There’s definitely change in the air around Washington state regarding the prosecutions of medical marijuana patients. Three more cases being tracked by the Cannabis Defense Coalition were dropped this week, one in Kitsap County, one in Pierce County, and one in King County.
In Kitsap County, charges against Monte Levine and Marc Derenzy, who have been fighting Kitsap County authorities for nearly a decade, were dropped. According to Levine:
Yesterday my partner Marc and I went into Kitsap Superior Court. I had been scheduled for an Omnibus Hearing on the charge of Manufacturing Marijuana. Instead we picked up the Order of Dismissal. We stood in front of newly elected judge Olson, who smiled broadly as she signed our orders.
The prosecution stated that it was not in the best interest of justice to pursue this case. We were told that the Kitsap Prosecutors will meet and confer before moving forward with any manufacturing case that involves marijuana.
In Pierce County, charges against Michael Byers have been dropped. Byers has been raided three times in the past five years by Pierce County authorities despite being an authorized medical marijuana patient.
The case in King County that was dropped this week was a little different, as the defendant, Gaura Kish, did not have a medical marijuana authorization at the time of his arrest for being in possession of a small amount of marijuana. However, when the prosecutor noticed that there were over a dozen observers in the courtroom, he reviewed the defendant’s medical records and decided that the case was not in line with King County’s policies for trying medical marijuana patients.
A fourth case in Mason County, that I mentioned here, had a hearing yesterday in front of a group of courtroom observers. According to one person via email, the prosecutor seemed very agitated during the entire proceeding. The next court date for that case is on May 4th in Shelton. If you’d like to be an observer, please contact the folks at the CDC.
I’m not sure what to make of this trend other than to see these dismissals as a recognition from our public officials that the general public is fed up with our marijuana laws and that there’s now a real price to pay politically from continuing to waste taxpayer money like this. In the recent online question and answer forum set up by the state’s Senate Democrats, the top question was about arresting non-violent drug offenders. And the short infomercial on our marijuana laws filmed by Rick Steves (that KOMO TV refused to air) has just been nominated for a Northwest Emmy. Times are changing quickly, folks. Let’s see if the clown car in Olympia can keep up.
Stoners need to steal the playbook of fags to become mainstream. Homos did it right. It took them about 40 years, but pretty soon, fags will be able to marry. Maybe if more famous people come out of the closet about smoking pot, little by little it will become an accepted and legal recreational drug, like alcohol. But yeah, copy how the homos did it.
@1
You know what’s interesting? For almost any other person, a comment like that would be seen as an idiotic comment. But for you, that’s actually the smartest comment you’ve left in months.
It’s actually true that the more people realize that their friends and neighbors are marijuana users, the more they’ll come to accept it. It’s not very different from how media exposure to gay lifestyles allowed for greater acceptance of gay marriage.
Lee-
Seems like your eyes light up at the very thought of lots & lots of inexpensive readily available pot. Are you a regular user?
Methinks that is the case.
I guess it numbs you to the consequences of the Atheist Progressive agenda.
You love to attack Puddy..perhaps because he is no drugs, no alcohol??
I’m an occassional beer/glass of wine guy..
but you KLOWNS are like little kids salivating at the thought of getting drunk & stoned.
Hmmmmmmmmmmm…. what pain are you trying to medicate Lee? Perhaps you can let it all out for us to help guide you on a better path.
Cynical, Lee says this to troll:
Then he says this…
So Lee if NutRight said that it would be idiotic?
So Lee if rujerk said that it would be idiotic?
So Lee if clueless wonder said that it would be idiotic?
How about your bestus friend stillbentover?
Etc. Etc. Etc.
Lee, did you toke a roach today? You said you were a new daddy. Hmmm…
I apologize for using words like fags and homos. I was just being a troll. But other than that, yeah, I was being serious in my comment. But no one law is going to change things. There has to be sort of a paradigm shift over a period of years and decades, like we saw with the gay rights movement, and their eventual acceptance into the mainstream society. I predict within ten to twenty years, most states will legalize gay marriage. One day I’d like to see something similar happen in the marijuana movement. But yeah, I think they would do well to follow their playbook on how to go from outcast to (almost) accepted in about forty years.
