California Medical Pot Backers Ready 2012 Ballot Measure
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS / AP) -- Medical marijuana advocates want to create a statewide system for licensing, regulating and taxing the industry as a way of persuading federal officials to ease up on their crackdown of California's pot clubs and growers.
After months of study, a coalition of medical marijuana activists that represents dispensary workers has proposed a 2012 ballot initiative that would create an appointed Board of Medical Marijuana Enforcement.
The board would be staffed by the Department of Consumer Affairs and charged with overseeing businesses and nonprofits that grow, distribute, sell and test pot.
The initiative also would target local governments that have banned marijuana businesses outright by requiring counties and cities to authorize at least one dispensary for every 50,000 residents.
In October, the state's four U.S. attorneys announced a coordinated action to shutter pot clubs they accused of acting as a front for drug dealers.
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