Washington Could Legalize Marijuana Next Year

lunarverse · Dec 8, 2010

Talk of legalization is starting to become very mainstream!

Drug policy reform activists, buoyed by polls showing a strong majority of voters in Washington support ending the government's crusade against cannabis, are aiming to legalize marijuana by presenting the issue to the public on the November 2011 ballot. But here's the strange thing: it's possible their politicians might beat them to it.

Speaking to local media outlet The Stranger, state Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson (D) says she plans on introducing legislation next year that "would legalize it, regulate it and tax it." And this isn't just some vanity bill, or one intended to just send a message, she says.

“We have been wasting scores of millions of dollars on arresting and jailing people who have done nothing more than smoke marijuana recreationally. That has ended up harming people and costing taxpayers tremendously. So it’s a very high cost to individuals and to taxpayers—it’s a wrongheaded policy that simply needs to be changed.

"I am dead serious about this," Dickerson says.

It's about time, too -- though whether it be protecting civil rights or ending the Vietnam war, politicians never seem to do anything good without serious public pressure first forcing them to act. And it's no different in Washington, where activists have been threatening to make the state legislature irrelevant by letting voters weigh in on the state's marijuana policy directly by way of a ballot initiative.

One of the main groups leading the fight to reform the state's drug laws is Sensible Washington, led by attorneys and long-time legalization advocates Douglas Hiatt and Jeffrey Steinborn. While activists in California and Colorado are eying the 2012 ballot -- and the presumed higher youth turn-out of a presidential election -- to press ahead with legalization ballot initiatives, Hiatt and Steinborn maintain that next year is the time to act if the state legislature doesn't first.

"Looking at the bigger picture, it makes sense nationally as well as locally to repeal prohibition in Washington in 2011," they write. "National legalization organizations are gearing up for a big push in 2012. Their resources could be used in tougher states if Washington were to legalize in 2011 .... Plus, if Washington State does not have an initiative running in 2011, the issue will be quiet for a year at a time when we need to make it louder. An early victory in Washington would be a powerful precedent in the 2012 elections for other states."

Sensible Washington had tried to get a legalization initiative on the 2010 ballot -- and with a January poll showing 56 percent of voters in favor of legalizing marijuana, the initiative may very well have passed. Unfortunately, organizers failed to collect the requisite number of signatures to get it on the ballot, and infighting within the drug policy reform community over the wording of the initiative -- the ACLU of Washington wanted it to say more about how to regulate pot post-legalization -- deprived it of some of the institutional it needed to get over the top.

Organizers hope to avoid those problems the next time around. And they say the issue's "just too urgent to wait until it’s a sure thing," with marijuana arrests in Seattle on the rise this year despite a vow from the city attorney to not prosecute any non-violent marijuana users.

"We all know the terrible toll of marijuana prohibition -- 15,000 arrests in Washington every year, $100 million-plus of tax dollars wasted, dying medical patients being prosecuted for medical use, organ transplants denied to legitimate medical cannabis patients, people losing their children," Hiatt and Steinborn write. "We lawyers see the dark side of prohibition in our work." And while they no doubt applaud Rep. Dickerson's efforts, they won't be waiting around for any politicians to do what's right.

By Charles Davis, Change.org - Wednesday, December 8 2010
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LetsToastToToast · Dec 11, 2010

yeahhh :d!

MellowViper · Dec 14, 2010

hurray

Nocturnes · Dec 15, 2010

Im already packed up!

lunarverse · Dec 27, 2010

Forgot to post this last week, it's a new billboard in Washington state, I'm not sure how many there are. Nice to see though.

slappyman · Dec 27, 2010

I'm happy for all the folks out west, but we really need to move the fight to the southeast. We need a break thru state in this area.

Lostthoughts · Dec 27, 2010

It`s happening soon..

(also, I love the billboard)

lunarverse · Dec 27, 2010

slappyman said:

I'm happy for all the folks out west, but we really need to move the fight to the southeast. We need a break thru state in this area.
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Not to rain on your parade, but Florida would/will likely be the last place legalization would/will ever happen. But you're right, it would be nice to see more effort/more desire for legalization in the east. I don't think the issue is less pressing or less popular in the east, I think it's just more suppressed.

broony · Dec 27, 2010

I hope this passes, its hard to say though. I've lived in WA almost all my life and where i have been outside its the same problem that most states, nations, have.

The government makes too much money off bullshit allegations.

The general population could care less about herb, except some fundamentalist christians. Its just fighting the regime thats difficult.

If it wasn't for certain individuals making money off of the publics own "fault". It would be legal everywhere.

money is the problem of fucking everything world wide

skip · Dec 28, 2010

The general population could care less about herb, except some fundamentalist christians. Its just fighting the regime thats difficult.
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Here's an idea for Florida. Get the old retirees to learn more about cannabis. Here in CA, it seems half the people who use MMJ are retired folks, so naturally Florida would be one of the best markets for it.

Someone just needs to explain to them how much healthier and happier they could be by foregoing some of their prescription meds for cannabis. They need a ROLE MODEL. Someone older, who is wise and respected. Someone like LARRY KING, perhaps!

That is all that is needed to change the tide towards legalization across the country...

lunarverse · Dec 28, 2010

Skip said:

Here's an idea for Florida. Get the old retirees to learn more about cannabis. Here in CA, it seems half the people who use MMJ are retired folks, so naturally Florida would be one of the best markets for it.

Someone just needs to explain to them how much healthier and happier they could be by foregoing some of their prescription meds for cannabis. They need a ROLE MODEL. Someone older, who is wise and respected. Someone like LARRY KING, perhaps!
That is all that is needed to change the tide towards legalization across the country...
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Perhaps someone like say, Ron Paul? The man speaks the truth!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjtL1xvcleA"]YouTube - RON PAUL RIPS INTO THE MARIJUANA BULL!

slappyman · Dec 28, 2010

In reality it would seem alot of the older folks are all for legalizing medical marijuana, at least according to polls in the Miami Herald but the way things are rigged down here we would need close to 800,000 signatures to get it on the ballot and our state representatives seem only to be concerned with making laws stricter. Hell, anything over 20 grams is a felony.

Who knows, as much as I dislike the man, Pat Robertson's statement about cannabis might help down here. We have a group working hard down here to get a bill on the ballet but as much as I support them, they aren't getting much outside help and I'm afraid the image they project scares the older population.

Myself, I'll keep spreading the word, and as has been pointed out to me, I've stopped using the word marijuana and talk about cannabis instead which has at least had the affect that people don't just turn around and walk away, but I still find alot of people won't sign their name to a petition that includes the word marijuana, like they'll be put on some secret list or something.

skip · Dec 28, 2010

but I still find alot of people won't sign their name to a petition that includes the word marijuana, like they'll be put on some secret list or something.
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Well we're all on a list somewhere, but if you call "secret" something that 3 million people have access to, then you're mistaken. Ask Bradley Manning. He probably had access to a list you're on.

slappyman · Dec 29, 2010

Yeah, I'm probably on several by now, lol

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