Pubdate: Fri, 07 Dec 2012
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2012 Los Angeles Times
Contact: http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/send-a-letter/
Website: http://www.dallasnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117
Page: 10A

TOKERS TAKE IT ALL IN AS POT LAW TAKES EFFECT

SEATTLE - More than 100 hard-core tokers gathered under the Space 
Needle at the stroke of midnight to light one up in celebration of 
Washington state's new marijuana law, which made it legal on Thursday 
for those 21 and older to possess an ounce or less of pot.

Voters in Washington and Colorado approved the nation's first 
recreational marijuana laws in November. The Colorado law doesn't 
take effect until January.

The Washington initiative allows for pot possession, but it's still 
illegal to buy, sell or grow marijuana.

Although smoking publicly remains against the law, that didn't stop 
the bandanna-clad crew puffing on pipes and joints under a chilly 
night sky early Thursday. And it appeared the Seattle Police 
Department was not in the mood to arrest anyone on a night most 
seemed to take as celebratory.

"The Dude abides, and says, 'Take it inside!' " the Police Department 
posted on its police blotter, under a photo of Jeff Bridges in The 
Big Lebowski.

The department issued a bulletin to officers directing them "until 
further notice" to take no enforcement action, other than a verbal 
warning, against those violating the new law, known as Initiative 502.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom