By Lisa Leff and Marcus Wohlsen
LOS ANGELES — It seemed an easy sell in California: The state that gave us medical marijuana would allow pot for recreation.
Then came the ads, newspaper editorials and politicians, warning of a world where stoned drivers would crash school buses, nurses would show up at work high and employers would be helpless to fire drug-addled workers.
A day after voters rejected Proposition 19, marijuana advocates wondered how they failed in trendsetting, liberal California.
Was it the fear of the unknown? An older electorate more likely to oppose pot? Voters reluctant to go any further than they already had with the nation's most lax pot laws? Fear of crossing swords with a federal government still intent on enforcing its ban on the drug?
Whatever the reason, activists vowed Wednesday to push on in California, as well as in states that rejected other pot measures Tuesday.
"Social change doesn't happen overnight," said Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for Repeal of Marijuana Laws.
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