Pubdate: Sun, 19 Aug 2012
Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI)
Copyright: 2012 Los Angeles Times
Contact: 
http://www.staradvertiser.com/info/Star-Advertiser_Letter_to_the_Editor.html
Website: http://www.staradvertiser.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5154

LEGALIZATION BILL DIVIDES PAKALOLO PARTIERS

Washington's annual Hempfest - a three-day celebration of pot, bongs 
and hemp bead necklaces that is typically one of Seattle's largest 
festivals - was uncharacteristically worked up Saturday over what 
should have been cause for laidback cheering: a fast-gaining ballot 
initiative to legalize possession of small quantities of marijuana.

Ballot measures to legalize marijuana are sprinting toward the polls 
in three Western states in November. Marijuana supporters say 
Washington's vote on Initiative 502 is important to maintain national 
momentum on an issue that is beginning to see steady gains in popular support.

But the pro-marijuana community here is deeply divided over the 
measure. Beneficiaries of the state's medical marijuana law fear that 
legalizing and regulating pakalolo use would subject pot patients to 
potential arrest under the measure's strict impaired-driving provisions.

The result has been an undercurrent of discord amid the celebratory 
haze on the scenic Seattle waterfront. Dedicated pot proponents find 
themselves amazed to be in opposition.

"I never in a million years imagined myself to be on a stage 
advocating against the passage of a marijuana legalization law," 
Steve Elliott, who writes the "Toke Signals" column for the Seattle 
Weekly, said at a civilized but divided debate on I-502 on the 
"Hemposium" stage.

Legalization measures also are on the ballot in Oregon and Colorado. 
Washington's I-502 would eliminate civil and criminal penalties for 
possession of up to an ounce of marijuana for people 21 years and 
older and set up regulations for the substance to be taxed and sold 
at state-licensed stores.

Its most controversial feature - at least among marijuana proponents 
- - is that it would establish a new driving standard based on a 
definable blood limit for marijuana. This is a stricter regulation 
than the current impaired-driving laws and one that many medical 
marijuana patients believe they would be unable to meet after regular 
medicinal doses.

They fear they might be subject to arrest for driving even days after 
their last marijuana dose.

I-502 has gained substantial mainstream support in liberal western 
Washington, where Seattle's mayor, its city attorney, several members 
of the city council, two former U.S. attorneys and the former special 
agent in charge of the local FBI office have all come out in favor of 
it, along with a number of state legislators.

"Here's what we know: Prohibition has not worked," Mayor Mike McGinn 
told supporters at the festival Saturday.

Keith Stroup, a co-founder of the National Organization for the 
Reform of Marijuana Laws, told the crowd that while the initiative 
was "not perfect," it was important to capitalize on the momentum of 
three recent national polls that have shown 50 percent popular 
support or more nationwide for marijuana law reform. ---
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom