Pubdate: Wed, 18 Dec 2013
Source: Stranger, The (Seattle, WA)
Copyright: 2013 The Stranger
Contact:  http://www.thestranger.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2241
Author: Ben Livingston

LET ADULTS GROW THREE PLANTS EACH

The State Is Already Amending the Pot Law, So It Should Do This,
Too

In October, The Stranger broke the news that state regulators had a
plan to repeal most of Washington State's voter-approved 1998 medical
marijuana law, a deal that included prohibiting patients from growing
plants at home. Patients voiced outrage, of course. The state liquor
board, which was in on the strategy, has since taken a baby step
backward, suggesting patients could grow three mature plants instead
of the 15 currently allowed.

Pardon me if this sounds ungrateful, but what the hell are state
regulators thinking?

Voters didn't declare a new war on medical cannabis growers when they
passed Initiative 502, which legalized recreational pot. Legislators
should not change cultivation rules for patients at all. Suggesting we
send police and prosecutors after the sick and dying-who grow cannabis
with a doctor's recommendation-is not just immoral, it is the opposite
of what voters wanted. They wanted an end to prohibition and a means
to undercut an illegal drug market.

Which is why all adults should be allowed to grow three pot plants at
home, even if they are not medical marijuana patients.

That would mirror Colorado's legalization law. Moreover, we actually
need more marijuana than regulations currently allow.

As Seattle city attorney Pete Holmes pointed out in a letter to state
regulators on December 3, onerous restrictions on pot stores mean
there won't be enough retail outlets to meet Seattle's demand. Right
now, only 21 stores will be allowed in the entire city. "We urge you
to award at least 50 such retail licenses initially," Holmes wrote. He
wasn't calling for home growing, but he should be-because that's
another way we can make legalization work and undercut the illegal pot
market.

This would be like home-brewing beer, which is legal. Fermenting a keg
isn't a threat to the state's sin taxes-ostensibly the liquor board's
concern-and a few pot plants in our windows wouldn't either.

Some lawmakers will argue that voters didn't intend to allow home
gardens, but that's a specious argument. Many lawmakers in Olympia
support changing the law to vacate marijuana misdemeanors and to
license medical pot shops. If they're already changing the pot law to
be more practical, they should make another practical change by
allowing all adult recreational users to grow three plants each.
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MAP posted-by: Matt