With the passage of I-502, I’m hoping to get back into some more regular blogging here. I’ve waited a long time for this day, and now that it’s here, I want to closely follow how this all plays out. Here are some of the early developments in this new era:
– You’ve probably already seen the news that King and Pierce Counties have dismissed 220 marijuana possession cases. But at the end of that post from Jonathan Martin was another interesting nugget:
Earlier this week, the chief criminal deputy prosecutor in Spokane County, Jack Driscoll, appeared to take a more conservative position. He told the Spokesman-Review that, even after Dec. 6, the only marijuana which was legal to possess was pot sold in the state-licensed stores called for in I-502. Those stores won’t be created for at least a year.
“The only thing that is legal is selling marijuana through those stores,” Driscoll said. “That will be regulated by the state. You can’t under this initiative have an ounce of marijuana that doesn’t come from a state-issued provider. You still can’t have black-market marijuana.”
Looking forward to the first judge who gets to laugh out loud at that argument.
– One of the most interesting things to watch now is the international reaction to what Colorado and Washington voters have done. Especially in Mexico, where over $1,000,000,000/year pours into the pockets of drug gangs from the illegal marijuana trade.
– NCAA student-athletes in both Washington and Colorado still won’t be able to use marijuana, even if they’re over 21. Last year, Pullman police arrested several Washington State basketball players for pot possession. Considering that underage use is still illegal, that’s likely to keep happening.
– Of course, even with the passage of marijuana legalization, reefer madness isn’t going to just disappear. This gem – from the New York Daily News, but featuring a “chemical dependency professional” at Argosy University in Seattle – is about how this initiative will somehow cause Boeing and Microsoft to suck at building planes and software unless the feds intervene. As someone who worked at both companies in my 20s (quite successfully) while also being a regular marijuana consumer, I’m not sure I even know how to start making fun of that. It’s a good reminder that even though initiatives can fix a broken policy, they can’t fix stupid.
What do criminals do when a huge source of income goes away? I imagine crime in other ways going up.
Sounds like Lindquist has the right idea.
Nice to see the prosecutor’s offices clear out some room to go after more serious stuff.
On the Microsoft front Puddy will have to agree. They produce bug laden code without the need of uppers, downers or laxatives. Patch Tuesday Windows Updates are a continually marvelous event.
If these guys are truly worried about the build quality of Dreamliners they might want to take a peek at meth use stats from southern states.
This editorial from the Denver Post says representative Diana DeGette from Colorado’s 1st district is proposing legislation next week to modify federal law to exempt marijuana. She has contacted Washington reps to get them on board with this bill.
http://www.denverpost.com/news.....do-pot-law
Correction: she intends to contact Washington reps to get them on board.
For some reason I can’t resave my original comment.
@6
At the very least, McDermott and Smith should be on board. They’re in totally safe districts and shouldn’t have any reservations about doing the right thing here.