Possession for Medicinal Use Led to Expulsion From Reservation TULALIP - Dennis Boon was a healthy child, he says, until he was hit in the head with a 7-iron. He was 14 years old when he and some other boys were hitting Wiffle golf balls in eighth-grade PE class. Boon's ball rolled away, in front of another boy. Boon saw the boy talking to someone else, so he thought it was safe to reach down and get his ball. [continues 2001 words]
I was unable to attend the public hearing in Everett on regulating marijuana and so feel compelled to voice my opinions herein: 1. How does our state government justify acting to oversee the pot business when it is a violation of federal law? To expend the effort and taxpayer funds before this fact is resolved is ludicrous and irresponsible in the extreme. 2. The mayor of Kent points out that she has taken an oath to uphold federal law. How is it that other officials subject to the same oath can proceed as they have? They are subject to legal removal from office, though I doubt it will happen. The state attorney general should have declared the law invalid and unenforceable. To remain a nation of laws, enforcement of all law is necessary or we start down a slippery path. [continues 119 words]
The state conducted a hearing in Everett this week to answer questions relating to the state's new law legalizing recreational marijuana and the yet-to-be-determined rules that govern the industry. Some in attendance asked how the state could have one system for medical marijuana and another system - with separate rules - - for recreational marijuana. The answer: Despite some abuse of the medical marijuana law - specifically in the over-saturated Seattle market where some "dispensaries" sell marijuana without requiring medical documentation, and/or a small number of naturopaths who issue cards without properly diagnosing or documenting the medical problem - yes, despite all this - medical marijuana is real medicine and needs to be treated as such, rather than swept under a big Liquor Control Board tent. [continues 335 words]
Steep Tax Difference Between Recreational, Medical a Continuing Issue Washington received national attention last fall when voters approved an initiative to legalize, regulate and tax marijuana for adults. Now officials are deciding how this new industry will be regulated. At a public hearing on this Tuesday in Everett, some people asked how the state could have one system for medical marijuana and another system - with separate rules - for recreational marijuana. And with recreational marijuana being taxed - and medical marijuana not - it could mean a steep difference in prices. [continues 488 words]
The State Seeks Input As It Formulates Regulations Governing the Growing, Distribution and Selling of Recreational Pot. The first of five public hearings in Washington on regulating a new system for legally growing, distributing and selling recreational marijuana is scheduled Tuesday in Everett. The hearing begins at 1 p.m. at Everett's Comcast Arena Conference Center. The new statewide system for legalizing marijuana is regulated by Washington's Liquor Control Board. The state agency is responsible for carrying out the legalization of the sale and possession of up to an ounce of marijuana for adults. The proposed regulations spell out the licensing of marijuana producers, processors and retailers and the taxing of marijuana. [continues 240 words]
GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) - Marijuana testing used to mean checking to see if someone had been smoking it. But with Oregon, Washington and Colorado all making pot more widely available to the public, laboratory testing for safety, purity, potency and active ingredients is adding to the legitimacy of the drug. "This does demonstrate a shift in how we are beginning to treat marijuana in this country," said Mason Tvert, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project. "Legal products are regulated and sold in a controlled marketplace. And that's what we are going to see - are already beginning to see - with marijuana, be it for medical purposes or simply for adult use." [continues 682 words]
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - The Oregon Legislature just put the state medical marijuana program in the plant-inspection business. But that's not all. Under a broad set of authorities granted by the passage of a bill approving medical marijuana dispensaries, the state program will soon also run background checks, conduct on-site safety inspections and perform financial audits. It's all part of a legislative effort aimed at legitimizing the hundreds of Oregon dispensaries already operating in a legal gray area. As part of the bargain, the dispensaries will now submit to the same kind of scrutiny - and paperwork - as other types of businesses. [continues 286 words]
