Marijuana Initiative Puts Pot Vote to the People

Initiatives are not just for Tim Eyman any more. A group called Sensible Washington has filed a ballot initiative that would "legalize all adult marijuana possession, manufacturing and sales under Washington state law," reports the AP.

Why the initiative, you might ask? Down in Olympia, there is already legislative talk of decriminalizing marijuana, and one state representative, Mary Lou Dickerson, is willing to bring up legalization. Here in Seattle, you can read pro-pot columns in the Seattle Times: "So why not let people have what they want, but then regulate it--heavily, if need be--and tax it to boot?"

For Sensible Washington ("hey we're on Facebook"), taking legalization of marijuana to the people of Washington is a question of timing and priorities. The committee includes two Seattle attorneys, Douglas Hiatt and Jeffrey Steinborn; Vivian McPeak, a co-founder of Seattle Hempfest and peace activist; Ric Smith, a longtime medical marijuana patient; and Philip Dawdy, initiative co-author and an influential independent reporter on mental health issues.

I spoke to Dawdy about the strategy. While he was happy to see the Legislature having the discussion, he said, the reality is "the legalization bill isn't going to get out of committee. It's dead. The decriminalization bill might get out of committee in the House, but it won't get a floor vote. This is a short session, and their attention will be focused on the budget."

For Dawdy, the initiative represents a chance for the people of the state to give the Legislature permission to do the right thing. Broad legalization for adult possession and use is inspired in part by his sense that "the medical marijuana law is clearly not working," and again and again people are ending up in court to justify possession.

The AP story quotes Mason County prosecutor Gary Burleson, who says, "I don't have a problem with marijuana being legal, and I don't have a problem with it being illegal. But right now, I have a big problem understanding what's legal and what's not."

Besides clearing away that tangled legal thicket, legalization offers the state the chance to save, potentially, millions of dollars every year, while directing law enforcement resources to where they're needed most.

"Between 7,000 and 10,000 Washington citizens are busted for marijuana use and possession each year in the state," Sensible Washington's website says. "Prosecuting and, in some cases, incarcerating these citizens costs the state tens of millions of dollars a year, expenditures that are tough to justify during the state’s ongoing budget crisis." In fact, Dawdy suspects the number probably exceeds $100 million.

(On a related note, Dr. Gabor Mate appears at Town Hall this Thursday with Norm Stamper, to talk about the moving from an enforcement emphasis to treatment and harm reduction for people using hard drugs.)

Sensible Washington has until early July to find 241,153 registered voters in support of putting the initiative on the ballot. (It occurs to me that, apropos of nothing, that Evergreen State College has 4,700 students.) The irony, of course, is that the existing culture of recreational marijuana users in Washington could put the initiative on the ballot tomorrow.

That, for me, is the best argument for legalization. Keeping a substance that over 50 percent of everyone from 18 to 34 has admitted trying in the control of criminals--and subsequently spending millions on maintaining the illusion of illegality--is the sort of dangerous obsession that drugs are supposed to be.