I greatly admire Richard Lee but obviously his position as a major player in the marijuana industry probably helped fuel the paranoid suspicions among his small-time business competitors, who feared being pushed out by the evil "corporations."  His campaign would have been more effective if he at least stayed behind the scenes by refusing all contact with the media, like Peter Lewis.  

The face of the anti-Alcohol Prohibition movement was actually a sincere, middle-age Republican mother by the name of Pauline Sabin, not the owners of Anhauser Busch and Miller Brewing companies. 

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauline_Sabin

We all live and learn.  As discussed in the following, we need to start investing in good messengers and climbing towards the highest moral ground possible to have the best chance at 60 percent in the polls:

http://stopthedrugwar.org/speakeasy/2010/nov/05/why_prop_19_didnt_pass_a...

The idiot "stoners" defeated the first real chance for legalization that we've had in 40 years, and were ignorant of the real threat, as you pointed out, of Steve Cooley being elected.  Now they are touting an initiative written by Jack Herer that has absolutely NO chance of passing.  Such idiots need to be arrested to remind them what is at stake here.  If it isn't perfect, in their minds, they don't want it, and PREFER things the way they are!  It is one of the stupidest things I have ever seen in my life!
 

Thanks for raising this irony, Scott.  The AG race has a current margin of 19,000 votes.  For all the effort the Swiftboat Stoners for Prohibition expended, they never thought to pick up a newspaper and see Cooley's attacks on medical marijuana.  Amazing.  

Aaron Houston

Ignorance abounds in the minds of these types! It's part of the reason the scene is so smelly!

Another important point. Suppose Cooley does win, which is not a given yet but which seems likely. Not only is it an indefensible falsehood to claim that Prop 19 had it passed would have allowed communities that don't like medical marijuana to use Prop 19 to close down their dispensaries. Prop 19 if it had passed would have provided a means for communities that do support medical marijuana to fully immunize their dispensaries from attack by Steve Cooley, by enacting regulations to allow marijuana sales in that form. It might have even allowed them to regulate just medical marijuana sales, if that's the route they wanted to go, although that would likely get tested in court. So not only did the Stoners Against Prop 19 fail to react to the real threat to medical marijuana in California, they attacked what could have been the most powerful defense available against that threat.

Not that I think they made up the full difference on Prop 19's final numbers; in fact they probably didn't make up very much of it. But we don't know that. Their activism against Prop 19 certainly may have deflated turnout among marijuana reform supporters sufficiently to throw the AG race to the enemy.

california...california...california.... talk about shooting yourself in the foot. LOL. cooley gonna fuck yall up. while you guys were busy trying to "protect" your profits you let the biggest snake in the grass slither by your blind asses. everybody wants to lead the marijuana movement, but nobody wants to listen. i agree prop 19 had some flaws that affected our community in a Small way. but check this out- if you would have passed prop 19. the rest of the country and the world would have been there by your side. maybe not to support prop19 but to support you(us) nonetheless. the scarifice you would have had to endure is nothing that us out-of-staters are going through. you basically pulled the roll of the alcohol companies, because you know what we are going through. at least you get to smoke out there somewhat eh?? alcohol co. are so stupid, because they have the model for us to follow against prohibition. THEY DID THE SAME THING.  it just saddens me that you guys out there dropped the ball, took your foot out of the door for the lot of us. LOOK, i respect Cali and ALL your efforts for sure to progress the cause and movement, but at what cost now? for a small group of people that ALREADY have access to and CAN somewhat grow legally? our cops come in and murder us, murder our animals, murder our elderly, leave single mothers to explain to thier children that the police murdered daddy or busted down grandma's house just for a joint or two. compare that to the 5-0 robbing your dispensaries. at least you get to stand outside and speak your peace about how stupid they are, while we weep and wail about our lost family members and watch them just walk out the door thinking they did a great job and i have met mother fuckers that think that shit, seriously. i'm sure you have too. it's fucking disturbing!!

we need to get our shit together collectively, stop the bullshit arrogance and 'lead of the pack' mentality, because it's only hurting you and us in all aspects of cannabis. much love to everybody and hope we get this shit together. peace.

Hey David Borden, i just noticed on wikipedia that,Insane drug warrior, Daryle Gates passed away finally in like april,i didn't know if ya'll did a story about him when he died or not.just in case you dont remember he's the asshole who created DARE,SWAT teams.and CRASH he's the guy who said infrequent and casul drug users needed to be taken out and shot. I just though you'd like to know the duece who helped caused 100's if not 1,000's of familys homes get broken into by police and kill their familys and pets has finally died,concidering he's been around since 1929. well if you have any stories about him let us check em out .peace

now i might be a little high but hey thats okay i have glacoma my friend's dont smoke and drive please but in all seriousness though,he has such a smug look on his face ,can we say future Drug Czar? I duno he's just seems to have that magical duecey,honest to god goodness look to him. freakin prick

The best thing about a close win is that A.G. Kamala Harris must acknowledge the efforts of groups like Americans for Safe Access.  It's clear that work done by cannabis supporters made the difference in this election, and it's always nice to be able to say "screw you" to Karl Rove and his Republican money.

They saved the day in Arizona and should likely slant the same way in CA.

That sounds good, it looks like they turned the tide in Arizona. And Prop 19 is up to 46.2% (4 1/4 million yes votes), it will probably gain another .1 or .2% before it's done. Every little bit helps. I also read that usually 80-85% of provisionals wind up being confirmed and counted.

The fight for legal pot in California is not as simple as everyone thinks it is.  It shouldn't be treated like alcohol and tobacco, because alcohol and tobacco are proven health risks.  Both kill a combined million plus people per year, while marijuana is yet to claim victim numero uno.  It does have proven medical benefits, with a rather small list of negative side-effects.  Prop 19 basically put it in the same category as alcohol.  Where it does not belong.  If we can combat ignorance with information and a proper PR campaign, then people can begin to see marijuana for what it is and not what they've been told to perceive it as.  Legalization will become a side-effect of this knowledge.  Intelligence has always been the most effective weapon in any battle, and that is the only one we've been able to use in a fight against the tyranny of the United States Federal Government.  Their only weapons are guns, lies and fear tactics.  While effective, history has shown us that an educated and resolved public is immune to such attacks.  Guys like Cooley can grandstand about cleaning up whatever they want, but when faced with facts all he will have to fight back with are lies.  Once the people know the truth, he'll have nothing.  No one will listen and no one will care.  On that day we can smoke a collective bowl and laugh.  On that day, they'll be lucky if we let them take sales tax.

and i cant over-emphasize the word "fortunately"...we won this one by the skin on our teeth.. and we wont be so lucky next time...with the country apparently lurching to the right at a breakneck pace.. ppl like cooley will be shoe-ins unless theres a concerted effort to keep them out...

Charlie Smith, state's attorney for Frederick County Maryland, said marijuana is not a legitimate medical treatment.

"[Marijuana] is more or less a medical myth at this point," he said.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/news/nation/md-lawmakers-mull-legalizing-medical-marijuana#ixzz18SGpS6h0

Can you believe this guy, there's more evidence supporting the FACT, that cannabis has many medical uses and is far safer than most prescribed medicines - take morphine for instance. My bet is Charlie likes his bottle, and is a stoner of another generation - WHAT are you AFRAID of CHUCKIE?

California has forfeited it's leadership position on MJ thanks to these quisling stoners for prohibition. Hopefully there will be another state that step up and take the lead and hopefully that state won't be infested with these Vichyite stoners against legalization. California was once a hero in the movement, now California is a zero!