Steep Tax Difference Between Recreational, Medical a Continuing Issue Washington received national attention last fall when voters approved an initiative to legalize, regulate and tax marijuana for adults. Now officials are deciding how this new industry will be regulated. At a public hearing on this Tuesday in Everett, some people asked how the state could have one system for medical marijuana and another system - with separate rules - for recreational marijuana. And with recreational marijuana being taxed - and medical marijuana not - it could mean a steep difference in prices. [continues 488 words]
The State Seeks Input As It Formulates Regulations Governing the Growing, Distribution and Selling of Recreational Pot. The first of five public hearings in Washington on regulating a new system for legally growing, distributing and selling recreational marijuana is scheduled Tuesday in Everett. The hearing begins at 1 p.m. at Everett's Comcast Arena Conference Center. The new statewide system for legalizing marijuana is regulated by Washington's Liquor Control Board. The state agency is responsible for carrying out the legalization of the sale and possession of up to an ounce of marijuana for adults. The proposed regulations spell out the licensing of marijuana producers, processors and retailers and the taxing of marijuana. [continues 240 words]
EBEY ISLAND -- Bruce King has been raising pigs in the Snohomish River Valley for seven years. The land, adjacent to the U.S. 2 trestle, is low, flat and prone to flooding. But it has its benefits. "As a retail place to sell pigs, it's fabulous," King said. Since the passage of the state's initiative to legalize recreational marijuana use for adults, King has been giving serious thought to growing marijuana. King said he's not the only farmer in the area thinking about legally growing pot. "Every single farmer I've talked to has had this thought cross their mind," he said. [continues 478 words]
Families should make clear their rules about marijuana, reminding teens that its use might be legal for adults, but it's a crime for everyone else. Now that marijuana's legal in Washington, parents are faced with a tough job: selling their kids on the concept of "no." No, marijuana's not legal for anyone younger than 21. And some parents may add a second message: No, it's not allowed in our home - ever. Many teens were excited about the recent change in state law that allows adults 21 and older to legally have up to an ounce of marijuana. They probably didn't realize that nothing changes for them, said Dr. Leslie Walker, co-director of the adolescent substance abuse program at Seattle Children's Hospital. [continues 764 words]
Initiative Backers Say Their Priority Was to End Arrests for Possession, and Leave the Details of Regulation to Officials. It sounds so contradictory. It's now legal for adults 21 and older in Washington to possess up to an ounce of pot. They just can't legally buy it, at least not for another year. This seeming Catch-22 of allowing adults to have marijuana, but giving them no legal way to purchase it, has caused some to publicly criticize the way the initiative was drawn up, in essence asking: "What were they thinking?" [continues 606 words]
MUKILTEO -- People started coming into the medical marijuana co-op in Mukilteo on Election Day asking the same question: "Can I buy pot now?" "There's obviously a bit of confusion," said Jeremy Kelsey, owner of the Medical Marijuana Patients Network. His shop only sells to patients who have legal authorization from a doctor or naturopath to use marijuana for specific medical conditions. The questions continued for Kelsey on Wednesday, the day after Washington voters approved Initiative 502, which taxes and legalizes the sale of an ounce or less of marijuana to anyone 21 years or older. [continues 1126 words]
The Edmonds travel expert, a co-sponsor of I-502, has scheduled two stops in Snohomish County to promote the measure. International travel expert Rick Steves will speak at two events in Snohomish County this month, part of an 11-city statewide tour to promote passage of Initiative 502. The initiative would allow people 21 and older to buy an ounce of marijuana from stores regulated and licensed by the state, where it would be taxed at 25 percent. The Snohomish County events are scheduled for noon Oct. 16 at the Everett Station and 7 p.m. Oct. 21 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lynnwood. [continues 238 words]
