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Will Marijuana be on the November Ballot Too?

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In November, Californians will vote on an amendment change to the California constitution that would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, there for stopping same-sex marriages from occurring (they begin June 17). Similarly, a 2003 amendment change by state legislatures to the 1996 voter-approved Compassionate Use Act was found unconstitutional by a Court of Appeals last month. They said the change needed a vote by the people, according to the LA Times.

The challenged 2003 amendment determined the amount of marijuana a patient could legally possess and cultivate, something that was vaguely written in the original 1996 legislation (pdf). It determined that licensed patients could have "8 ounces of dried pot and six mature or 12 immature plants," but the Court of Appeals' ruling (pdf) leaves the limits up to the the discretion of the police and courts, which worries advocates and politicians.

California Attorney General, Jerry Brown, who supports medical marijuana, will ask the California Supreme Court to overturn the decision "because it inhibits authorities' ability to control abuses while protecting legitimate access to cannabis." If they go with Brown, the cap on legal weed will stay. If they agree with the appeals court, too much marijuana will be a subjective matter.

Photo by aforero via Flickr

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