SEATTLE (AP) - Jim Andersen has a 40-year history with hashish, the concentrated cannabis sometimes referred to as the cognac of the marijuana world. When he served in the Air Force in Southeast Asia, he said he smuggled it home in his boots. When he was in grad school in California, he made it with a centrifuge in a lab after hours. So when Washington was on the verge of legalizing the sale of taxed pot last fall, Andersen decided to move back to his home state and turn his hobby into a fulltime, legitimate paycheck - a business that would supply state-licensed, recreational marijuana stores with high-quality hash oil. [continues 908 words]
I'm dismayed when I read letters to the editor of this paper and others about what a horrible path we have taken by legalizing cannabis. I'm sure that if the writers had done some research on the medical benefits of the compounds found in the plant they might reconsider their position. There are numerous government and private websites dedicated to the results of cannabis research and I think we can generally say that the cannabis plant has benefits that far outweigh its negatives. [continues 679 words]
It wasn't the Vatican, but the state Liquor Control Board sent up a wisp of smoke on Wednesday, indicating it had anointed a set of proposals for governing legal sales of marijuana. To describe things with bureaucratic precision, the board "filed official draft rules (CR 102) with the state Code Reviser" for "implementation of Initiative 502." Before anyone grumbles about regulatory overreach, initiative voters instructed the agency to adopt "necessary procedures and criteria" - and to do it by Dec. 1 of this year. [continues 352 words]
An article in this week's paper stated that the percentage of smokers in the U. S. had dropped to 18 percent. Also included in the article was the fact that smoking is the leading cause of preventable illness and death. In light of this information, it is difficult to understand why the majority of voters in this state approved the use of marijuana which includes the inhaling of smoke into their lungs and lungs of those around them. The answer to this is the increasing stupidity of these voters. Dan Lantz Lake Stevens [end]
SEATTLE (AP) - For the activists who led the effort to legalize recreational marijuana in Washington state last fall, Jamen Shively was one of their biggest fears: an aspiring pot profiteer whose unabashed dreams of building a cannabis empire might attract unwanted attention from the federal government or a backlash that could slow the marijuana reform movement across the country. With visionary zeal, the 45-year-old former Microsoft manager described his plans to a conference room packed with reporters and supporters last month, saying he was tired of waiting for a green light from the Obama administration, which still hasn't said how it will respond to the legalization of recreational pot in Washington and Colorado. Shively vowed to quickly raise $10 million and eventually build his company, Diego Pellicer, into an international pot powerhouse. [continues 777 words]
Regarding the letter, "This law will cost us, not benefit us": I think the writer is a man running in fear from something he doesn't know much about. Almost every statement he made are ones that have been planted in our minds by the political realm who want to control the product to line their greedy pockets. The word marijuana or pot is used to make us think it is something terrible. The item he is talking about is really a free growing herb called Cannabis. I would only suggest to the writer that he go online and read everything about cannabis. It is even mentioned as something "good" in the Bible (see Isaiah 18 4-5). [continues 90 words]
SAN FRANCISCO - As more states embrace legalized marijuana, the drug's growing medicinal use has highlighted a disturbing fact for doctors: scant research exists to support marijuana's health benefits. Smoked, eaten or brewed as a tea, marijuana has been used as a medication for centuries, including in the United States, where Eli Lilly sold it until 1915. The drug was declared illegal in 1937, though its long history has provided ample anecdotal evidence of the plant's potential medicinal use. Still, modern scientific studies are lacking. [continues 773 words]
The State's New Marijuana Adviser Says It Can Expect About $100 Million in the First Year, Not the $400 Million Initially Estimated. SEATTLE - Estimates of how much money marijuana legalization can bring to the state's coffers have been way off, Washington's new marijuana consultant said. In an interview with public affairs channel TVW aired Thursday, Mark Kleiman said several factors, including competition from the loosely regulated medical marijuana market, illegal sales and high prices for legal pot are likely to affect the demand for the state-approved marijuana. [continues 434 words]
