Marijuana Legalization Legislation in California Off the Table For 2014

Probably won't be on a ballot until at least 2016

Despite polls indicating that Californians are poised to legalize pot, the state's best shot for a marijuana measure has suddenly gone up in smoke -- and that likely means the Golden State will have to wait until at least 2016 to catch up with other pot-friendly Western states.

Backers of the Control, Regulate and Tax Marijuana Act -- including the Drug Policy Alliance, bankrolled by billionaires such as financier George Soros and the late Peter Lewis -- said Tuesday they will stop gathering signatures to put the measure on the ballot this year.

"We decided it was more important to do it right than to do it fast," Stephen Gutwillig, the Drug Policy Alliance's deputy executive director, said Tuesday. "We ultimately came quite close but just decided we didn't have enough of the pieces in place right now."