Initiative to regulate marijuana on the ballot in Washington state

[MillCreek]

http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2012/01/27/cannabis-initiative-captures-place-on-ballot/


So we will apparently see a ballot measure on marijuana here in Washington.  This will be interesting.

[MicroBalrog]

I-502 would license and regulate distribution of marijuana under supervision of the state Liquor Control Board.  Cannabis would be sold, to those over 21, in marijuana-only state stores.

How would this... work?

I mean to say, doesn't marijuana come in all sorts of types and breeds and sizes, and aren't there various marijuana products made for smoking, inhaling, eating?

How will a state board figure out which kinds to carry? I sort of doubt any people on that board understand marijuana.

[Nick1911]

Good!

[roo_ster]

How would this... work?

I mean to say, doesn't marijuana come in all sorts of types and breeds and sizes, and aren't there various marijuana products made for smoking, inhaling, eating?

How will a state board figure out which kinds to carry? I sort of doubt any people on that board understand marijuana.

Maybe this is their chance to find out!

[charby]

How would this... work?

I mean to say, doesn't marijuana come in all sorts of types and breeds and sizes, and aren't there various marijuana products made for smoking, inhaling, eating?

How will a state board figure out which kinds to carry? I sort of doubt any people on that board understand marijuana.

Holland has it figured out

[Perd Hapley]

I-502 would license and regulate distribution of marijuana under supervision of the state Liquor Control Board.  Cannabis would be sold, to those over 21, in marijuana-only state stores.

Marijuana only? No munchies?    This is why government can't even run a whorehouse.

[French G.]

Yep, state employee training finally got useful. "Dood, I was in training all day!"

-"Wow, sorry, I hate those boring things."

"No man, it was beautiful!"

Come to think of it, given the kind of pinkos that often inhabit state bureaucrat jobs I'm guessing there is plenty of knowledge.

[kgbsquirrel]

How would this... work?

I mean to say, doesn't marijuana come in all sorts of types and breeds and sizes, and aren't there various marijuana products made for smoking, inhaling, eating?

How will a state board figure out which kinds to carry? I sort of doubt any people on that board understand marijuana.

I would imagine that as a liquor store carries many, many different beverages and what not, the marijuana store would likewise be similarly diversified.

[MillCreek]

The interesting thing to me is that we passed an initiative last year allowing for private stores to sell liquor.  So the state liquor stores are going away.  Is this some attempt to save those jobs by selling marijuana instead of alcohol in these stores?

[sumpnz]

I would imagine that as a liquor store carries many, many different beverages and what not, the marijuana store would likewise be similarly diversified.

You obviously haven't spent much time liquor shopping in WA.

[CNYCacher]

In NYS we have liquor stores that are state licensed but not state run, they are privately owned.  They are not allowed to sell anything below a minimum alcohol content.  They have wine and liquor, but no beer.  Beer you can get at any grocery store or gas station, including beer with higher alcohol content than some wines, and even beer with some fruit in it, but you can't buy liquor or wine anywhere but liquor stores.  Liquor stores also can't sell any kind of food or any other products, except incidentals to the consumption of liquor and wine, like flasks, wine glasses, etc, but even that is a recent change.

NYS has a large wine industry and three times we have had bills proposed to allow wine to be sold in grocery stores, and each time they were defeated with a lot of help from liquor store owners.

Damn nutty is what it all is.

[BobR]

It all sounds well and good until the Feds wake up and decide it is time to raid the sellers of the product, like they did a few months ago to the medicinal pot "dispensaries".

bob

[Nick1911]

In NYS we have liquor stores that are state licensed but not state run, they are privately owned.  They are not allowed to sell anything below a minimum alcohol content.  They have wine and liquor, but no beer.  Beer you can get at any grocery store or gas station, including beer with higher alcohol content than some wines, and even beer with some fruit in it, but you can't buy liquor or wine anywhere but liquor stores.  Liquor stores also can't sell any kind of food or any other products, except incidentals to the consumption of liquor and wine, like flasks, wine glasses, etc, but even that is a recent change.

NYS has a large wine industry and three times we have had bills proposed to allow wine to be sold in grocery stores, and each time they were defeated with a lot of help from liquor store owners.

Damn nutty is what it all is.

Mississippi is like this.  I was very confused when I couldn't find beer in a liquor store.  I asked to clerk where the beer was, and he told me I had to buy it at the Kroger across the street.   

I'm use to Kansas.  No blue laws, liquor stores are open late, and beer/wine can be found at QuickTrip and Walmart.

It'll be intesting to see if this bill passes; what fall out this will have on culture, as well as the relationship between states and the feds.

[sumpnz]

When did KS repeal the blue laws?  I seem to recall an inability to buy EtOH in any potable form on Sunday when I lived in Wichta.  Granted that was 12 years ago.

