Pubdate: Wed, 10 Nov 2010
Source: Daily Evergreen, The (Washington State U, WA Edu)
Copyright: 2010 WSU Student Publications Board
Contact:  http://www.dailyevergreen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2843
Author: Justin Runquist
Cited: Sensible Washington http://sensiblewashington.org/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?261 (Cannabis - United States)

FIGHT TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA CONTINUES

Don Skakie Talked About Sensible Washington's Plans to Get Pot 
Legalization on the Ballot.

Students met with a representative of Sensible Washington Monday in 
Todd Hall 202 to discuss the future of the fight to decriminalize 
marijuana in Washington.

Don Skakie of Sensible Washington told students why I-1068, which 
would have decriminalized marijuana, failed to make it on the 2010 ballot.

"We are going to have no problem getting this thing on the ballot 
(for 2011)," Skakie said. "It's not going to be about getting high 
this year." Moving forward, the message will be, "It's not cannabis 
that hurts your kids, it's getting arrested that hurts your kids," he said.

Instead of networking the campaign with 286 businesses, Skakie said 
he would like to network with more than 1,000. He also said Sensible 
Washington is getting stickers, pins and other marketing materials.

Skakie said legal consequences for using marijuana, which he 
considers a positive alternative to alcohol, need to go. He said 
thousands of people are incarcerated each year in Washington for 
marijuana-related charges. This costs taxpayers hundreds of millions 
of dollars, Skakie said.

Support for I-1068 had a humble beginning, he noted.

"We started out with five people and a great idea: stop arresting 
people for cannabis," Skakie said.

 From there, Sensible Washington expanded a grassroots movement to 
acquire enough signatures for the initiative to make it on the ballot.

Despite coming up short, Skakie said polls show there is enough 
public support to pass the initiative next time. He also said 
Sensible Washington identified mistakes in the campaign to legalize 
marijuana in California this year.

"Well, they were too ambitious," Skakie said. "They wanted 
legalization, taxation and regulation." In contrast, the Washington 
initiative would solely decriminalize marijuana, he said. It would 
leave regulation and taxation up to the government to flesh out.

However, it would not set a deadline for regulations to be set in 
place, he said. It would also not initially establish any regulations 
for use near schools.

Tyler Markwart, senior philosophy major and president of the WSU 
chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), said that could 
be a problem.

"If there's no regulation, you're going to have a lot of people that 
distribute near pre-schools and elementary schools," Markwart said.

Skakie said localities will make sure that does not happen.

As it stands, the initiative would decriminalize marijuana for people 
18 and older.

"You're an adult at 18," Skakie said. "You can go down and buy a gun, 
you can go down and buy bullets, but I don't know why we're worried 
about cannabis." Markwart said the age is a problem.

"I think the biggest thing is at 18 years old, you're still a senior 
in high school," he said.

Markwart said this allows easier access to marijuana among high 
school students younger than 18, and there would be a better chance 
of getting the initiative on the ballot if the age was 19 or 21. He 
said this was one of the reasons the initiative failed to land a spot 
on the ballot this year.

Many of the students in attendance were from the WSU chapters of 
SSDP, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws 
(NORML) and Sensible Washington. Skakie said he wanted to reach out 
to them and harness support for the campaign. He said he appreciated 
their efforts to gain support for I-1068.

Junior agricultural economics major Brady Irwin said he appreciated 
Skakie's message.

"I thought he brought up a lot of good points," Irwin said. 
"Personally, I would like to see some more regulation attached." 
Irwin said his main concerns are keeping good people out of jail and 
making sure those who get in trouble for marijuana use do not lose 
access to financial aid.

Overall, he said the movement to decriminalize marijuana represents 
legitimate change for Washington. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake