Pubdate: Mon, 10 Dec 2012
Source: Washington Times (DC)
Copyright: 2012 The Washington Times, LLC.
Contact:  http://www.washingtontimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/492

AMERICA GOES TO POT

Marijuana Is Growing Mainstream

Legal prohibition against marijuana is going up
in smoke. Cops in Seattle now look the other way
when potheads puff in public because Washington
has become the first state in the nation to
decriminalize the possession of marijuana. Voters
in the Evergreen State approved Initiative 502 on
Nov. 6. The age of cannabis arrived on Dec. 6 as the new law took effect.

=93Legalize it=94 campaigners celebrated Thursday by
gathering by the dozens at Seattle's Space Needle
to light up at the stroke of midnight. The law
allows anyone 21 years or older to possess up to
an ounce of weed, but only for use indoors.
Colorado passed a similar ballot measure, which
took effect yesterday when Gov. John Hickenlooper signed it into law.

Seattle police officers were instructed to keep
their distance and refrain from issuing $100
tickets to anyone caught smoking ganja in public
=AD at least for now. =93[I]n keeping with the spirit
of I-502, the department's going to give you a
generous grace period to help you adjust to this
brave, new, and maybe kinda stoned world we live
in,=94 wrote Seattle Police Department spokesman
Jonah Spangethal-Lee on the department's online blotter.

Though the state may have lifted its constraints
from recreational pot use, a stoner still faces
enough legal anomalies to make his head spin.
Selling the stuff remains illegal in Washington,
leaving pot smokers in the awkward position of
having to do business with criminals in order to
procure a no-longer illegal product. State
officials hope to remedy the problem by
establishing a system for licensing pot growers
and sellers, but the process could take a year. In the meantime, buyer
 beware.

Businesses in Washington and Colorado must also
figure out how to straighten the twisted logic of
maintaining a drug-free workplace in places where
drug use is legal. =93There's just an incredible
amount of gray right now=94 about how marijuana
legalization affects employers, Sandra Hagen
Solin of the Northern Colorado Legislative
Alliance, a coalition of chambers of commerce, told The Associated Press.

Authorities shouldn't count on much help from the
feds. The day before Washington's new pot law
took effect, the Justice Department issued a
statement reminding Americans, =93Regardless of any
changes in state law, including the change that
will go into effect on Dec. 6 in Washington
State, growing, selling or possessing any amount
of marijuana remains illegal under federal law.=94
The warning is unlikely to prompt much paranoia
among users because Justice has been blinking
since 1996, when California became the first
among 20 states and the District of Columbia to
sanction marijuana use for =93medical purposes.=94

The counterculture, now as mainstream as the `60s
mantra of =93sex, drugs and rock `n' roll,=94 has
been written into federal code. Rock music
achieved respectability decades ago. The
Obamacare mandate that employers provide
contraception coverage at no cost will soon
ensure that free sex is indeed free. Now pot has
cracked the barrier of acceptability. As =93just
say no=94 to drugs fades into history, Americans
must face the consequences of saying yes.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom