Auburn Journal, 02 Oct 2010 – Pot Harvest, Prop. 19 Issues Keep Placer County Medicinal Grower Busy The buds are sprouting at George Miller’s medicinal marijuana grow, located on property on an isolated hillside somewhere between Auburn and Colfax.

Appeal-Democrat, 03 Oct 2010 – Is it just me or does anyone else remember when politicians were saying that California had the world’s fifth-largest economy? Now, politicians want marijuana to be a recreational "drug" available to anyone older than 18. Oh, and then this legal, recreational drug will be taxed to help state and local governments.

Napa Valley Register, 03 Oct 2010 – Dear editor, I had a great time reading the paper on Monday. California politics is always extremely entertaining. "California divided on legalization of marijuana cash crop" (Sept. 27) was one of the best. The funniest part for me is the notion that legalizing and taxing marijuana would help California dig out of our economic black hole. Proposition 19 supporters are supposing that our politicians will not continue to spend more tax money than we take in. Oh. You’re killing me.

Daily Pilot, 03 Oct 2010 – It is time for us to be realistic and manage the trade and usage of marijuana instead of simply moralizing about it. The honest facts are that today marijuana is the largest cash crop in California (No. 2 is grapes); with illegal dealers there are no controls whatsoever on quality, quantity, age restrictions, price or place of sale; and most of the big money goes to groups like the Mexican drug cartels, juvenile gangs and other thugs, and they don’t pay taxes on any of it. It is also a fact that the voters are ahead of the politicians on these issues. Yes, most of the vocal politicians and current law enforcement officials have taken a position against Proposition 19, but many retired law enforcement officials, who are much less subject to political considerations, are speaking out in its support.

San Gabriel Valley Tribune, 03 Oct 2010 – ON Nov. 2, California voters can strengthen community safety and bolster public infrastructure with a simple "yes" vote on Proposition 19, the initiative to control and tax marijuana. After fighting on the front lines of the War on Drugs as a police officer, I know that the current prohibition on marijuana not only doesn’t work, but causes harm. That’s why I’m voting "yes" to change our marijuana laws on Nov. 2. I, and an increasing number of law enforcement professionals, have learned that most of the negatives associated with marijuana stem from prohibition rather than from the plant itself. These negatives – not least of which is cartel-driven violence – can be reversed when we move to finally control and tax the market, instead of letting criminals make all the decisions (and profits).

Los Angeles Times, 03 Oct 2010 – As Marijuana-Growing Rises in the Central Valley, Robberies and Shootings Follow. The father was clearly worried. Behind him, his son was tossing medical marijuana plants into a truck – – part of a hasty move out of this small farm town after a deadly shooting.

The Fresno Bee, 03 Oct 2010 – Should California Legalize Marijuana Beyond Current Medical Use to Permit All Adults 21 and Over to Use and Possess Pot? Fourteen years ago, when California voters passed Proposition 215 the "Compassionate Use Act," legalizing marijuana for medical use, they opened the door to a thriving marijuana economy in the Golden State. California cities brim with dispensaries serving marijuana users who have physicians’ recommendations to treat their ailments with pot. Proposition 19 would permit marijuana for recreational use and likely significantly expand the legal marijuana market in a state whose annual marijuana crop legal and illicit is valued at nearly $14 billion. California would become the first state in the nation to legalize pot, though it would still be at odds with federal law.

Santa Maria Times, 03 Oct 2010 – Forcing notions of proper lifestyle or personal behavior on all of society is usually problematic even when a relatively small minority resists the imposition. Banning any substance that is in high demand, even by a minority of the population, generates a spectacularly lucrative and corrupting black market that not only thwarts effective enforcement, but effects a transmutation of law enforcement into something resembling a police state.

The Times-Herald, 01 Oct 2010 – In a ruling that could foreshadow a disappointing result for other Vallejo medical marijuana clubs, a judge Thursday ordered a local dispensary to stop distributing the drug because of zoning code violations. Solano County Superior Court Judge Ramona Garrett issued a preliminary injunction that orders Stan the Man Collective to stop dispensing marijuana to patients and their caretakers.

San Bernardino Sun, 02 Oct 2010 – A speeding ticket. Possessing an ounce or less of marijuana. It’s all the same, according to a bill signed late Thursday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that reduces possession of an ounce or less of marijuana from a misdemeanor to an infraction, with a maximum punishment of a $100 fine.