SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Supporters of a California initiative to legalize recreational marijuana filed a lawsuit Thursday accusing opponents of including false and misleading language in official ballot materials.
The Yes on Proposition 64 committee sued in Sacramento County Superior Court, asking a judge to change or delete several arguments that opponents make against the measure on the November ballot.
The lawsuit objects to opponents’ claims about television advertising and arguments that the measure would undo consumer protections that Gov. Jerry Brown recently signed into law.
In particular, lawsuit says it’s not true that the initiative “rolls back the total prohibition of smoking ads on TV” and that children “will be exposed to ads promoting marijuana gummy candy and brownies.”
Federal law bans marijuana advertising, and the measure won’t change the federal prohibition of televised smoking ads, proposition supporter spokesman Jason Kinney said. The measure itself bars marketing marijuana to people under 21, Kinney said.
“Defenders of the failed war on marijuana are entitled to their own opinions but not their own facts,” Kinney said. “The ballot arguments submitted with a straight face by the opponents fundamentally and factually misrepresent this ballot measure and are riddled with obvious falsehoods.”
Opposition campaign spokesman Andrew Acosta called the lawsuit a “sign that we are in the silly season” of political campaigning and said opposition lawyers will defend the ballot language in court.