Reefer Madness 2010

By Josh Feit, Saturday, December 19, 2009 at 11:56 AM
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Seattle State Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson’s (D-36) dramatic bill to legalize pot and sell it in state stores is getting a lot of attention.

To balance things out yesterday, we pointed out that the GOP has a pot bill too. Although, South central Washington state Rep. Larry Haler’s (R-8) bill goes in the other direction: It would add more restrictions on marijuana, by cracking down on medical marijuana.

In all the smoke, we shouldn’t forget about Seattle state Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles’ (D-36) pot bill which passed out of the senate judiciary committee last year before disappearing in the rules committee.

Sen. Kohl-Welles says her bill, which would decriminalize possession of up to 40 grams of pot, is still in play, adding: “It has been endorsed by the Washington State Bar Association and has been included in the Seattle city council’s legislative agenda. While I support full legalization, I believe decriminalization is more realistic for now.”

The difference between legalization and decriminalization is this: Under decriminalization, the police simply wouldn’t arrest adults who are smoking. Under legalization, pot could be sold in a regulated market.

  • 70sman
    Eveyone needs to recognize that weed is OK and that what we need is to legalize it so that the gangs who own the distribution network now are forced out of the mainstream. The legitimization of distribution will then create a larger market and everyone will make more money and calm down a little(literally).

    I want to buy some weed, smoke it in my own house without the risk of my uptight neighbors ratting on me and me losing the lifestyle I have worked so hard for. the best times of my life were in college when I was high!
  • Dorian Grey
    since marijuana is safer than alcohol we really should make it legal so that people who are looking to relax at the end of the day don't have to choose between breaking the law or drinking a more harmful drug (alcohol). Furthermore I would like say that legalization would make it even more safe because it would regulate it and keep dealers from selling it to children. Study after study has shown that it's harder for kids to get alcohol or tobacco than it is for them to get marijuana and the reason for that is that dealers don't ask for ID. More than one study has shown that the recent decline in smoking tobacco has come after a system of educating the public about it's harms not by making cigarettes illegal.
  • westseattlered
    You forgot to mention that under decriminalization, adults would not be arrested (for under an ounce) but would be given a ticket for a $100 fine. This is good news everywhere but in the city of Seattle, where adults are already not arrested, but instead would start getting tickets. This also means that Mikos is incorrect - decriminalization would add revenue with those $100 fines, not to mention it would save the state money in law enforcement, court and incarceration costs. It would do nothing to stem the illegal trade in cannabis, nor help assist patients gain better access to medical cannabis.
  • From 1920 to late 1932 we arrested bootleggers but not drinkers. That's the same as today's decrim proposals for pot, right... Let smokers smoke, but bust dealers? The law of supply and demand kicks in... causes the street price to rise. You can figure out the rest by reading about National Prohibition.
  • spink
    Who would have thought that that legalization of pot would happen because of a fiscal crisis? I guess it isn't that bizarre, after all prohibition was ended during the Great Depression for much the same reason.
  • Rep. Dickerson herself says it doesn’t have a chance: http://publicola.net/?p=20467</blockquote>

    So where's the drama? It's probably not going to pass. Rabble-rouser bills like this come up all the time and never pass. Legislators chuckle, some grumble, it gets tabled and everyone moves on without another thought.
  • Mikos
    I think this stuff is a mirage. The real motivation behind Dickerson's legalization bill is the revenue you'd get from taxing marijuana. But legalization is not going to pass in the legislature and decriminalization will not provide any new revenue -- and that's what a short session is about: balancing the
  • @3,

    Rep. Dickerson herself says it doesn't have a chance: http://publicola.net/?p=20467
  • Michael G
    Do you have any sense of what the chances are of any of these bills passing? Jeanne Kohl-Welles' bill is the only one that I have heard mentioned in the context of having a nonzero chance of passing. The other two seem like bills meant to call attention to a particular viewpoint rather than to actually become law. In particular, before getting excited about Dickerson's bill, keep in mind the fact that it would be in conflict with federal law and therefore be invalid.

    In any event, though, ongoing agitation at the state legislature is an important component in moving forward the discussion about marijuana policy.
  • ivan
    Larry Haler, not Larry Haller.
  • todd
    When the Majority of Americans believe Marijuana should be Legalized like they now do according to the most recent polls, it's time to sop arresting them,period. It's unconstitutional and should be considered a crime against democracy to arrest and jail people for laws no longer supported by the majority. Decriminalized means it's still illegal and that's not good enough.
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