Assoc. Dean Amar Comments on Prop. 19 for Chronicle
Associate Dean Vikram Amar commented on California voters' rejection of Proposition 19 for an article in the San Francisco Chronicle. Amar said the initiative, which would have legalized recreational marijuana use, was defeated in part because the issue became complicated by an announcement that the federal government would still aggressively prosecute federal laws regarding marijuana regardless of how the measure did at the polls, and California's passage of legislation classifying possession of less than one ounce as an infraction rather than a misdemeanor.
"There were a lot of people who sort of supported it but weren't sure about the measure because it was an experimental thing, but once it became more complicated it became less sexy," said Amar. "And when an initiative is close on the margin like this was, 50-50 or so, it doesn't take much to swing it one way or another."
Vikram Amar, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Professor of Law with the UC Davis School of Law, is a national authority in the fields of constitutional law, civil procedure, criminal procedure, and remedies. His biweekly column for FindLaw.com, a leading provider of online legal information, centers on his expertise in constitutional law.