Pubdate: Sun, 18 Nov 2012
Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
Copyright: 2012 The Sacramento Bee
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/0n4cG7L1
Website: http://www.sacbee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/376
Author: Kirk Johnson, The New York Times

SEATTLE BLOG BLUNTLY EXPLAINS POT LAW

SEATTLE - Stoner humor just got a lot more complicated.

Back in the days when Cheech and Chong were more risque than wrinkled,
it wafted along as one of those cultural subgenres, with its own
nudge-and-wink punchlines. If you got it and laughed, you implicated
yourself  and laughed again.

But now the prospect of legalized marijuana in small amounts for
personal use  approved by voters in Washington state and Colorado on
Election Day  is creating a buzz of improvisation, from local law
enforcement agencies up through state government.

Devising from scratch a system for legal sales and informing the
public about the law are both tasks, state and local officials say,
that require the turning over of a new leaf.

And the Seattle Police Department  through blog posts written by Jonah
Spangenthal-Lee, 29, a former crime reporter for a Seattle alternative
weekly called the Stranger  is leading the charge. Bilbo Baggins from
"The Lord of the Rings" lends a hand too, shown in a film clip on the
police blog relishing a smokable product of uncertain provenance
called Old Toby, which Bilbo says, with a blissful sigh, is "the
finest weed in the South Farthing."

The goal: official communications in language that the hip, young,
urban and quite possibly stoned audience that Spangenthal-Lee wrote
for at the Stranger might actually want to read.

Worried about what happens if the police pull you over after Dec. 6,
when the law, I-502, takes effect, and you are sober but they smell
that bag of Super Skunk in your trunk? Spangenthal-Lee's blog post has
the answer. "The smell of pot alone will not be reason to search," he
writes.

Another question: "December 6th seems like a really long ways away.
What happens if I get caught with marijuana before then?" Answer:
"Hold your breath."

Question: "SPD seized a bunch of my marijuana before I-502 passed.
Can I have it back?" Answer: "No."

"There's no handbook for any of this," Spangenthal-Lee said in an
interview. Meanwhile, the "Marijwhatnow" post has gone closer to viral
than perhaps any official police communication in history, with 26,000
Facebook "likes" and more than 218,000 page views as of Friday.

Whether full legalization will actually occur as envisioned by the law
  up to an ounce is allowed for use by an adult  is hazy. Possession
remains a federal crime, but Gov. Christine Gregoire, after meeting
with Justice Department officials last week, said federal prosecutors
gave her no clear indication of what they would do either before or
after Dec. 6.

"We are following the will of the voters and moving ahead with
implementation," Gregoire said in a statement.

"Implementation" presents some high hurdles. The law allows only one
year for the state to create a system of licenses for growers,
processors and sellers, and to resolve equally confusing issues like
the potency levels of the various products and the prices. Teams began
meeting right after the election at the Washington State Liquor
Control Board, which has been assigned to create and administer a
marketplace.

Spangenthal-Lee, who has been writing for the Seattle Police
Department's crime blog, SPD Blotter, since March, said he tried to
imagine all the questions people would ask about the new law and then
follow his own nose as a newsman in getting the answers.

Will, for example, police officers be allowed to smoke marijuana? "As
of right now, no," he wrote.
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MAP posted-by: Matt