One of the leading efforts to legalize marijuana in California says it will wait until 2016 to put the issue on the state ballot.
California Secretary of State Debra Bowen had cleared the Coalition for Cannabis Policy Reform to circulate initiative petitions for the November ballot. It's one of three pot legalization proposals cleared to gather signatures for the fall.
But today, the coalition said it needs more time for its campaign.
Stephen Gutwillig, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, said Monday that while polling suggests California voters would support such a measure, the coalition wants to wait until 2016 so that it would have more time to raise money and build public support.
The coalition includes politically powerful organizations such as the ACLU, the NAACP and Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. It also includes the United Food and Commercial Workers Union and Oakland's Oaksterdam University, which offers training for cannabis entrepreneurs.