AlterNet: DrugReporter: The Next Front in the Marijuana Battle:

"While the battle to allow marijuana for medical use is still being fought across the nation, the forward edge of the war for acceptance is pushing further: towards ending prohibition altogether. Campaigns to regulate rather than prohibit marijuana are catching fire around the country. The residents of Oakland, California which already has legal medical marijuana dispensaries, will soon vote on whether to permit marijuana sales to all adults as a way to eliminate street dealing and fund city services.
On June 29, county officials qualified the Oakland Cannabis Initiative for the November election. Supporters of the initiative had turned in over 32,000 signatures. 'It would require the City of Oakland to develop a system to tax and regulate adult sale and use of marijuana as soon as possible under state law,' says Joe DeVries, a board member of the Oakland Civil Liberties Alliance, which supported the measure. 'And until state law makes it possible, it requires that the Oakland police treat adult use and sale of marijuana as the lowest policing priority.'"