@3
Seems like your eyes light up at the very thought of lots & lots of inexpensive readily available pot.
We’ve had that for years. In fact, while the price of just about everything in America has gone up over the past decade, pot still costs the same that it did in 1997 when I first moved to Seattle.
Are you a regular user? Methinks that is the case.
I was for 15 years, but fatherhood has intervened. :)
I guess it numbs you to the consequences of the Atheist Progressive agenda.
If consequences are that you get more and more outrageously funny, then what could possibly be the downside?
You love to attack Puddy..perhaps because he is no drugs, no alcohol??
No, I attack Puddy because he is no brains, no common sense.
I’m an occassional beer/glass of wine guy..
Good for you. Like marijuana, alcohol in moderation can be a wonderful thing.
but you KLOWNS are like little kids salivating at the thought of getting drunk & stoned.
Bullshit. I’m no different than a beer drinker. I just enjoy a different form of intoxication. In fact, sometimes, I like beer and wine, and in other situations, I enjoy some pot. You’re the one making such a big deal about pot, not me.
Hmmmmmmmmmmm…. what pain are you trying to medicate Lee?
None. What pain are you trying to medicate by coming here every day with a clown suit on and making a fool of yourself?
Perhaps you can let it all out for us to help guide you on a better path.
Hahahahahaha! Ok, there, champ! You know, they’re doing wonderful things these days with psychiatry, you should check it out.
@5
I’d agree with you but I think the social and economic costs of gay marriage put much less pressure on the current state of thinking than those costs will for marijuana. The number of people in jail, drug wars on the border, overfilled prisons, the cost of enforcement, opportunity cost lost and a bad economic environment are likely to push things toward liberalization of laws and social norms far more quickly than a few decades as with gay marriage.
Oh and @3, being an atheist and a progressive does not necessarily lead to lots of boozin’ and sparkin’. Some non-theists follow the 5 Precepts of Buddhism. #5 is :
Suramerayamajja pamadatthana veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
I undertake the precept to refrain from intoxicating drinks and drugs which lead to carelessness.
Unemployment UP in Kalifornia:
http://www.breitbart.com/artic....._article=1
lulz, you radical left wingers in charge of Kalifornia for so long and driving it into the ground…
I’m actually all for ending the “war on drugs” and legalizing gay marriage – once those issues have been fully decoupled from the rest of the radical left wing agenda.
@9
What exactly is “the radical left wing agenda?” Are ending the war on drugs and gay marriage really radical left wing issues? In fact I’ve many libertarian friends that consider these basic libertarian issues.
And what value is there in decoupling them from other people’s agendas if you believe in them?
@8
Most of the mortgage companies that started this financial mess were based in Orange County. That very conservative county which has had to file for bankruptcy in the past and will probably have to again.
@8
lulz, you radical left wingers in charge of Kalifornia for so long and driving it into the ground…
Unemployment’s up everywhere in the US. And California has a Republican governor too.
Let’s legalize pot and call it a day. The gay marriage thing might have to wait until next week.
As the older generation of politicians retire/lose elections/die legalization becomes more possible every year.
How many millions annually would the state get again on taxed purchases of pot? Doesn’t Pierce, King and Snohomish Counties lead the country for per capita indoor grows? I wonder how many recently unemployed are turning to growing to supplement their income?
I’d rather live next door to a pothead than an alcoholic any day. The worst thing most potheads do is play Phish/Dead/DaveMathews type music to much and forget things. But they make great snacks.
Alcoholics tend to be violent, beat their spouse and drive their car full of kids into the lake.
Ye gods. I have to revise my opinion of Troll. I am in shock.
Puddybud is still illiterate (by choice) delusional (probably not by choice) but basically well meaning.
KKKLyn is still a malicious pharisee and psychopath who has hijacked the term Christian, blissfully unaware that everyone else here, if not even religious, knows enough about Christianity to see what a lying buffoon he is.
I hope he’s not your hero, Pud. You might deserve better.