by Chris Jones

A bunch of reefer addicts in Oakland filed a ballot initiative with the California Secretary of State yesterday to legalize the marijuana for fun time recreational purposes. The fine folks at Oaksterdam University, those guys who advertise on the back page of the weeklies alongside bankruptcy attorneys and certified massage therapists offering dubious treatments like "prostate drainage", are spearheading the effort to collect the 434,000 signatures necessary to get this thing on the ballot. Now that Oakland is taxing medicinal marijuana out of budgetary desperation, pot activists figure flat out legalization is mere steps away. Sure it is, hippies.

If passed, the measure would allow adults 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of pot and especially ambitious urban gardener types to cultivate veritable fields of "hoobastank" on plots of 25 square feet in size. That's a big plot. Now imagine that plot covered entirely in festive sticky, smelly, green plants. Wow, man. One wonders if this kind of cultivation will be allowed in all the new community gardens Gavin Newsom has promised to bestow upon San Franciscans as part of one of his greener than thou political gestures. The mind reels...

Iowa became the third state in the U.S. (and the first in the heartland!) to legalize gay marriage today.The Iowa State Supreme Court "upheld a lower court's ruling that found a state law restricting marriage to between a man and woman only violated Iowa's constitution." According to Richard Socarides, former adviser on gay rights during the Clinton administration, "It's a big win because, coming from Iowa, it represents the mainstreaming of gay marriage. And it shows that despite attempts stop gay marriage through right-wing ballot initiatives, like in California, the courts will continue to support the case for equal rights for gays." LGBT community will have to wait a few weeks before they can obtain marriage licenses. Way to go, Iowa. Hopefully, California will follow your lead (did we really just say that?) when the State Supreme Court makes its final ruling on Prop. 8.

With support from Supervisor David Campos, CA Superior Court Judge James P. Gray, and SF Sheriff Mike Hennessey, Tom Ammiano held a frenzied press conference at the State Building this morning.

The topic at hand? Legalization of the kind bud.

The Marijuana Control Regulation and Education Act would, if somehow enacted, put a $50 per oz. tax on mary jane (i.e., sale, transportation, ingesting), allowed for folks aged 21 and over only (just like alcohol), and possibly help not only with the state's failing economy but the environment as well.

During this morning's press conference in San Francisco, Ammiano said, "California has the opportunity to be the first state in the nation to enact a smart, responsible public policy for the control and regulation of marijuana." This act could also have wildly beneficial effects on police enforcement's prioritization.

Pot, however, would still remain illegal under federal law.

Update: SF Weekly was there too. They tell us it wasn't "frenzied." Sorry. It was the pot paranoia talking.