BOISE, Idaho - As some Western states relax medical and recreational marijuana laws, Idaho lawmakers are instead sending a clear message against marijuana use in any form. On a 63-7 vote Wednesday, the House approved a resolution declaring the Legislature's opposition to the legalization of pot. The Senate passed the same resolution in February. Democrats in opposition argued the resolution doesn't do anything and could be interpreted as lawmakers passing judgment on the political and voter-driven actions of other states. [continues 58 words]
TACOMA - John Connelly leaned forward on his barstool, set his lips against a clear glass pipe and inhaled a white cloud of marijuana vapor. A handful of people milled around him. Three young women stood behind the bar, ready to assist with the preparation of the bongs, as the strains of a blues band playing downstairs sounded faintly off the exposed brick walls. "It feels so comfortable in here," said Connelly, 33. "It's just a great social aspect." Welcome to the Stonegate - puns welcome. It's one of a tiny number of bars, cafes and private clubs catering to the stoner class in Washington and Colorado since voters last fall made them the first states to legalize marijuana for adults 21 and older. [continues 560 words]
Regarding the editorial, "Approve hemp farming": The United States is one of the few countries in the world that denies farmers the right to grow industrial hemp. Apparently federal bureaucrats can't tell the difference between a tall hemp stalk and a squat marijuana bush. Prior to passage of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 (sic), few Americans had heard of marijuana, much less smoked it, despite widespread cultivation of industrial hemp. The first anti-marijuana laws were a racist reaction to Mexican immigration during the early 1900s. White Americans did not begin to smoke pot until a soon-to-be entrenched federal bureaucracy began funding reefer madness propaganda. Decades later, marijuana use is now mainstream. [continues 75 words]
While Washington, Colorado, and the Justice Department grapple with the intricacies and implications of the states' historic votes to legalize recreational marijuana (with medical cannabis already on the books), our Legislature has a chance to do something noncontroversial and very belated on the other end of the weed spectrum: Allow the cultivation of industrial hemp. The difference between marijuana and hemp is vast. An important but frequently ignored fact is that the hemp plant contain the psychoactive ingredients that produce the marijuana "high." A person could smoke fields of hemp and only get a headache and burned lungs. Another important difference: Industrial hemp is an easy crop for farmers to grow - it is hardy and resistant. Marijuana, on the other hand, is fussy and difficult to grow, and prone to pests and mold. (A farmer would never want to grow the two varieties together, as the few remaining hemp opponents argue would happen to cover for an illegal grow, because it would weaken the properties of both plants.) [continues 288 words]
OLYMPIA - More than a dozen people, many of them medical marijuana patients or providers, testified Monday against a measure to tax medical marijuana dispensaries, an effort to undermine any black market when sale of state taxed recreational marijuana starts at the end of this year. The bill, which had a public hearing before the House Finance Committee, would hit dispensaries with a tax equal to 25 percent of their sales of cannabis and cannabis-infused products. The bill sponsors have said they're trying to avoid a dual market - one taxed, one not - as the state moves toward creating a regulated system for the fledgling marijuana industry created by Initiative 502. [continues 523 words]
A unanimous Supreme Court says evidence discovered by police dogs only needs to meet the same tests for probable cause as any other evidence. WASHINGTON - Police don't have to extensively document the work of drug-sniffing dogs in the field to be able to use the results of their work in court, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday. Instead, Justice Elena Kagan wrote for a unanimous court, courts should apply the same tests to dog sniffs they do when they look at other issues of whether police have probable cause to take an action. [continues 292 words]
OLYMPIA - Gov. Jay Inslee sent U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder a letter this week detailing the efforts the state is taking as it moves forward with creating rules for a voter-approved legal market for marijuana. Inslee wrote the "the world is watching" both Colorado and Washington as the two states implement last fall's votes that approved the recreational use of marijuana "We intend to do it right," he wrote. The letter was sent Tuesday, but released by Inslee's office publicly on Thursday. [continues 396 words]
