Activists file initiative to legalize pot in Washington (Washington State)

The Seattle Times ^ | January 11, 2010 | Gene Johnson

[Stoat]

(edit)

Five activists filed a ballot initiative Monday that would legalize all adult marijuana possession, manufacturing and sales under Washington state law — one of the most sweeping efforts at changing marijuana laws around the country this year.

Its sponsors include two Seattle lawyers and the director of Seattle's annual Hempfest. They call themselves Sensible Washington, and say that in a time of dire budget woes, the state government should stop spending money on police, court and jail costs for people who use or produce marijuana.

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Volunteers are lining up to collect the more than 241,000 signatures required to place the initiative on the November ballot, Hiatt said.

The campaign has competition in Washington. One bill introduced here would legalize and regulate marijuana, while another would decriminalize possession of small amounts of pot, making it punishable by a fine rather than jail time.

Legalization bills have also been introduced in California, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Nevada, and a group campaigning to place a marijuana-legalization measure before California voters said last month that it has enough signatures to qualify for this year's ballot.

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[Stoat]

My apologies for the severe editing of this article...this was done in order to remain in compliance with Free Republic rules pertaining to the posting of articles from this source. Please click on the main article link to read the full story.

[Publius]

If it will fend off pressure for a state income tax, I can live with it.

[sionnsar]

Say WA? Evergreen State ping

Quick link: WA State Board

FReepmail sionnsar if you want on or off this ping list.
Ping sionnsar if you see a Washington state related thread.

[kbennkc]

If they could gotten “Louie , Louie” approved for the State anthem , this one would have been a freebee .

[HiTech RedNeck]

For all the trouble that pot consumption directly causes, it is probably dwarfed by the side effects of the underground traffic it feeds in Mexico. While I have never smoked pot, I believe this ought to be an issue of medical focus rather than police focus, just as habitually drinking too much would be.

[MichiganConservative]

This is horrble. The Mexican drug cartels that sell marijuana in Washington could lose money!

[lilycicero]

I’m just pinging because I can ping.

[Publius]

Actually, Washington’s weed comes from Canada, and the — uh, businessmen — who sell it are Asians.

[Mariner]

The initiatives in CA and WA will pass in 2010.

What will the feds do then?

[umgud]

Legalizing mj wouldn’t cause me to use it, but I don’t abstain because it is currently illegal.

[robert561]

I don’t understand who wants stringent laws against pot? I’m conservative, and I think it should be legal. The dirty hippies certainly want it legal. Who doesn’t, I don’t get it?

[MichiganConservative]

This is horrible. The legitimate Asian businessmen who sell marijuana in Washington could lose money!

[Publius]

Well, they’ll have to go “legit” and pay the state’s business-and-occupation tax and deal with the environmental and occupational safety folks. This state makes it hard for any businessman to do business, legitimate or otherwise.

[MichiganConservative]

legitimate businessmen's representative:

[matt1234]

Potheads are MUCH more likely to vote dem. I know this from experience w/ people I’ve met.

[Publius]

Yeah, but they’ll be too stoned to remember there was an election.

[Rembrandt]

I can still remember when there was a sign at the southern border of Oregon stating:

Welcome to Oregon. Stay awhile. Have fun. Go back to California.

Washington was conservative then and I think Oregon might have been also.

Now they both nuts, at least along the coast and that’s the part that fixes the votes.

[Publius]

Washington has never been conservative since the New Deal. James Farley, FDR’s Postmaster General and political fixer, described the US in 1937 as “47 states and the Soviet of Washington.”

[bigoil]

Big Pharma and William Randolph Hearst do not want ANY
competition.

Which would you do for ‘stress’?

Take a valium or smoke a joint?

[4woodenboats]

...this was done in order to remain in compliance with Free Republic rules pertaining to the posting of articles from this source

I figgered the author just spaced it out ;~)