Next month, Californians will vote on Proposition 19: the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010. Prop 19 would make recreational use of marijuana entirely legal — and allow cash-strapped cities to raise funds by taxing it. The latest Public Policy Institute of California poll found that 52% of likely voters support Prop 19, with just 41% who oppose it.

Democratic strategists are studying California's marijuana legalization initiative to see if similar ballot measures could energize young, liberal voters in swing states for the 2012 presidential election. Some pollsters and party officials say Democratic candidates in California are benefiting from a surge in enthusiasm among young voters eager to back Proposition 19, which would legalize marijuana in certain quantities and permit local governments to regulate and tax it. Party strategists and marijuana legalization advocates are discussing whether to push for similar ballot questions in 2012 in Colorado and Nevada — both expected to be crucial to President Barack Obama's re-election — and Washington state, which will have races for governor and seats in both houses of Congress.

Sensible Florida earlier this year initiated a petition drive to decriminalize marijuana in Jacksonville that stalled, then they turned their sights on Miami's French Riviera. As of this past September 6, the group collected 2,402 signatures from registered voters in Miami Beach. They need to get another 1,800 John Hancocks in order to hold a special election that would let Miami Beach residents make their city the first in Florida to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana.

Clashes between rival gangs created by drug prohibition in Mexico left 34 people dead over the weekend, and the beating death of a mayor is the fifth killing of a city leader in six weeks, the latest fallout from the country's deadly drug prohibition war.

It only applies to one landlord, but it could indicate what future cases hold. A judge barred Los Angeles city attorneys from taking action against a landlord of a medical marijuana dispensary who is currently part of a lawsuit challenging the city's medical marijuana ordinance.

The alleged shooting of a US boater by Mexican pirates on Falcon Lake, which straddles the Texas-Mexico border, is raising fears about spillover drug prohibition violence from Mexico into the US.