Pubdate: Wed, 07 Nov 2012
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2012 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Jonathan Martin

POT'S LEGAL

State Makes History As Voters Approve I-502

Washington enthusiastically leapt into history Tuesday, becoming the 
first state, with Colorado, to reject federal drug-control policy and 
legalize recreational marijuana use.

Initiative 502 was winning 55 to 45 percent, with support from more 
than half of Washington's counties, rural and urban.

The vote puts Washington and Colorado to the left of the Netherlands 
on marijuana law, and makes them the nexus of a new social experiment 
with uncertain consequences. National and international media watched 
as vote counts rolled into I-502's election-night party in Seattle 
amid jubilant cheers.

"I'm going to go ahead and give my victory speech right now. After 
this I can go sit down and stop shaking," said Alison Holcomb, 
I-502's campaign manager and primary architect.

"Today the state of Washington looked at 75 years of national 
marijuana prohibition and said it is time for a new approach," she said.

As of Dec. 6, it will no longer be illegal for adults 21 and over to 
possess an ounce of marijuana. A new "drugged driving" law for 
marijuana impairment also kicks in then.

Tuesday's vote also begins a yearlong process for the state Liquor 
Control Board to set rules for heavily taxed and regulated sales at 
state-licensed marijuana stores, which are estimated to raise $1.9 
billion in new revenue over five years.

Many legal experts expect the U.S. Justice Department, which remained 
silent during presidential-year politics, to push back and perhaps 
sue to block I-502 based on federal supremacy.

But Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes said Seattle's U.S. Attorney 
Jenny Durkan told him Tuesday the federal government "has no plans, 
except to talk."

Initiative 502 ran a disciplined campaign with a tightly focused 
message, criticizing what it called the failed "war on drugs" without 
endorsing marijuana use itself.

A study, released late in the campaign, found more than 67,000 
arrests for low-level marijuana possession in the past five years in 
Washington, with African Americans and Latinos arrested at widely 
disproportionate rates.

I-502 spent heavily, raising more than $6 million, including more 
than $2 million from Peter B. Lewis of Ohio, chairman of Progressive Insurance.

A broad group of mainstream leaders - including former top federal 
law-enforcement officials, the King County sheriff, the entire 
Seattle City Council, public-health experts, African-American leaders 
and the state labor council - backed the measure. John McKay, U.S. 
attorney in Seattle under the George W. Bush administration, became a 
public face of the campaign.

The initiative faced surprisingly little organized opposition. The 
Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs and a state 
drug-treatment-prevention group were opposed, but did not raise money 
to counter I-502's $2.8 million TV-ad spending in October.

At debates, police and treatment providers predicted I-502 would lead 
to marijuana use, especially among teenagers. "It is a grave social 
injustice to trade the right of a minority to get 'high' for the 
right of youth to grow up drug free," said Derek Franklin, president 
of the drug-treatment group.

The loudest opposition came from some in the medical-marijuana 
industry, who said they feared being ensnared by I-502's DUI law, 
which does not exempt patients.

The DUI law also sets a zero-tolerance level for marijuana for 
drivers under 21, significantly stiffening current law.

Initiative 502 does not change the medical-marijuana law, leading to 
allegations that opposition from the industry was self-serving.

Tuesday's result was quickly hailed by activists such as Keith 
Stroup, founder of the National Organization for the Reform of 
Marijuana Laws. He called I-502 "the single most important thing in 
the marijuana legalization movement in the last 75 years," and 
predicted it will become a template for other states to confront the 
federal ban on marijuana.

"That's exactly what happened at the end of alcohol prohibition. I 
think that's exactly what's going to happen here," Stroup said.

Staff reporter Katherine Long and news researcher Gene Balk contributed.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom