It is about 7 miles from my house to Old Sacramento via the American River bike trail. I take this ride often but this time I brought a kit consisting of a little 8.5 x 11 sign frame with the California Cannabis Initiative (CCI) logo in it, some CCI petitions, a clipboard and some pens with me. I stopped at Staples and made 20 copies of the 4 on 1 page "Call to Arms" mini flier I got from the downloads page on CaliforniaCannabisInitiative.org. The clerk suggested green paper and using their paper cutter I quickly made 80 little handouts for about a buck.

I arrived in Old Sacramento around noon on Sunday. There weren't a lot of people there but it was not empty so I set up my little sign on a table in a public space near the boardwalk where lots of people would pass by and started asking for signatures. Since I was using a public space there were no contracts to sign or permissions to get. I soon figured out the most effective line is simply "Legalize Marijuana" or "Petition to Legalize Marijuana". I think with a big sign that says "Legalize and Tax Marijuana for Adults" I won't even have to say much, people will line up to sign this petition, and often thank me for being there with it!

Over the course of about 4 hours I collected 20 signatures from Sacramento county residents and because Old Sacramento is a huge draw for tourists I got 18 from Alameda, Los Angeles, Merced, Orange, Placer, San Joaquin, Santa Cruz, Solano, Tulare, and Yolo counties. The most gratifying was a clean cut young couple with baby in a sling on dad's chest that told me he was a police officer and all his co-workers would sign too.

Overall the response was excellent and I am pleased with my first day out. I came up 12 short of the goal, but hey, it was my first day. Based on today's results I believe there will be some days with a hundred or more signatures. Yes, there were a handful who said no, and a lot of people didn't respond at all, but I didn't try to change anyones mind and was prepared to answer the questions some had. It was easy and fun, I look forward to doing this on a regular basis over the next 145 days, my personal goal is 1,000 signatures.

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