate commercial cultivation, processing, testing, transport, distribution, sale, facilities for on-premises consumption, and smoking in public.
• Authorized local governments to permit marijuana-related conduct otherwise prohibited by state law and regulations.
• Exempted from regulation or taxation up to three pounds of marijuana for personal use.
• Retained laws prohibiting marijuana-related conduct that contributes to the delinquency of a minor and driving while impaired by marijuana.

Similar initiatives

The "Repeal Cannabis Prohibition" initiative was not the only marijuana-related initiative vying for a spot on California's November 6, 2012 statewide ballot. The others are:

• The Regulate Marijuana Like Wine Initiative. Sponsors of this initiative did not file signatures by their March 26, 2012 filing deadline.
• The Reduced Marijuana Penalties Initiative. Sponsors of this initiative did not file signatures by their April 5, 2012 filing deadline.
• The Cannabis Hemp and Health Initiative.
• The Medical Marijuana Regulation, Control and Taxation Initiative.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the Repeal Cannabis Prohibition Act was "the one apparently with the most vocal support within the movement."

Because multiple marijuana-related initiatives were in circulation in California, they all experienced difficulty raising the funds necessary to qualify for the ballot. Steve Collett, who supported the Regulate Marijuana Like Wine Initiative, says, "We're all chasing the same dollars."

A group of people closely associated with the Proposition 19 effort, including Richard Lee, had also indicated that they might attempt to qualify a marijuana legalization initiative for the 2012 ballot. However, in September 2011, Lee told a group at the International Cannabis and Hemp Expo in Oakland that this effort was falling apart: "It’s pretty much dead. The funders didn’t come through."

Text of measure

See also: Ballot titles, summaries and fiscal statements for California's 2012 ballot propositions

Ballot title:

Marijuana Legalization. Initiative Statute.

Official summary:

"Decriminalizes marijuana use, possession, cultivation, transportation, distribution, or sale for adults aged 19 and older. Creates California Cannabis Commission to regulate commercial cultivation, processing, testing, transport, distribution, sale, facilities for on-premises consumption, and smoking in public, but authorizes local governments to permit conduct otherwise prohibited by state law and regulations. Exempts from regulation or taxation up to three pounds of marijuana for personal use. Retains laws prohibiting marijuana-related conduct that contributes to the delinquency of a minor and driving while impaired by marijuana."

Summary of estimated fiscal impact:

(This is a summary of the initiative's estimated "fiscal impact on state and local government" prepared by the California Legislative Analyst's Office and the Director of Finance.)

"The fiscal effects of this measure are subject to considerable uncertainty depending on the extent to which the federal government continues to enforce federal marijuana laws and depending upon how, and to what extent, the state chooses to regulate the commercial production and sale of marijuana. Savings potentially in the low hundreds of millions of dollars annually to state and local governments on the costs of enforcing certain marijuana-related offenses, handling the related criminal cases in the court system, and incarcerating and supervising certain marijuana offenders. Costs potentially up to the low tens of millions of dollars annually to the state to regulate the commercial production and sale of marijuana. Potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in net additional tax revenues related to the production and sale of marijuana products."

Path to the ballot

See also: California signature requirements

• Joe Rogoway, Frank H. Lucido, Pebbles Trippet, William Panzer and Omar Figueroa submitted a letter requesting a ballot title on August 21, 2011.
• The ballot title and ballot summary were issued by California's attorney general's office on November 21, 2011.
• 504,760 valid signatures were required for qualification purposes.
• The 150-day circulation deadline for #11-0046 was April 19, 2012.
• Signatures were not filed by the deadline.

External links

Suggest a link

• Letter requesting a ballot title for Initiative 11-0034

Footnotes

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This article about a California ballot proposition is a sprout.