Seattle’s mayor-elect supports House Bill 2401:
“I actually took this position during the campaign and nobody noticed. It was an answer to the question in the Stranger’s election land,” McGinn said. “If every elected official who ever smoked marijuana voted to legalize it would probably be legalized in an instant. We recognize that, like alcohol, it’s something that should be regulated not treated as a criminal activity and I think that’s where the citizens of Seattle want us to go.”
OMG, leadership? Vision? From someone(s) in Seattle?
@1
I know, it’s a bit disorienting. :)
Disorienting, but interesting to say the least.
The world’s banking system can’t survive without the drug trades’ dirty money — and pot is the lynchpin.
Everybody act normal.
McGinn can believe whatever he wants, but good luck getting the local police to stop arresting people.
When push comes to shove, the mayor always backs down to police. Mr. Sierra Club will be no exception. Watch and learn kiddies.
When you legalize it, don’t forget to completely throw out the worthless, non-impairment test, which is the urine test. The only test that actually shows you are impaired would be a blood test. If a “drug” is legal, like alcohol, what good is a test like the urine test, which shows you allegedly had the substance in your body five days ago? Big Brother isn’t going to like giving up this nasty ass tool, the urine test, which they use to harass people.
CC “Bud” Baxter said:
“Big Brother isn’t going to like giving up this nasty ass tool, the urine test, which they use to harass people.”
I’m afraid you’re correct in your statement. The government has built a nice little cottage industry with the DEA, and it will not take destroying one of its agencies lightly. It will seek to maintain power at all costs because our government truly thinks it is our lord and master and can do whatever it wants, regardless of the Constitution.
Congratulations for Mike McGinn for taking a reasonable and sane position on marijuana.
@7,@8
I think there’s a genuine concern about driving as well. Hysteria over driving while stoned could potentially lead to some very intrusive uses of urine tests stemming from public safety hysteria.
I worry that even after legalization, this kind of stupidity could be enforced on drivers. And the fact that testing positive for marijuana does not prove impairment (it stays in your system for over a week) may not matter. There may actually be sufficient public support for a move that overtly takes away the driving privileges of people who smoke pot.
It’s something to be on the lookout for. Legalization is a big milestone, but it’s not likely to be the end of drug war hysteria.
@9,
Agreed. Legalization is inevitable, but that won’t be the end of the story. We’ll have to come up with some way to encourage responsible use of marijuana.
What @6 said.
@6,@11,
I’m not really sure what you guys mean. Seattle police already don’t arrest people for marijuana. Have you ever been to Hempfest? Hundreds of people are smoking pot within plain sight of police officers and they simply don’t care.
@12 Lee
Seems as if you can not get your story straight. A few posts ago you claimed you could found no pot smoking at HF. Or was that sarcasm?
Assuming the present version is correct, then howsa about keeping kids out next year?
The driving while potted issue intrigues me. While I had assumed that being high would impair driving, I have never seen good evidence to that effect. Do you know of any?