Pubdate: Fri, 07 Dec 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
Page: A1

STATE'S POT ERA LIGHTS UP TO SMOKE, DREAMS, ANGST

Federal Ban Still Casts Haze of Uncertainty

Local Law Enforcement to Take Laissez-Faire Approach

Maybe even a little before 12:01 a.m. Thursday, Washingtonians started
celebrating - on sidewalks, in parks, outside bars and on their own
comfy couches - a new marijuana law that is among the most liberal in
the world.

The festivities culminated with a big, hazy party Thursday night at
Seattle Center, 79 years and a day after the 21st Amendment, repealing
alcohol prohibition, was ratified.

Unlike that repeal, Washington's new law starts with a messy conflict
with the federal ban on marijuana, sure to grow messier once the state
begins licensing marijuana grow farms and retail stores next year.

Until then, this will be "the year of the magical ounce," as one
activist called it. Adults 21 and over can have that much for
recreational use, but until the marijuana stores open, there's nowhere
to legally buy it. Nor is there any legal place to use it, except
behind closed doors.

Late Thursday, a peaceful, happy crowd of about 200 people marked the
historic moment at Seattle Center's International Fountain. Ambers
glowed, and clouds of Dutch Treat, Pez and WMD and other marijuana
strains wisped into the night.

Before the law took effect, Gov. Chris Gregoire had a second
conversation with the Department of Justice about the potential
federal response. The department has given no indication whether it
plans to sue to block Washington's law, or a similar measure in
Colorado that takes effect within a month. Gregoire got no more
clarity this week, said spokesman Cory Curtis.

Locally, Seattle police announced they would not write tickets for
public use of marijuana, which is now equivalent to public drinking.
Police will "give you a generous grace period to help you adjust to
this brave, new, and maybe kinda stoned world we live in," according
to a post on the department's blog.

Other police also appeared to take a laissez-faire approach. "The
people have spoken in a very clear way," said Mercer Island Police
Chief Ed Holmes, who is also president of the Washington Association
of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, which opposed the legalization measure.

"It's not about our personal individual law or set of convictions or
beliefs," he said. "We've sworn to uphold the law of the state, and
the law has changed."

Year of work

Even before the party quiets down, the state has begun a yearlong
process to set rules for the first-of-its-kind, regulated, for-profit
recreational-marijuana market.

The Liquor Control Board is taking public comments until Feb. 10 about
the rules and restrictions needed for a marijuana-grower license.
Similar rule-making is planned for marijuana processor and retailer
licenses.

Despite uncertainty about federal intervention, investors and
businessmen are swarming.

The state estimates Washington's market alone at $1 billion a year,
with 363,000 customers consuming 187,000 pounds of marijuana, all of
which must be grown in the state. Steep sin taxes are projected to
raise $560 million a year.

Jamen Shively, a former Microsoft corporate strategy manager, rang in
legalization at his Bellevue mansion with the launch of his new
gourmet-marijuana retail brand, Diego Pellicer.

He envisions boutique shops dispensing "small quantities to
responsible adults," but said he won't start until he's convinced the
plan is "sufficiently legal," and won't make him a target for federal
agents.

"This is the first moment in U.S. history - and maybe the world's
history - when we know a $50 (billion) to $100 billion market is going
to materialize overnight, for which there does not exist a single
brand," said Shively. He predicted a "river of money" from investors.

Kevin Oliver, executive director of the Washington chapter of NORML,
said his group is researching whether it could open a members-only
lounge he called "an Elks Club of cannabis."

Doing so may conflict with the state indoor-smoking ban, which
protects employees from secondhand smoke.

James Apa, spokesman for Public Health - Seattle & King County, said
staff were still examining the new law. "We're taking a really close
look, but I'm not at a point where we've made a determination on that."

Unmistakable aroma

At midday Thursday, pungent marijuana smoke wafted through Seattle's
high-tech hub in South Lake Union, from no apparent source.

We'll likely need to get used to it. A study of the potential impact
of marijuana legalization in California in 2010 predicted use could
double, bringing it up to the all-time-high consumption rates of the
1970s.

About $44 million of the new marijuana sin taxes in Washington's law
are earmarked for marijuana education and intervention programs. But
that money won't come until state-licensed marijuana stores open next
December, or later.

Derek Franklin, head of a group of substance-abuse treatment
providers, said his group would fight "to keep marijuana from going
the way of cigarettes in the 1950s and becoming a normal part of daily
life in Washington."

The owners of several medical-marijuana dispensaries, which are
unaffected by the new law, reported off-the-street customers demanding
to buy from them, though they lacked medical authorizations.

If they hit the black market instead, they are likely to find it awash
in supply. One experienced local grower, speaking on the condition of
anonymity, said a bumper crop of Northern California-grown marijuana
has flooded the market.

"There's a massive amount of cannabis available, compared to what it
was three months ago," the grower said.

"I'm not breaking any laws!" yelled John Sanders, holding a zip-lock
bag of marijuana over his head at the Seattle Center
celebration.

Sanders, chairman of the Edmonds Community College music department,
brought his 11- and 9-year-old daughters to show them "democracy in
action." He said he wasn't going to smoke marijuana there because
public consumption remains illegal, but brought the baggie to exercise
his new rights.

"I feel way more comfortable telling people now that I'm a marijuana
user," he said, smiling nervously. "I don't have any inhibitions at
all."

The idea of "coming out of the marijuana closet" was repeated at the
celebration. Vivian McPeak, co-founder of Seattle's Hempfest, the
largest marijuana-focused festival in the U.S., took the long view.

"We've lived our entire lives under prohibition, and never known
anything else," McPeak said. "It's a huge quantum shift in thinking. I
think what everybody sees is, if two states go this easily, the entire
wall can come down faster than we thought possible."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt