Recent Stories with tag sensible washington

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)

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.

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)