On election night, you know what caused me a lot of anxiety? Trying to come up with a clever, pun-driven headline about the defeat of Proposition 19, the marijuana legalization initiative. The obvious way to go was some form of "Prop 19 Up in Smoke," used by AFP and the San Francisco Bay Guardian. Someone here suggested "Californians Don't Pass the Joint," but in the end I wrote the headline straight. Uh, I mean I wrote a straight headline: "Proposition 19, Marijuana Legalization, Fails."
But other media went to town. Here's a sampling of headlines from around the country and Canada:
- Pot smokers mellow despite rejection of prop 19 (Whittier Daily News)
- Californians snuff out chance to legalize pot (Ottawa Citizen)
- California just says no to legalizing marijuana (PBS Newshour,
- B.C. bud growers hold breath over California vote (Montral Gazette)
- California Marijuana Advocates Stoked About Chances for OK in 2012 (Newsmax)
- Marijuana legalization advocates look giddily towards 2012 (Washington Independent)
- Why Elders Kept California From Going to Pot (AOL News)
- Toking Rights (Santa Barbara Independent)
- Prop 19 in ashes (Willow Journal)
- Prop 19 Burnout: Why Did Pot Legalization Fail In California? (Talking Points Memo)
And my personal fave:
- Calif. pot activists take a hit at the polls, vow to try again (Nonprofit News Group)