Fight to make marijuana legal enters final straight

IT IS the home stretch in the battle over Proposition 19, the initiative that would legalise and regulate marijuana in California.

Backers have spent more than $2 million getting it on the ballot - which coincides with the mid-term vote - and campaigning for its passage, an effort that has been assisted in recent weeks by several large donations, including $1 million from the billionaire George Soros.

With a growing number of Americans favouring legalisation - a poll released last week found a record high 46 per cent approving of legalising marijuana - perhaps no ballot measure in the country will be more closely watched on Tuesday.

"Win or lose, this thing has moved the ball much further down the field than anyone could have imagined," said Ethan Nadelmann, the executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, which supports Proposition 19.

"It's transformed the debate not only in California, but nationally and internationally."

Even opponents concede that their efforts to stop the measure do not mean that legalisation is unpopular, just that it is a bad idea to pass Proposition 19, which would allow anyone over 21 to possess and cultivate small amounts of marijuana, but would leave many details concerning the sale, production and taxation to local governments.

California was the first state to legalise medical marijuana in 1996 and would be the first to legalise recreational use. But this month, US Attorney General Eric Holder said the federal government would vigorously pursue criminal prosecutions of those who possess, manufacture or distribute the drug, regardless of Proposition 19's outcome.

"Voters have increasingly become angrier at the establishment," said Chris Lehane, a Democratic strategist who is working for Proposition 19. "And this is the most anti-establishment initiative in the land this cycle."