Prop 19 Fails to Pass in California

(The Huffington Post)

LOS ANGELES — California voters said no thanks to a ballot initiative that would have made it the first state to legalize marijuana for recreational use and sales.

Proposition 19, rejected Tuesday, would have made it legal for adults 21 and over to possess up to an ounce of marijuana, smoke the drug in nonpublic places and grow it in private plots.

The proposed law also would have authorized local governments to permit commercial pot cultivation and sales.

Proponents pitched the measure as a source of tax revenue and a sensible experiment for reducing marijuana-related arrests and crime.