The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the United Food and Commercial Workers Union has come out for California’s Proposition 19, a ballot initiative that would “allow adults 21 and older to possess, grow and transport marijuana.” State and local governments would also be allowed to tax and regulate it.

Why does the union take this stand? For the same reason, a friend notes, that unions tend to support amnesty for illegal immigrants: they want to organize the pot harvesters. Says the LA Times: “The local has about 26,000 members in California and has launched efforts to organize workers in the expanding marijuana industry, counting about 100 as members.”

Now, I personally favor marijuana legalization but using this initiative as an organizing technique may be the biggest case of reefer madness the United Food and Commercial Workers Union has displayed since they endorsed Sen. Barbara Boxer (Boxer opposes Prop 19). Is Frito Lay, the maker of Doritos, already unionized?