Recent Stories with tag legalization

Sensible Washington, the people behind the I-1068 marijuana legalization initiative, are dealing with some collateral damage to the democratic process. After last week's raid on a medical marijuana dispensary, Tacoma's North End Club 420, drug enforcement officers walked off with about a dozen signature-laden copies of the initiative as evidence.

Sensible Washington would like the petitions back:

We have made repeated calls to WestNet’s office, but have yet to receive any assurance that the task force’s personnel have secured the signed petitions and that they plan to promptly return them to Sensible Washington.

Subsequent to the raid, Seattle Weekly reports, detectives visited the home of the patient coordinator of North End Club 420, Christine Casey, who alleges they "handcuffed her 14-year-old son for two hours and put a gun to his head."

This puts a new spin on the debate over whether petition signatures should be public or not. In this case, it's a multi-jurisdictional federally funded narcotics task force that is in possession of about 200 names and addresses from people willing to support marijuana legalization. I think the words "chilling effect" were coined for precisely this kind of situation.... (more)

Here's Jim McDermott, of "the poker-faced 7th," explaining his position on CNBC, who ask him if his pragmatic defense of online gambling (everyone's doing it, so let's legalize it so we can at least regulate and tax it) extends to marijuana legalization. McDermott says he's on record as being in favor of medical marijuana, but that's as far as he goes.

The Seattle Times has the full story: In brief, illegal online gambling is supposed to amount to $5.8 billion annually, a figure that would no doubt increase if it weren't illegal. With no effective prohibitive enforcement on the horizon--and gambling legal in all kinds of other forms--Jim McDermott and Barney Frank are pushing for legalization.

The tax revenue--McDermott estimates $42 billion over ten years--would pay for "improved foster care and early-childhood education. McDermott would earmark a full 25 percent of revenue for foster child care, in fact.

The legalization move is opposed most vocally by Virginia's Bob Goodlatte, whom the Times says believes "legalizing Internet gambling would pave a path to addiction and financial ruin." The Seattle Weekly points out that Goodlatte's strict stance would also lead him to ban church bingo nights. In any event, McDermott's bill allows states to opt out of legalization if they'd like. So Goodlatte would be free to keep Virginia's foster care system safe from gambling profits.

...robberies have become more common in Washington over the years. Marijuana advocates complain that robberies are underreported because law enforcement officials focus more on confiscating marijuana from the growers than on arresting the thieves. The authorities, in turn, have noted that some growers are exceeding limits on how much of the drug they can possess...

So reads the New York Times story, "Violence Prompts Debate Over Medical Marijuana." The story is based on all of two violent incidents involving medical marijuana growers, so it may be a little early to call this a trend.

Steve Sarich's case may also be an outlier, since King County Sheriff's Department investigators claimed they found 385 "plants." That size of an operation may be more tempting to thieves than the typical 15-plant allotment provided for by state law. At least one of the robbery suspects, anyway, is a authorized medical marijuana user. (The comprehensive Seattle Times story is "Medical-pot grower plans to sue over shootout fallout.")

Sarich argues that many of his plants were just rootless cuttings stuck in pots, but Washington's medical marijuana law was not, it appears, drafted by a horticulturalist. It just says "plants," without a definition of what exactly that is.

This vagueness--combined with a letter-of-the-law spirit on the part of law enforcement--is part of what drove the I-1068 initiative filers to move beyond medical marijuana to legalization. Their Facebook status says, "KCSO narcotics detectives took 17 hours before executing a search warrant on his house, which contains only starter plants. Why are legal medical marijuana providers being harassed? Why is KCSO spending taxpayer dollars this way?"

Sheriff's detectives arrested Olympia mayor pro tem Joe Hyer yesterday, alleging he engaged in "unlawful possession of a controlled substance, unlawful distribution of a controlled substance and unlawful use of a residence for drug purposes," reports Seattlepi.com. Hyer has previously been a city council member, and was president of the Olympia Downtown Association.

Norm Stamper, author of "Breaking Rank"

The Northwest is home to plenty of upstanding citizens who prefer marijuana be legalized. Fresh-scrubbed travel guy Rick Steves argues that it's not Christian to put pot smokers in jail. And former Seattle "top cop" Norm Stamper wrote in to Sensible Washington, the people behind the I-1068 marijuana legalization initiative, to let them know of his support:

I thought I would reach out to you, let you know of my strong support for I-1068, and authorize use of my name (and, no doubt, that of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) if you think it would be helpful to the campaign.

