Pubdate: Wed, 10 Oct 2012
Source: Daily News, The (Longview, WA)
Copyright: 2012 The Daily News
Contact:  http://www.tdn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2621

PONDERING THE SIDE EFFECTS OF LEGALIZING MARIJUANA

While the Editorial Board of The Daily News has yet to take a 
position on Initiative 502, the Washington ballot measure that would 
legalize recreational - or at least "non-medical" - use of marijuana, 
we met Tuesday with two men who have:

* State Attorney General Rob McKenna, this year's Republican 
candidate for governor.

* Reagan Dunn, a Maple Valley Republican who's attempting to make the 
jump from a seat on the King County Commission into McKenna's current position.

Both the current AG and the wannabe AG are opposed, which might be 
expected of Republicans. Neither of them, however, reached for the 
handy "no way, no how, not at any time" reply.

McKenna said he felt 502 was "bad law" while Dunn outlined a probable 
course of events should Washington become the first state to legalize 
nonregulated use of a substance that remains illegal under federal law.

"As attorney general, I would represent and defend our state law," 
Dunn said. "Clearly, the federal Department of Justice would sue the 
state, maybe immediately. Regardless of who wins the presidential 
election, I'd think you'd see our law challenged."

And we'd all learn more about "dual sovereignty," an exception to our 
legal system's prohibition against double jeopardy that would allow a 
marijuana user or seller who was in full obedience with Washington's 
state law to be charged with a federal crime.

"It would drive up the recreational use of marijuana, there's no way 
around that," McKenna said. "In addition, I think approval of 502 
might set in motion events that could jeopardize the availability of 
medical marijuana, which I do support."

McKenna's opponent, Democrat Jay Inslee, takes a similar position, as 
does current Gov. Chris Gregoire and as does Dunn, who recently had a 
step-father die of cancer.

"He was using marijuana as part of his treatments and said it helped 
him," Dunn said. "I respect that. I also know that we've spent tens 
of millions of dollars trying to warn our children away from tobacco 
and nicotine, and now we'd be pointing them toward marijuana, which 
has four times the tar content."

Washington's marijuana initiative differs from some of the others 
proposed in various states over the last few years in that it has not 
- - as yet - attracted a well-financed and well-organized opposition. 
The most recent polls show about 56 percent of respondents to be in 
favor, which also means it has a realistic chance to gain voter approval.

Should it be adopted, we'd also anticipate challenges from parties 
other than the federal government. Two come immediately to mind:

n Law enforcement agencies. THC, the active psychotropic component of 
marijuana, is currently detectable only by a blood test and the blood 
test isn't much help in determining sobriety - an important 
consideration in a traffic stop.

n Many private businesses - The Daily News being one - screen all 
prospective employees for use of illegal drugs including marijuana. 
If marijuana were a legal substance, Dunn wasn't certain such 
screenings would be legal.

"It's an interesting question," he said. "I really don't know the answer."

Debate, such as we've heard it on this issue, hasn't dealt too much 
with legalities. The first state to move forward on legalization, 
however, is almost certain to wade into some very deep and uncharted 
legal waters.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom