If you didn’t see what happened at the anti I-502 press conference today, here’s what you missed:
The spokesman for a new Washington state medical marijuana organization is looking for work after being fired at his own inaugural press conference.
Philip Dawdy, a longtime figure in the state’s marijuana reform community, had invited reporters to the law offices of Seattle lawyer Kurt Boehl for the kickoff of the new trade group, called Safe Access Alliance. The purpose was to discuss opposition among medical marijuana patients to Initiative 502, which would legalize marijuana for recreational use in Washington.
Two members of the another group, the No on I-502 campaign, crashed the news conference and accused Safe Access Alliance of co-opting their message — and their donations.
After some minor theatrics by the protesters, Boehl, the president of Safe Access, escorted them to the door. As Dawdy continued speaking, Boehl grew frustrated and stepped to the microphone, announcing that Dawdy didn’t speak for the organization and that Boehl would be answering any further questions.
At the end of the news conference, he canned Dawdy within earshot of the reporters.
“You’re fired!” Boehl told him. “You embarrassed us.”
I’ve been vocal about the shortcomings of I-502 before and I still have concerns about its potential negative impacts, but if this is what the opposition has devolved to, filling in that Yes oval won’t be so tough for me in Nov. I’ve lost count of how many complete bullshit arguments I’ve seen by anti-502 folks, from claiming that it overrides our medical marijuana provisions (it doesn’t), to claiming that police will arrest people at next year’s Hempfest en masse for passing joints (seriously?), to knowingly making incorrect claims about how long active THC can stay in your system.
The most common argument I run across is the claim that it’s not legalization because possession of more than one ounce will remain illegal and you can’t grow your own plants. At a certain point, this does come down to semantics, but the reality is that establishing a legal marketplace for producing and selling marijuana is legalization enough that the federal government is expected to freak out and try to pre-empt it. And that’s the main point here. Of all of I-502’s flaws, the overriding factor for me is that its passage triggers that big conflict with one of the most misguided federal policies in the history of the United States, and that’s something that drug law reformers have been fighting to get to for years. I-502 will do that, even if it does leave a few more messes to clean up.
Damn….I saw I-502 and thought it was referring to something important, like a new freeway.
guess I still need my coffee this morning.
Lee, Im cool with it being legal and all – we as a society just need to accept some of the negative repercussions that will come also. There is a positive and negative to everything: legal guns, legal booze, and now legal weed.
My red flag to all this is that the legalize weed community is trying to pull a bait and switch on everyone. the pot heads are trying to convince us that the state should regulate and sell weed, while taxing it heavily to help support our democrat-party led state budget disaster…and thats GREAT! However, the next phase will be to let everyone grow and sell their own, thus avoiding the tax man.
Noboby in their right mind thinks that the pot heads, most of which can barely rub two nickels together, are going to pay for heavily taxed and price inflated state weed, which will again lead to an underground market, similar to what we have now.
How long before the tribes get to sell tax-free pot?
fine, legalize it, I dont give a shit…but please, stop with the bullshit about it being a magic bullet money train for the state, which is exactly what the current advertising for I-502(and previous efforts) claims.
coffee time…
@1
While decrying the ‘bullshit’ its best not to fling some yourself. I can grow tomatoes. I have land, a sunlit spot and the spare time. So no one is buying those expensive tomatoes at QFC, right? They’re buying them all from people like me?
“Can’t rub two nickels together?” Stereotype much? Nah, there are no white collar professionals who enjoy their weed.
You assume the cost of ‘legal’ weed will be higher without evidence. people pay a premium beyond any cost of production due to its illegality. Which leads to convenience. At present, people who enjoy their weed have to procure it at someone else’s convenience. If asked to pay a premium for the ability to purchase from a known location that will never be out of stock many, many, many people will.
1. comparing tomatoes to weed? really? fail.
2. I didnt say there were no white collar weed users. Of course there are…again, you fail due to the inability to read.
3. illegal weed is cheap cheap cheap…hell, if kids in junior high can get it, it certainly is not expensive…If you think the democrat led WA state gov is gonna sell if for cheap, then you have not been paying attention. They will tax it to the moon in an effort to bolster the state budget. again, fail.
3x fail = hat trick….Mario Lemieux in da house!
Anyone know what’s involved in a blood test for THC levels? I assume there isn’t a breathalyzer test.
What’s the turnaround time for reporting results of a blood sample?
“1. comparing tomatoes to weed? really? fail.”
Both are agricultural products which are far cheaper to produce by ones own labor. But the vast majority of people who use them don’t and never will.
“2. I didnt say there were no white collar weed users. Of course there are…again, you fail due to the inability to read.”
Sure, you used the word most but your clear implication was to denegrate the casual user as an unemployed loser. Nice try. Just because you only called “most” of the people assholes doesn’t mean you’re clear.
“3. illegal weed is cheap cheap cheap…hell, if kids in junior high can get it, it certainly is not expensive…If you think the democrat led WA state gov is gonna sell if for cheap, then you have not been paying attention.”
Some kids have allowances and make choices about their purchases. Your assumption is that because a person who you ASSUME has very little money can afford a product, the product must be cheap. Arguing from authority with no evidence is lazy. Arguing the unknowable about what the price would be on taxed weed is also silly. But it doesn’t get to the crux of the issue. Will people pay a premium to get quality (organic even?) weed from a set location during regular business hours instead of calling their “guy” finding out he’s across town today, can maybe meet this afternoon…
@1
fine, legalize it, I dont give a shit…but please, stop with the bullshit about it being a magic bullet money train for the state, which is exactly what the current advertising for I-502(and previous efforts) claims.
I’ve never said a word about this in any blog post ever.
There are few things more obnoxious than having people put words in my mouth.
I actually agree with the notion that the way I-502 set up their taxation will encourage people to abuse the medical law framework to avoid the taxes. No one knows to what extent this will happen.
But you should know better than to assume that my views are in lockstep with NAW’s or that I’m just a spokesperson for them. I’ve called out their initiative’s shortcomings and will continue to do so.
@6
Point taken lee…..I did not mean to put words in your mouth, I was talking about the legalize weed movement, or parts of it, as a whole.
Bigot@1-
Sure.
Just like cigarette addicts grow their own tobacco and roll their own cigarettes. Tax avoidance in tobacco products exists. But it is fairly negligible. And legal tobacco aint “cheap cheap cheap”.
Growing modern weed isn’t something you can do in your Mom’s backyard behind the rhodies. And while it may well be that some die-hard Libertardian individualists living in the hills might grow their own out in the climate controlled barn under 5000 watt lights, they’ll have just as much trouble selling it as any ‘shiner has selling home made hootch.
Once again, there are some real objections to 502, but this aint one of ’em.
If medical marijuana interests scuttle legalization I will formally cease to support them. I will work to get them ousted from my neighborhood and vote to repeal medical marijuana laws. It won’t be long before big pharma creates pills that do the same thing smoking weed does anyway, just like we have pills that do what Opium does and are made from Opium.
To the anti I-502 groups: fuck you and your goddamn livlihood. People’s lives are being ruined for nothing and you would have that continue so you can keep making a buck. Well no, you will not keep making a buck because your industry is a fucking joke built primarily upon the fact that many want marijuana to be legal and will support any means of making that more possible. And the fact that nobody’s made THC in a pill yet. How long do you think that will last?
@8
We shall see…….
@ 9
Well no, you will not keep making a buck because your industry is a fucking joke built primarily upon the fact that many want marijuana to be legal and will support any means of making that more possible.
Off-point, I know, but it occurred to me that you could substitute ‘solar to be acceptable’ for ‘marijuana to be legal’ and the sentence would have exactly the same relevance.
Heh.
1: Using “democrat party” really doesn’t encourage people to listen to your argument.
@12
If your that sensitive of a girlyman, then I don’t need to hear your opinion anyway.
@12
Ya, cause its so much worse than “rethuglican party”
Don’t talk back, just grow a sack
Just recognize the reality of it – people enjoy using cannabis, and that’s their right to do so. When did the government assume it got to ban what people choose to ingest?
Let’s legalize, regulate and tax cannabis and get away from the past 75 years of pure craziness involved over this naturally occurring weed! Engouh already!
@11
Not just off point, but incorrect. Solar is as relevant as we choose to make it. Germany generates 10% of their electricity from solar, an increase of 40% from last year. Panels are getting cheaper and more efficient, with some very promising technologies on the way that could vastly increase efficiency.
Once we’ve spent 1/10th the amount on researching solar, wind and other renewables as we’ve spent looking for oil you can begin to talk about relevance. Fossil fuels receive massive subsidies, pay virtually nothing for their extraction and externalize billions in costs from pollution and disease. Level the field and they’d lose every time.