[Stetson]

Colorado has the medical marijuana dispensaries.  They have the foods infused with it (butter, cookies, cakes), and the stuff you smoke.  The stuff you smoke is regulated for quality.  You would have to have a card that allows you to buy from one of these places.  I could get one due to chronic pain but it would ruin my security clearance AND I have no need for the stuff.

My mom is a home care/hospice nurse and some of her patients need it.  One person smokes it, the other uses the butter.  They tell her how it affects their pain and she makes recommendations to the doctors for pain management.  More have used it until the pain was under control via other means (healing, medication balance) and gotten off of it than have stayed on it.

Everyone reacts differently to it.  Some it will help, some will do nothing but sit around and smoke it but they do that anyway, and some don't want anything to do with it.  No one is forced to do it.

[T.O.M.]

This could get really interesting, as it would essentially be the State of Washington selling and the US trying to enforce federal laws by prosecuting state employees.  If the feds want to make a big deal out of it, they go up the chain prosecuting state officials as co-conspirators.  Heck, they may even be able to initiate RICO charges against the state government.  This could really push the issue of federal laws regarding marihuana sale and use.  (Sorry for the spelling, but that's how it is spelled in Ohio law, so that's how I spell it).

Can you imagine the political uproar if the feds executed arrest warrants for Washington state officials based upon this?  Call me crazy, but I kind of hope it goes this way.  Pass me the popcorn...

[41magsnub]

This could get really interesting, as it would essentially be the State of Washington selling and the US trying to enforce federal laws by prosecuting state employees.  If the feds want to make a big deal out of it, they go up the chain prosecuting state officials as co-conspirators.  Heck, they may even be able to initiate RICO charges against the state government.  This could really push the issue of federal laws regarding marihuana sale and use.  (Sorry for the spelling, but that's how it is spelled in Ohio law, so that's how I spell it).

Can you imagine the political uproar if the feds executed arrest warrants for Washington state officials based upon this?  Call me crazy, but I kind of hope it goes this way.  Pass me the popcorn...

Don't laugh...  http://missoulian.com/news/local/dea-inquiries-into-medical-marijuana-industry-include-legislators/article_54b1b528-4a3a-11e1-99bc-001871e3ce6c.html

[Balog]

The possibility of politicians going to federal penitentiary is only one of the many reasons to love this proposal.

[Buzzcook]

Even if this passes it won't be implemented. Obama and the Fed hate marijuana for medical uses, they'll come down on legalization like a ton of bricks.

If the democrats and supposed libertarians in congress would grow a set...never mind.

[De Selby]

I was watching one of those cop shows over the weekend - they had a CO sherriff's office with really, really fat officers raiding a "professional grow" in suburbia.  They were wearing ninja masks and protective gear to handle all of those deadly mary jane plants.  One guy even put on a respirator to move the leaves.

The war on drugs is pure comedy.  Spending money on SWAT teams to stop people from getting high while millions of people are killing themselves legally with alcohol rates in my eyes as one of the dumbest policies in America. 

It'd be more socially useful and less ridiculous for them to spend the DEA's budget and employ its personnel to make higher quality drugs, and to raid people who put out low quality crap.

[RevDisk]

The possibility of politicians going to federal penitentiary is only one of the many reasons to love this proposal.

That would get interesting in a real hurry. On the plus side, some federal agencies would get smacked hard. On the negative side, a lot of people who are doing nothing wrong would be punished.

[longeyes]

The War on Drugs is pure comedy.  Probably true.  But Addict America is pure tragedy, wouldn't you say?  How many Americans can get through the day, much less the night, without jiggling their brains any more?

[Blakenzy]

How many Americans can get through the day, much less the night, without jiggling their brains any more?

Probably only a hand full, or maybe even none. If you are to follow that line of thought you must include ALL drugs, Govt. sanctioned and outlawed. Let's start with the morning special: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YDigBhs9Xg

As far as legalizing the now much derided, feared and ILLEGAL Cannabis, there are faaaaaar worse drugs out there that have squeaky clean legal status and widespread use.

Any law allowing the legal sale of Cannabis must also allow for individuals to grow their own plants, on their own property, for their own personal non-profit consumption with out external interference. Legalizing sale alone through state controlled stores doesn't necessarily free people from oppressive laws that criminalize non violent offenders.

[Nick1911]

Excellent point.  People often forget that almost everyone slams themselves with psychoactive stimulants first thing in the morning 7 days a week.  We have since the industrial revolution.

When in a conversation about "recreational drug use" with some coworkers, none of them though that phrase would include caffeine.  Umm, hello?  That's practically the definition; it's just been redefined by the WoD to mean (currently) illegal substances for most Americans.

[MillCreek]

Come and get my French press from my cold, dead hands.