In an election season when political statements seem laundered and starched and issues carefully calibrated with the "finger in the wind" test, one ballot measure has attracted one of the most unlikely collections of political bedfellows in state history. Initiative 502 would allow people 21 and older to buy an ounce of marijuana from stores regulated and licensed by the state, where it would be taxed at 25 percent. Who would have thought that one of the leading proponents for the initiative would be John McKay, a former U.S. attorney who prosecuted major marijuana cases during his tenure? [continues 1395 words]
With Federal Law Making Possession, Growing or Selling of Marijuana Illegal, It's Likely the Government Will Take Action. If Washington voters approve an initiative legalizing marijuana in November it will set national precedent, ending the decades-long era of drug busts and prosecutions for possessing limited amounts of the drug. The question is: Will voters really decide the issue? Federal law makes it illegal to possess, grow or sell any amount of marijuana. If voters in Colorado and Oregon also approve similar measures this November, it is unlikely the federal government will simply sit on its hands and watch the drug be sold from storefront businesses. [continues 769 words]
Dr. M. Ward Hinds Has Supervised The Snohomish Health District Since 1986. EVERETT - Dr. M. Ward Hinds, the county's top public health official for nearly two decades, announced Tuesday that he will retire in January. His tenure has spanned the height of the AIDS epidemic, threats from bioterrorism following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and preparing the county for a possible worldwide flu outbreak. "There's no perfect time," Hinds said of the timing of his decision to step down as the Snohomish Health District's chief administrator. "There's always something going on - anthrax, smallpox, pandemic flu." [continues 342 words]
Dental Practitioners Find Many Drug Users Are Losing Their Teeth In his early 40s, after several years of heavy methamphetamine use, Carl Mann started losing his teeth. "My teeth didn't abscess or anything," he said. "They would just get loose and come out." By the time he was fitted for full upper and partial lower dentures about a month ago, only 10 teeth remained, five of which were pulled. The rest fell out. "I had a smile only a jack-o'-lantern could love," Mann said, adding that half of his front teeth were missing, likely as the result of smoking meth. [continues 724 words]
Despite the ruling, many patients here say marijuana is still the only medication that seems to help them Rick DeVries was 33 years old when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Four months of chemotherapy often left him so nauseated that the Shoreline resident said he couldn't even keep down water or sport drinks such as Gatorade. In 1998, just months before Washington voters approved an initiative to allow patients with certain conditions to smoke marijuana to relieve their symptoms, DeVries said he was forced to take to the streets to buy $40 baggies of pot. [continues 478 words]
Voters are faced with contradictory opinions on ballot initiative Will marijuana, the unofficial poster child of the war on drugs, get long-sought legal approval for some types of medical uses in Washington? This is the issue voters will decide with Initiative 692, which would allow doctors to recommend, not prescribe, marijuana to patients who may benefit. This includes patients with chemotherapy-related nausea and vomiting, AIDS wasting syndrome due to lack of appetite, anyone with severe muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis and other spasticity disorders, epilepsy, acute or chronic glaucoma and some forms of intractable pain. [continues 731 words]
Students' Responses To Survey Questions Also Show Rise In Cigarettes, Marijuana About a third of Snohomish County high school seniors and about a quarter of area sophomores say they have participated in binge drinking, consuming five or more drinks in one sitting, a survey released Wednesday shows. This means the number of local 10th- and 12th-graders reporting heavy drinking has increased about 4 percentage points since 1995. Questions on alcohol consumption were part of a survey of 9,100 Snohomish County students in the sixth, eighth, 10th and 12th grades that also examined cigarette smoking, violence and marijuana use. [continues 581 words]
Emotional question settled by county with 96 vote to continue the program By SHARON SALYER Herald Writer After hearing from a mother holding a baby who said she was a former drug user and seeing a health care worker display a plastic tub holding 600 used syringes, the Snohomish Health District board voted Tuesday night to indefinitely extend its needle excha nge program. The program allows intravenous drug abusers to exchange used and potentially diseasecarrying needles and syringes for new ones. [continues 111 words]
