Pubdate: Sun, 30 Sep 2012
Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
Copyright: 2012 Mcclatchy Newspapers
Contact: http://web.commercialappeal.com/newgo/forms/letters.htm
Website: http://www.commercialappeal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/95
Author: Jonathan Martin

WASHINGTON STATE COULD BE TEST CASE IN POT LEGALIZATION

SEATTLE - In the waning days of a campaign to legalize marijuana in 
California two years ago, all nine ex-directors of the Drug 
Enforcement Administration simultaneously urged Obama officials to 
come out in strong opposition.

The pressure worked: Attorney General Eric Holder declared his office 
would "vigorously enforce" the federal ban on marijuana "even if such 
activities are permitted under state law."

Whether that was a real threat or just posturing is unclear: 
California voters rejected Proposition 19.

The test case instead could be Washington, where voters on Nov. 6 
will decide whether to directly confront the federal ban on marijuana 
and embrace a sprawling plan to legalize, regulate and tax sales at 
state-licensed pot stores.

Speculation on the potential federal blowback is rife.

Would the Obama administration pick a legal fight over states' rights 
to try to block Initiative 502? Would federal prosecutors charge 
marijuana growers and retailers, even if they are authorized by state law?

Or would - as some opponents and supporters predict - federal 
authorities denounce the law but largely leave Washington alone?

The Justice Department won't say. But legal and drug policy experts, 
asked recently to speculate, say any federal response is likely to be 
dictated as much by politics as by law.

Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes, an I-502 supporter who talks 
frequently with federal authorities, thinks the Justice Department 
would back off after "a long, intense, fairly high-level 
conversation" with campaign and state officials.

Since the legalization movement took hold in the 1970s, at least 11 
states - most recently, Rhode Island in 2012 - and several large 
cities have stripped criminal penalties for possession of small 
amounts of marijuana, usually making it an infraction akin to a ticket.

Full legalization has been proposed and rejected by voters in Alaska, 
California and Nevada, and is on the ballot this November in Colorado 
and Oregon.

I-502 is the most comprehensive proposal yet. It legalizes 1 ounce of 
marijuana for people 21 and older, and creates a seed-to-store, 
closed, state-regulated monopoly estimated to raise more than $560 
million in new taxes.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom