Battle over California marijuana initiative goes down to the wire

On November 5th, Elise presented to the class an article dealing with an actual phenomenon which interests a lot of young people : the consumption of marijuana... in California! She also chose this article because behind this issue, there is an interesting political debate : the impact of financial grants in a campaign.

But first, let's start with a short summary of the situation : in California, voters had to elect a new governor but at the same time they had to say YES or NO to the Proposition 19 which goal is to legalize marijuana in California... No suspense : the result was....No! ( there were 44% to say Yes).

However, the presentation of Elise didn't aim to convice us of the legalization or not of marijuana. She prefered tell us about the arguments of both sides and the way they lead their campaign that was a quite interesting thing to analyse for students of SciencePo. First, proponents of Proposition 19 think that it is ridiculous to act as if consumption of marijuana does not exist and for some of them it could act as a cure for the great deficit of California. On the other hand, opponents of Proposition 19 explain that this measure will endanger children, and they criticize the promises sent by the other side. Some of them, as the former governor of California, said that it is not a bad idea to pass this Proposition but the text is not enough complete espacially concerning the sale, production and taxation to local government.

According to some people, the result of the vote has not such an importance, now it's more a question of borders, because it is transformed the debate not only in California but in the United States and in the world too.

Finally, a last aspect of the campaign is money engaged in it. Backers of the measure spent a lot of money, especially coming from personalities. The opposition campaign had a financial disadvantage so they used political forces.

Elise asket 3 general questions:

Can we talk about a domino theory:if on state accepts to legalize marijuana consumption, will others follow?

Do you really think it is "one of our generation most important issue"?

Do you think that financial supports are more efficient than ideology to make a political campaign being successful ?

So first I think we can talk about a domino theory on the scale of the United States because if one state allows the legalization of marijuana, it could be quite easy to move from one state to another to get it. Then if one state accepts it, there could be movements of pressure on local governement which can be forced to pass the proposition. But we won't see the effects or not of this theory because Californian voters said No!

Then, concerning the second question, I don't think that it is one of our generation most important issue. Indeed, there are questions to which we must be more attentive as environmental issue, or education and jobs. But I think it is still an important issue in medical field.

Finally, I think financial supports are now very important to lead a campaign in this current world. Organizing meetings, making advertisement need money. Somebody who has pleinty of great ideas can't do a lot of things without money. However, ideology is still important as we can see it in the campaign for/against Proposition 19. Actually, proponents of the reform received a lot of donation by famous personalities but it was not enough to win. To conclude, financial helps is a big benefit to lead a campaing but it is not essential!