OLYMPIA (AP) - Lawmakers in Olympia are considering an oddly specific proposal about marijuana. A bill introduced by Democratic Rep. Christopher Hurst of Enumclaw and Republican Rep. Terry Nealey of Dayton would set out steps for the "proper disposal of legal amounts of marijuana inadvertently left at retail stores holding a pharmacy license." Nealey says the bill was prompted by recent incidents were marijuana was found at Walmart stores, after it was apparently dropped. He says there's some concern that having marijuana on the premises could affect the licensing of the pharmacies at such stores. [continues 77 words]
I am concerned about the legalization of marijuana in our state for several reasons. First, marijuana is a drug. It impacts the user's ability to make decisions and impairs their judgment. This could put the users and the people around them in danger. For example, a driver who has been using marijuana will be impaired with slower reactions behind the wheel and since there is no test for the use of marijuana, the police cannot detect if they have been using it. [continues 175 words]
SEATTLE - So far, no one is suggesting checkpoints or fences to keep Washington state's legal pot within its borders. But Gov. Jay Inslee insists there are ways to prevent the bulk smuggling of the state's newest cash crop into the black market, including digitally tracking weed to ensure that it goes from where it is grown to the stores where it is sold. With sales set to begin later this year, he hopes to be a good neighbor and keep vanloads of premium, legal bud from cruising into Idaho, Oregon and other states that don't want people getting stoned for fun. [continues 472 words]
Some farmers in the state say growing pot would pose tremendous problems. YAKIMA - Irrigation canals line the Yakima Valley east of the Cascade Range, transforming a desert landscape into one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world - including crops for some of America's biggest vices. Thousands of acres of wine grapes dot the landscape, contributing to Washington's No. 2 rank for premium wine production behind California. Farmers grow more than two-thirds of U.S. hops for big beer companies and craft brewers alike, and a large tobacco field is flourishing on a valley Indian reservation. [continues 641 words]
SEATTLE -- A real estate investor who attracted attention in Everett a dozen years ago for promising big things after buying up historic buildings that had gone to seed is facing six years in prison for drug trafficking. Craig Douglas Dieffenbach, 51,was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle. He was caught running a criminal enterprise camouflaged as a medical-marijuana business. The case was about targeting drug traffickers, not people who are ill or those interested in their care, U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan said in a press release. [continues 624 words]
NEW YORK - A new analysis is challenging a report that suggests regular marijuana smoking during the teen years can lead to a long-term drop in IQ. The author of the new paper says pot might not have anything to do with the mental decline seen in the original study, and that other factors may be to blame. The original study included more than 1,000 people who'd been born in the town of Dunedin, New Zealand. Their IQ was tested at ages 13 and 38, and they were asked about marijuana use periodically between those ages. [continues 328 words]
EBEY ISLAND -- Bruce King has been raising pigs in the Snohomish River Valley for seven years. The land, adjacent to the U.S. 2 trestle, is low, flat and prone to flooding. But it has its benefits. "As a retail place to sell pigs, it's fabulous," King said. Since the passage of the state's initiative to legalize recreational marijuana use for adults, King has been giving serious thought to growing marijuana. King said he's not the only farmer in the area thinking about legally growing pot. "Every single farmer I've talked to has had this thought cross their mind," he said. [continues 478 words]
Everett voters approved marijuana legalization by a healthy margin last month, but now it's December and the City Council is about to do something that will make all those voters quite unhappy. Council is set to enact a so-called "nuisance ordinance" that would so drastically limit where medical cannabis collective gardens might locate that it would create an effective ban on safe access for patients in the city. It would also likely ban any Everett marijuana retail locations for recreational users that the State Liquor Board might wish to license when it begins to issue licenses for those in about one year. Many thousands of Everett voters will find council's action a nuisance, but, rest assured, black market pot dealers will be thrilled. [continues 612 words]
