Marijuana advocates start bid to get legalization on California ballot

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(Reuters) - California voters could get a second chance to legalize recreational pot under a push launched on Wednesday by a marijuana advocacy group that seeks to put the matter before voters in 2016.

The Washington DC-based Marijuana Policy Project filed papers with California Secretary of State Debra Bowen to create a committee that can begin raising money in the state ahead of a signature-gathering effort, a first step toward getting the marijuana legalization measure onto the ballot.

The ballot measure, which has not yet been written, would be modeled after a law passed by Colorado voters in 2012 that legalizes adult recreational marijuana use and regulates its sales, the group said.

A 2010 ballot initiative to legalize marijuana in California failed.

“Marijuana is an objectively less harmful substance than alcohol, and that’s how it needs to be treated,” Executive Director Rob Kampia said in a statement. “Regulating and taxing marijuana similarly to alcohol just makes sense.”