California voters said no thanks to a ballot initiative that would have made it the first state to legalize marijuana for recreational use and sales.

Proposition 19, rejected Tuesday, would have made it legal for adults 21 and over to possess up to an ounce of marijuana, smoke the drug in nonpublic places and grow it in private plots.

The proposed law also would have authorized local governments to permit commercial pot cultivation and sales.

California in 1996 led the nation with a ballot measure approving cannabis for medical purposes and 13 other states have since followed suit.

Passage of Prop 19 would also have had a financial impact because it cleared the way for local governments to regulate the "business side" of pot, including commercial cultivation and taxation.

Prop 19 supporters argued that ending prosecutions of marijuana possession would free up strained law enforcement resources and strike a blow against drug cartels, much as repealing prohibition of alcohol in the 1930s crushed bootlegging by organized crime.