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - President Barack Obama says he won't go after pot users in Colorado and Washington, two states that just legalized the drug for recreational use. But advocates argue the president said the same thing about medical marijuana - and yet U.S. attorneys continue to force the closure of dispensaries across the U.S. Welcome to the confusing and often conflicting policy on pot in the U.S., where medical marijuana is legal in many states, but it is increasingly difficult to grow, distribute or sell it. And at the federal level, at least officially, it is still an illegal drug everywhere. [continues 888 words]
Families should make clear their rules about marijuana, reminding teens that its use might be legal for adults, but it's a crime for everyone else. Now that marijuana's legal in Washington, parents are faced with a tough job: selling their kids on the concept of "no." No, marijuana's not legal for anyone younger than 21. And some parents may add a second message: No, it's not allowed in our home - ever. Many teens were excited about the recent change in state law that allows adults 21 and older to legally have up to an ounce of marijuana. They probably didn't realize that nothing changes for them, said Dr. Leslie Walker, co-director of the adolescent substance abuse program at Seattle Children's Hospital. [continues 764 words]
Laws from an era that make no sense should be reconsidered. There seems to be a lot of concern regarding the deregulation of marijuana in Washington state. Like the Mayans, modern-day doomsday prophets claim to see dark clouds on the horizon. What these people fail to take into consideration is the era during which the laws regarding marijuana were drafted. This was an era where my grandfather came back from fighting in the pacific theater during World War II to see signs in windows saying "Irish need not apply" or "Christians only." Japanese-Americans were sent to internment camps, and mental health-care professionals routinely performed full frontal lobotomies and administered electroconvulsive therapy for questionable reasons. [continues 202 words]
The legalization of marijuana in Washington state has the rest of the world's attention. So it is that Washingtonians need to beware. Besides federal authorities and those of other states, the powers-that-be of many other jurisdictions will be watching. If pot smokers in Washington misbehave, the naysayers will grab hold of this news like dogs to a bone. Smoking pot under the Space Needle may have been a steam-releasing event. But make no mistake -- such displays will be easy fodder for those who would keep marijuana use a crime. So while you citizens of Washington have new rights, you also have new and important responsibilities. Those of us to the north, and elsewhere, congratulate you on breaking new ground, but ask you to use your new freedom wisely. Bruce Campbell Vancouver, B.C. [end]
Ah, the great American West, where man can generally breathe free and also inhale - woman, too. Thank you, thank you, voters in Colorado and Washington state, for legalizing marijuana. But will Washington, D.C., leave you alone? Attorney General Eric Holder said this week that the Justice Department will weigh its response to the state referenda. A new national poll finds 58 percent of Americans in favor of making marijuana legal and only 39 percent against. A raft of other state laws easing the prohibition on pot and growing public contempt for the existing law should be enough to change the policy. And so should a basic sense of decency. [continues 515 words]
Dependence is not addiction. Slight irritability and minor insomnia are not withdrawal symptoms and even the 1 in 10 who seem unable to control their use can lay the blame on their addictive personalities rather than weed. In her Sunday column, Julie Muhlstein writes of "problems pot presents" yet doesn't cite even one. Her dependence on Catholicism is far more difficult to overcome than a weed habit. I say that because religion is a drug, it makes its users feel better, soon takes over their lives, results in delusional thinking, and once hooked, the recovery rate is very low. [continues 116 words]
The legalization of same-sex marriage and Washington's okay to marijuana throws light on a permeable wall. There are human rights, and there are civil liberties. Because a human being is not inherently entitled to ganja (cannabis use isn't the same as freedom from slavery or cruel or unusual punishment) smoking dope is a question of civil liberties and where, how and if we impose restrictions. Marriage equality transcends the boundary, a human right - all people are born free and equal in dignity and rights - and a civil liberty. [continues 402 words]
