This week, famous marijuana lobbyist Aaron Houston takes over as Executive Director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy. Count me among the many who are pretty damn excited about it. Aaron is a cool dude and a warrior of justice who has the skills to give the right marching orders in the student movement to end the war on drugs. He even had the willpower to turn down Doritos from Steve Colbert:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Aaron Houston
www.colbertnation.com
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If you're a student who's reading this blog, but you haven't gotten involved in SSDP, you're missing out on all sorts of things. Your school needs a chapter, and if you're reading this, then you're the right person to get it started. It's easy to do, and you'll have twice as many Facebook friends within a year. If you think you won't have time, you're wrong, because SSDP will teach you to be better at everything you do. Your summer break is a great time to get a head start, so click here for step #1.

According to a Los Angeles Times/USC poll released Tuesday, the California Tax and Regulate Cannabis initiative has the support of 49% of voters, while 41% are opposed, and 10% are undecided. The figures are in line with other recent polls. Two weeks ago, an internal campaign poll had support at 51% and another public opinion poll had it at 49%. The bad news for initiative supporters in the latest poll is that it needs 50% plus one vote to win, and it isn't there yet. The good news, however, is that the initiative only needs to pick up one out of five of those undecided voters to go over the top. Or, as Dan Schnur, director of USC's Jesse M. Unruh institute of politics put it: "The good news for proponents is that they are starting off with a decent lead. The good news for the opposition is that initiatives that start off at less than 50% in the polls usually have a hard time." The poll also questioned voters about their marijuana use histories, finding that 37% had tried pot and 11% had smoked it within the last year. Not surprisingly, those who had smoked within the last year favored the initiative by more than four-to-one (82%). This latest poll, like previous ones, points to women, especially married women, as a key demographic. While men favor the initiative, women are split, and among married women, 49% oppose the initiative while 40% are in favor. Pollsters also asked about some of the key arguments made by supporters and opponents of the initiative. When asked whether they thought legalization marijuana could raise a billion dollars in revenue, 42% said yes, while 38% said that figure was wildly exaggerated. Voters in Los Angeles, where dispensaries spread like wildfire in the last half of the last decade, were most likely to believe that such revenues could be generated. When asked whether legalizing marijuana would worsen social problems, voters were similarly split, although such concerns especially resonated with those who oppose the initiative. Of that group, 83% think freeing the weed would increase crime and teen marijuana. Fifty-five percent of married women also think that. Attitudes toward legalization diverge sharply by age, with support much higher among younger voters. A 52% majority of voters 65 and older oppose legalization. Among voters between 45 and 64, 49% support it. But among those 30 to 44, 53% are in favor, and that rises to 61% among those 18 to 29. The next five months is going to be very interesting. But if the tax and regulate initiative is to emerge victorious at the polls come November, it has its work cut out for it. And it looks very much like the path to victory is going to have to go through mom.

This is impressively stupid:

AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) ? A medical marijuana patient says wearing a pro-pot T-shirt got him banned from Town Center at Aurora.

Jake Gailey told CBS4 mall personnel approached him last weekend and told him his shirt was offensive to some customers. The shirt features a play on Barack Obama's "Yes We Can" campaign slogan and graphics but instead features the message "YES WE CANNABIS" and displays a marijuana leaf.

Sounds like Gailey handled it pretty well at first:

"I reminded him that (medical marijuana) was legal in our state, that I voted for it and I had a medical marijuana card as well," Gailey said.

Gailey, 28, was told to take the shirt off, turn it inside out or leave.

"I asked him if 'I buy a hat with a marijuana leaf in Spencer's, I can't wear it in the mall?' And he said 'No.'

"I said 'Well, how can the stores sell products you can't allow in the mall?' He said 'Well, we're trying to get everybody on the same page, and it hasn't worked.'"

Eventually, he got worked up and was arrested for being a nuisance, but the charges were dropped when he agreed not to go to the mall for a year. I'm sure Jake Gailey won't be the only marijuana activist avoiding the Town Center mall for a while.

According to this article, badass attorney Robert Corry is on the case, and there might be some interesting 1st Amendment questions here, despite the fact that it's a private mall.  Protests are being planned in the meantime, so you can bet there will soon be far more pot leaves on display in and around Town Center than there would have been if they'd just kept their prejudice to themselves.

Note to Corporate America: if you think you have anything to gain by discriminating against marijuana culture, you're dead wrong. If you screw with us, we will go completely ballistic and drive you crazy. If you don't believe me, ask these people.