that looks like a pretty effective ad. I was planning to vote for it anyway but that convinced me.

Money changes everything!

Merry Christmas!

It's like the worst advent calendar evar.

If I removed a 3 now,
Would I be stuck with a 2?

For I'm running out of spaces,
There's too many clubs I see.

Lynyrd Skynyrd "Freecell" !

I love this poster. My read on this (based on good reporting in The Weekly) is that the pro-pot-but-voting-against group don't like the DUI provision of the bill, or all the restrictions that will be put on legal pot. To me, a simple case of not seeing the forest for the trees...

I look forward to giving even less fucks when smoking in public (as in, I won't stop if asked) and growing at home without even trying to hide it in the slightest (even though 502 says nothing about making that legal) when this passes.

I could less about these opponents and their nonsense conspiracies and selfish motivations. Bunch of dumbasses the lot of them.

Excellent poster.

Simply: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cui_bono

@4: Like those kind with the chocolate behind the pictures of rain deer, Santa, and the Virgin Mary? In this advent calendar, I think there'd be alternate chocolate and turds.

@6 That point has been shot down time and again. Seeing as 0 is the current allowed levels this is an improvement. Some say it's not enough but tests show unless you've smoked very recently you won't register the levels in the bill, and a step in the right direction is always better than no step at all.

The "no" crowd is the Tea Party of the left. A bigger bunch of delusional cranks and self-serving opportunists you could not find.

Ok, so can I vote with the "Yes" crowd, but party with the "No" crowd?

I have one long term concern about all of this, assuming that over the next ten years weed becomes legal in a many states. In a decade or two: are we going to end up with Big Marijuana like we have Big Tobacco now? Will the days of buying fresh, organic weed by the gram be gone forever, replaced by mass produced marijuana cigarettes with more cyanide than THC in them? (Rumor caveat) supposedly the big tobacco companies are already prepared to mass produce and sell weed products.

Make no mistake, we need to put an end to days of cops rounding up poor, non-white, non-violent smokers like cattle and shipping them to prison. We need to eliminate one of the cartels' biggest markets. We need to get our state all this tax revenue. But, are we about to end this era of essentially freely available, fantastic weed on the West Coast?

@2 FTW

@14: as long as home-growing and small-scale growing doesn't become illegal (which nobody but nobody is proposing), the proper answer to all of your questions is "who the fuck cares?" You'll still be able to buy your mendocino small-batch weed.

@12 You mean a more wretched hive of scum and villainy?

@14 Phillip Morris et al can't enter the pot market until the feds legalize, which will likely be a *LONG* time coming. But that's less important than the fact that the incumbent pot growers and sellers already have the know-how, the distribution networks, and the market presence to grow and sell pot at a profit... and the big tobacco companies do not.

In the long term, I think you'll see it segment much the way the beer market has segmented to include both cheap mass-produced crap and more expensive (but much better) small batch products.

Hmmm. So a craft industry? What about BC products?

@14 It comes down to pure practicality: Hemp is just too easily grown. Even if you want the stanky bud & not industrial-use hemp, it's FAR easier to produce that than tobacco, a notoriously finicky plant. A good analogy is that hemp is Michelle Obama, who'd smile & make the best of things in the sleaziest dive, and tobacco is Ann Romney, who will scream bloody murder if the napkins aren't folded in perfect 45 degree angles.

It's easy for the corporations to control people like Ann, because they can afford the upkeep. It's nearly impossible to control Michelle, because she'll go anywhere. What a lady!

I love Rick Steves.

That is all.

The No folks make no sense. Can someone explain?

@22:

Nominally: I-502 isn't perfect! WAAAAAH!!

In reality: I-502 will stop me from making money off of marijuana being illegal! WAAAAAH!!

The No folks make no sense. Can someone explain?

The federal Controlled Substances Act violates the Tenth Amendment,AND,the feds have a patent for cannabis ---> Patent Number 6630507.

That MEDICAL marijuana is now legal in eighteen states and the federal District of Columbia seems to be in violation of the federal Civil Rights Act (because they all seem to discriminate against persons who do not have any of the illnesses required to qualify for MEDICAL marijuana.)