Initiative Backers Say Their Priority Was to End Arrests for Possession, and Leave the Details of Regulation to Officials. It sounds so contradictory. It's now legal for adults 21 and older in Washington to possess up to an ounce of pot. They just can't legally buy it, at least not for another year. This seeming Catch-22 of allowing adults to have marijuana, but giving them no legal way to purchase it, has caused some to publicly criticize the way the initiative was drawn up, in essence asking: "What were they thinking?" [continues 606 words]
Marriage equality and legal pot use took effect the same day. Yes, Washington made history last week with two new laws. Both validate libertarian get-out-of-my-private-life views. Yet I see them as very different, despite the link of timing. Seeing happy, committed couples at long last able to marry, I am proud of Washington voters for taking a great step forward in support of equal rights. To me, though - even if it makes sense for law enforcement not to focus on marijuana - legalizing pot is nothing to celebrate. I'm troubled by the message the new marijuana law sends, and not just to kids. Weed is obviously not as harmful as heroin, opioid painkillers and other drugs. But let's not pretend there's no problem here. [continues 599 words]
An Official at an Everett Drug Treatment Center and Former Pot User Believes We're Setting Ourselves Up for Big Problems. EVERETT - When he was 15, Robert McCullough knew he was addicted to marijuana. As a high school student in the 1970s, he skipped class to smoke, stole money from his parents to support his habit, and scraped his pipe for resin when he didn't have pot to get high. Today, McCullough, 43, still considers himself an addict. He attends weekly meetings and recognizes if it weren't for treatment, he would have never gotten clean. [continues 751 words]
SEATTLE - A group of lawmakers on Friday urged the Justice Department to respect recent votes in Colorado and Washington state allowing the recreational use of marijuana, and some introduced a bill to ensure that happens. Democratic U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette of Colorado said her bill would bar the federal government from blocking state marijuana laws. Several other lawmakers have signed on, including Republican Rep. Mike Coffman of Colorado. "I voted against Amendment 64 and I strongly oppose the legalization of marijuana, but I also have an obligation to respect the will of the voters," Coffman said in a statement. "I feel obligated to support this legislation." [continues 335 words]
What's next? Amid all the munchie-themed jokes from reporters, political elites and late-night comedians, this remains the overarching question after Coloradans voted overwhelmingly to legalize, regulate and tax marijuana in the same way alcohol is already legalized, regulated and taxed. Since those anti-Drug-War principles are now enshrined in Colorado's constitution, only the feds can stop this Rocky Mountain state - if they so choose. But will they? And should they even be able to? The answer to the former is maybe. Barack Obama campaigned for president pledging to respect state marijuana laws and his Justice Department in 2009 issued a memo reiterating that promise. But by 2011, the same Justice Department countermanded that directive and authorized a federal crackdown. Now, with the results of the 2012 election, Colorado's Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper has been forced into the awkward position of fighting off the feds in defense of a state constitutional amendment he tried to defeat. [continues 494 words]
MUKILTEO -- People started coming into the medical marijuana co-op in Mukilteo on Election Day asking the same question: "Can I buy pot now?" "There's obviously a bit of confusion," said Jeremy Kelsey, owner of the Medical Marijuana Patients Network. His shop only sells to patients who have legal authorization from a doctor or naturopath to use marijuana for specific medical conditions. The questions continued for Kelsey on Wednesday, the day after Washington voters approved Initiative 502, which taxes and legalizes the sale of an ounce or less of marijuana to anyone 21 years or older. [continues 1126 words]
Initiative 502 allows us to answer some simple questions regarding current policy on marijuana: Are our current marijuana laws working? Is their enforcement a good use of our police, prosecutors, judges, and jails? Are they reducing marijuana's availability and use, or increasing public safety? We don't think so. One of us is a travel writer who spends a third of each year abroad and has had the opportunity to observe how other societies deal with marijuana use. The other has served as a state representative for eight years, focusing both on the well-being and education of children as well as criminal justice issues. Both of us have shepherded our own kids through the tricky teen years, and both of us agree that our marijuana laws need an overhaul. That is why we are voting yes on Initiative 502, and we encourage our fellow Washingtonians to do the same. [continues 1063 words]
