[420 Girl]

A signature campaign to put the legalization of marijuana on the ballot has begun in San Diego County -- with an unlikely person leading the charge, 10News reported.

Bay Park resident Erika Schinler has 4-year-old daughter and is a self-described soccer mom in the making.

Schinler is leading a local petition drive for the California Cannibis Initiative, which would legalize marijuana for adults and place a tax on it. Schinler does not smoke marijuana but would like to see it legalized.
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"Bottom line, our state is broke and we need the money. My daughter goes to public school and I don't want her programs to be cut. I don't want her teachers to be laid off," said Schinler.

According to state officials, a marijuana tax could rake in $1 billion a year.

However, crticis said the measure would lead to more crime and substance abuse.

Mark Carrillo, who runs the rehah program at CRASH (Community Resources and Self Help) in San Diego, said nearly all of his clients began by using marijuana.

"It will increase the likelihood that they would think that's OK to start doing drugs. It's as simple as that," Carrillo.

Schinler's campaign is one of three initiatives aimed at legalizing marijuana, with all in the signature-gathering phase.

Each initiative needs to collect more than 430,000 signatures of registered voters by mid-February to make the ballot.

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