The stunning upset win of Republican president-elect Donald Trump muted celebrations at marijuana legalization election watching parties in San Francisco and Oakland Tuesday night.
In case you havent noticed, we legalized marijuana in California! shouted Victor Pinho from a bullhorn into the The New Parish club in uptown Oakland. Pinho is the marketing director of the Berkeley Patients Group dispensary and hosted the largest marijuana election night party in the Bay Area. The crowd cheered, but it didnt last.
Proposition 64 – the legalization of recreational California marijuana – was declared a victory by the Associated Press just after 8 p.m., when festivities were just beginning in Oakland. The small crowd inside the nightclub cheered, high-fived and fist-bumped, then quickly went back to watching presidential election returns on their phones and on a big screen on the porch. On screen, Trump surged to a victory, taking Florida and Ohio to audible groans and grimaces. Notable attendees included Steve DeAngelo and Andrew DeAngelo from Harborside Health Center in Oakland, and Dale Sky Jones, chancellor of Oaksterdam University.
Longtime legalization supporter George Zimmer, founder of the Mens Warehouse brand, said the legalization win feels good, but a bit bittersweet. It makes you want to go home and smoke a joint.
Out on the New Parish patio, attendees hit joints and pipes half out of celebration and half out of medication for anxiety. Rows and rows of catered food sat out, including munchies. Its depressing, said Dr. Frank Lucido, a cannabis-trained clinician in Berkeley. Trump is bad. But I dont think hes going to be able to roll back California, and Im not sure hed want to.
Ive never been so wrong about a presidential election in my life, said Dale Gieringer, director for California NORML.
DJ JK-47 spun David Bowies Im Afraid of Americans on the sound system, followed by Rage Against the Machine.
Over at the Verso bar on Mission St. in San Franciscos SOMA district, Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom and Mayor Ed Lee delivered remarks. Even though Newsoms and Lees camps scored major wins on election night, the room was almost funereal with dread over the Trump win, watchers said.
Back at The New Parish, longtime activists greeted each other with "Happy legalization!" and We did it! Other made jokes about a Trump presidency serving as a qualifying condition for medical marijuana in newly legal Florida. Marijuana measures carried eight of nine races in late returns. Proposition 64 carried California with 55 percent of the voters saying yes, 44 percent no, with 46.7 percent of precincts reporting.
If theres one thing Americans can agree on – its cannabis. Its a big win, said Troy Dayton, a former fundraiser for Marijuana Policy Project and CEO of The ArcView Group, a marijuana angel investment network. Its a dream come true. I thought it would take forever and Im a little surprised now its moved so fast since Colorado. I couldnt have imagined that on one night so many states would pass.
California could do $7.6 billion in legal cannabis sales by 2020, The ArcView Group estimated Tuesday.
Dayton has been working on marijuana law reform since 1995 and said the night felt validating.
It is so validating because for most of my adult life people laughed at me when I told them what I did for a living. And then they would tell me all the reasons why cannabis would never be legal and why it was hopeless. And then a few years ago the same people started telling me why it was inevitable. It wasnt hopeless then and it isnt inevitable now. It takes people who believe in something against the odds and fight for it when its unpopular to get it to this point, Dayton said.
Yes on 64 campaign spokesperson and lawyer Lauren Vazquez said Prop 64 would have an immediate effect on two pending felony pot sales cases on her desk. The alleged crimes are now misdemeanors, she said. I believe we have taken the steam out of the engine of the drug war, she said.
With a Trump win, she said, we certainly have a reason to medicate.
Henry Wykowski, a former U.S. prosecutor turned leading lawyer for the California industry, worried about a Trump win but said, support for cannabis in the U.S. is now so substantial that its too big to just stop.
Trump has said on three occasions that he favors leaving marijuana policy up to the states. With Trump, hes been very clear, Dayton said. He has the same position as Hillary Clinton: Let the states decide. And hes said more positive things about medical than she has. He said, it helps and I know people that it helped.
Sue Taylor, a senior African-American grandmother and owner of a new medical marijuana dispensary set to open in February in Berkeley, said a win for legalization and Trumps electoral gains made the night more bitter than sweet, she said. Ive never seen anything like it or thought it could happen this day and age.
Sean Luse, an executive at Berkeley Patients Group, said the night was more sweet than bitter. He has been working on pot policy reform for 16 years and said, It feels amazing. Progress. Big day in California. Big day for the country. Its a turning point.
Luse said, The Trump presidency is not good for cannabis policy, but I think with the overwhelming wins of the initiatives, I think thats going to drown out conservative regressive tendencies of the Trump Administration.
Overall, a mix of shock at finally legalizing marijuana combined with the reality of a Trump presidency left people dumbstruck most of the night.
Im just stunned, said one attendee. But Bush stunned me too. Were in the Bay Area bubble. Thats why we stay here.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker
Full Article: California Pot Parties Muted By Trump’s Triumph
Author: David Downs
Contact: San Francisco Chronicle
Photo Credit: Gabrielle Lurie
Website: San Francisco Chronicle