Initiative 502 causes more harm than good. It promotes "legalization" of marijuana (cannabis). "Legalization" fosters a perception that cannabis is harmless and less risky. This will be associated with more people trying and using cannabis, both adults and teens. Marijuana is neither safe nor harmless. There are more than 400 compounds in the cannabis plant and 60 or more cannabinoids (the active substances in the marijuana plant). Only a few of these substances have been studied. Smoking marijuana produces harmful substances similar to those produced when tobacco is smoked. Smoking causes lung problems similar to tobacco. Cannabis causes a decrease in short-term memory, attention, learning, and concentration. This causes problems in school, at work and with driving. For some users, the psychological effects are even more troubling. Anxiety and paranoia can be crippling. Studies with schizophrenics have shown that cannabis use made their schizophrenia worse. [continues 995 words]
The Edmonds travel expert, a co-sponsor of I-502, has scheduled two stops in Snohomish County to promote the measure. International travel expert Rick Steves will speak at two events in Snohomish County this month, part of an 11-city statewide tour to promote passage of Initiative 502. The initiative would allow people 21 and older to buy an ounce of marijuana from stores regulated and licensed by the state, where it would be taxed at 25 percent. The Snohomish County events are scheduled for noon Oct. 16 at the Everett Station and 7 p.m. Oct. 21 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lynnwood. [continues 238 words]
In an election season when political statements seem laundered and starched and issues carefully calibrated with the "finger in the wind" test, one ballot measure has attracted one of the most unlikely collections of political bedfellows in state history. Initiative 502 would allow people 21 and older to buy an ounce of marijuana from stores regulated and licensed by the state, where it would be taxed at 25 percent. Who would have thought that one of the leading proponents for the initiative would be John McKay, a former U.S. attorney who prosecuted major marijuana cases during his tenure? [continues 1395 words]
Michael Baumgartner Endorses I-502, While Sen. Maria Cantwell Opposes the Measure Over 'Concerns Expressed by Law Enforcement.' SEATTLE (AP) - The campaign to legalize and tax marijuana for adults in Washington state is rolling as next month's vote approaches, with more than $1 million in new contributions reported since last week and a surprising endorsement Wednesday from Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Michael Baumgartner. The money, most of it from retired Progressive Insurance founder Peter Lewis, means Initiative 502's backers have raised nearly $4.1 million over the course of the campaign, with $1.2 million left to spend. Alison Holcomb, campaign manager for New Approach Washington, says her group is planning a broader television campaign than the three-week advertising blitz it ran in Western Washington in August. [continues 456 words]
Late last year, U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. affirmed the Obama administration's long-standing policy of taking a hands-off approach to states that had legalized medical marijuana, saying federal resources wouldn't be expended on enforcement actions as long as purveyors obeyed state law. On Tuesday, Los Angeles got a taste of the current interpretation of that policy -- which is that our dispensaries are out of bounds. Federal officials started their first major operation in L.A. by raiding dispensaries, filing court papers to seize properties rented to medical marijuana sellers and sending letters to property owners and operators of 67 dispensaries warning them to shut down within two weeks or face similar treatment. More such actions are promised. [continues 368 words]
Voters really need to consider the potential consequences of legalizing marijuana. The present initiative relies on uneducated voters to pass it based on several misconceptions. First is that Washington will have a windfall of new tax revenue. This assumes that the tens of thousands of the people who possess and grow legal medical marijuana (up to 15 plants) will stop growing it. It assumes that all of the illegal marijuana dealers will also stop and not attempt to compete with legal sales. [continues 226 words]
