Hot for Pot

"Join the revolution!" says “Big Kahuna” from his post in front of Target on Auto Park Way. "Legalize marijuana!"

Kahuna (who says he was born in Hawaii) has gathered signatures at Target, Walmart, and grocery stores around San Diego for months. He represents the California Coalition for Legal Marijuana.

"We get old, young, and middle-aged signers who see the potential for state revenue,” he says. “We took a poll three weeks ago and found out 60 percent of the people in California support our cause."

The U.S. Army veteran says he’s been a marijuana activist since the 1980s.

"[Legalization would] reduce our state deficit and give a shot in the arm to our economy," he says, comparing bootlegging during Prohibition to the violence at the Mexico-U.S. border. "When we legalized Irish whiskey, the Italians and the Irish stopped killing each other. Legalizing marijuana will change things at the border."