Looks like California's going to have a vote on whether or not to legalize marijuana. I have no idea if it'll pass or not but let me be among the first to craft some kind of joke about how it might not because all the people who like the stuff will be too stoned to get to the polls on Election Day.
But that's not the story…because a lot of people who use it or have will vote to legalize just because they're sick of the hypocrisy and how the "war" on this drug diverts and drains resources. I've never touched the stuff. I've never even touched tobacco. But I'll probably vote to legalize for the above reasons. The only thing which might stop me is if I see any way that legalization will genuinely exacerbate the problem of drunk drivers. (That's one of those crimes where I think the law is way too lenient.) So far, I'm not persuaded that it will.
Governor Arnold, whose popularity in this state is now about the same as the guy we threw out of office before him, is against the initiative…which I suppose means we'll be seeing a lot of that clip of Arnold smoking pot in an early movie. A lot of people will probably be for it because they see tax revenues as helping California's dire financial condition, at least a little. If it does pass, I'll be curious how many votes came due to the Civil Rights aspect and how many were just thinking, "Tax that so you won't have to tax me as much."