Currently Sensible Washington (2,300+ Facebook fans and counting) is looking for volunteer signature gatherers and donations to the cause. In a masterstroke of strategical positioning, they'll be outside the Bon Jovi concert at Seattle Center tonight, gathering signatures. People who want to help are invited to meet at the Space Needle at 6 p.m.

The Secretary of State has just given the moniker I-1068 to the Sensible Washington initiative to legalize adult cultivation, transport, possession, and use of marijuana. Here's the pdf of the initiative's language. Now the group is waiting on approval from the Attorney General's office.

"They have five business days to give us a neutral and impartial ballot title, ballot question and ballot summary," says the Sensible Washington Facebook page. "If things go smoothly, we could be circulating [petitions] next weekend or sometime the week after."

The group is still negotiating with banks over credit card processing for donations. Wells Fargo has refused to work with them, and PayPal, the obvious choice, has a history of freezing the accounts of drug reform groups who use their service. For now, supporters have no choice but to wrap their green in a paper envelope, lick it to seal, and fire it off via snail mail.

The House Public Safety Committee voted down the bill to legalize marijuana in Washington state, 6-2, and also voted down a bill to decriminalize marijuana, 5-3, says the Seattlepi.com.

HB1177 would have reclassified possession of forty grams or less of marijuana from a misdemeanor to a class 2 civil infraction. According to the Capitol Record, committee chair Christopher Hurst (D-Enumclaw) argued that if you were out on a boat and crossed the state line, "you could be convicted of a federal drug crime." People who are arrested for using marijuana would face "a lifetime of despair," he said, in arguing to maintain that exact predicament in-state.

Rep. Roger Goodman noted that federal agents do not typically arrest people who smoke marijuana.

Legalization, HB 2401, as expected, failed to win much support at all. Though once again, Christ Hurst offered some trenchant analysis. Per the Capitol Record: "One of my observations is that should fundamentally should the federal government be in the business of regulating marijuana?" Many people would, of course, classify that as a question rather than an observation.

His nemesis, Roger Goodman, countered that the state should regulate marijuana, not "fantasize" that keeping it illegal has kept usage down.... (more)

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."... (more)

"Here's the way I see it," said our legal correspondent over lunch, "the City Council sends a representative to the state legislature and asks that municipalities be given the choice to opt out of state enforcement." We were talking about legalizing marijuana, but not from any personal interest. (I prefer a smoky Scotch.) We were looking for "new revenue" responses to the state's fiscal crisis.

Raising property taxes is a nonstarter. Upping sales taxes is not only infeasible politically, but leaves the state dangerously dependent on consumer confidence. No one but budget policy wonks is still pushing an income tax. But there is a huge hole in the state budget that is cutting into essential services, and the future only looks to bring reassessed, post-bubble property values.

In Olympia, the political will for decriminalization is almost there--in Seattle, it's already been elected. Mayor-elect Mike McGinn told KUOW recently that "We recognize that, like alcohol, it's something that should be regulated not treated as a criminal activity and I think that's where the citizens of Seattle want us to go." ("Legalize marijuana and tax it" is the number two entry on the Ideas for Seattle website.)

On December 14, the Seattle City Council unanimously passed a resolution in support of SB 5615 and HB 1177, bills decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, which were introduced by Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles and Rep. Dave Upthegrove.

"We support reclassifying possession of small amounts of marijuana from a misdemeanor to a civil infraction," is the Council's word on the matter (video), putting possession in the realm of jaywalking in terms of public safety priorities. Under Kohl-Welles bill, possession would draw a fine of $100, but no jail time.

Wrote the senator in an op-ed: "Our state Office of Financial Management reported annual savings of $16 million and $1 million in new revenue if SB 5615 passes. Of that $1 million, $590,000 would be earmarked for the Washington State Criminal Justice Treatment Account to increase support of our underfunded drug treatment and prevention services."

State Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson takes it even further, reports Publicola:

Dickerson wants Washington farmers to grow pot and sell it in our state’s liquor stores. The revenue, she says, will go to pay for drug and alcohol treatment programs (and to cover the WSLCB’s costs for adding the new product to its shelves.) She estimates the revenues from pot sales would be similar to booze sale revenues, which are currently at $330 million.

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