Activists have launched a campaign to legalize marijuana in California, but the path could provide difficult.

An Oakland-based group filed papers with the state and now has to collect more than 430,000 signatures to get its measure on the November 2010 ballot. The campaign is being spearheaded by legalization activist Richard Lee. It’s one of several efforts to legalize pot in California, including legislation being proposed in Sacramento.

According to the Lee’s group, the proposal would allow people 21 and over to possess up to an ounce of the drug and also would allow property owners to grow a certain amount of pot.

There has been much talk in recent months of legalizing marijuana and perhaps taxing it as a way of generating needed revenues for the cash-strapped state. But it’s unclear how much support there is for the issue, and there’s debate about how much money such a move would actually raise. Some law enforcement organizations believe legalization would cause more crime and drug trafficking.

–Shelby Grad – LA Times