The movement to legalize marijuana gained more momentum this week with a nod from the King County Sheriff and another $1 million in donations, the Seattle Times is reporting.
Steve Strachan, who is running for election, told the Times Monday he would vote for Initiative 502, which would “bring clarity” to the conflicting state and federal laws regarding marijuana. “I think the current situation is bad for the rule of law, bad for the criminal justice system and and it sends a bad message to our kids.”
Strachan also said as a former school resource officer, he knows that marijuana is easier for kids to get than alcohol.
“With alcohol being highly regulated, we’re able to have a more reasonable discussion about it, in societies and in our families. If we treat marijuana like people are already informally treating it, you can make choices based on boundaries set by parents… (Currently) people are sort of winking at it. It lives it this kind of limbo –- its illegal, but also not. I think discussions will lead to better outcomes than the really ambiguous, confusing messages we’re sending to our kids.”
Strachan’s opponent, longtime Sheriff’s spokesman John Urquhart, has also endorsed I-502.
According to the Secretary of State office’s website, I-502 would license and regulate marijuana production, distribution, and possession for persons over 21; remove state-law criminal and civil penalties for activities that it authorizes; tax marijuana sales; and earmark marijuana-related revenues.
The effort to legalize marijuana also received an influx of money last week. With his $670,000 donation, Peter Lewis, the Progressive Insurance founder and marijuana-legalization advocate, has given $1.55 million to the cause, which has raised a total of nearly $4 million, the Times said.
The only organized opposition to I-502 is by a group of medical marijuana patients and retailers. No on 502 has raised $5,760.
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Now that both candidates for King County Sheriff have endorsed I-502, are you more or less likely to support the measure? Which way will you vote? Tell us in comments.
By voting against legalization (unless you have a specific problem with a particular aspect of the legalization initiative's language), you are essentially telling the children of your state that you'd rather leave the multi-billion dollar a year marijuana industry in the hands of people who will not ask them for I.D. Whether you approve of marijuana use for yourself or your children personally is irrelevant to the cause of overall freedom in our society for adults. People are legally allowed to abort unborn children, gamble away their children's college funds, smoke tobacco, drink alcohol, view pornography, and let themselves or their children become obese. Don't talk about responsibility or moderation. And THAT is from the Vocal Citizen. @VocalCitizen
Another point: Testing for THC within 28 days of using marijuana will come up positive. The human body has cannabinoid receptors, to which marijuana compounds adhere. Our bodies were designed (by nature or God, take your pick) to ingest and process this substance. Alcohol, prescription pills, cocaine, heroin, meth... these are poisons to the human body and are, therefore, flushed quickly from the system. There is a mountain of scientific and medical evidence which supports legalization and adult use of marijuana, both for recreational and medicinal use. I encourage you to educate yourselves.
1. I thought "medical marijuana" was for terminally ill cancer patients. By looking at the crowd attendance from Hemp Day in Seattle, we must have an overabundance of terminally ill people in our state. Can someone tell me what are the typical medical conditions a person has to have in order to get a prescription? 2. If we lowered the THC level in the legalized marijuana, would this lower the demand? If the regulated THC level is lowered and it comes in a pill form (not a social/party drug - think of if you made fondue into a pill, it takes the fun away), I would think a demand would be created for bootleg mj that is laced with "better" stuff than what the government regulates. How would regulating mj solve this problem?
Of course I don't know everything about it. who does? I have however worked with numerous clients who were trying to get off of marijuana. I've also worked with people who were having a lot of problems because of their marijuana use and didn't want to get off of it because they were emotionally and physically dependent upon it. It causes serious problems for people, and for the people whom they live with or work for. I'm all for making things easier and better for our police officers. But legalizing pot will not reach that goal. It will make things worse for police and society.
I agree that MJ is a gateway drug, but not to crack and heroin. Because of the government laws, it has become a gateway to criminal behavior and associations with organized criminals. Legalization would end that relationship.
If you want to know what medical conditions qualify, check the state website. I have seizure disorder. I used to take depakote (divalproex sodium). It made me physically, emotionally and mentally (cognition, wit, vocabulary, personality) ill. I am off the depakote, smoke pot, and all faculties have returned. I no longer suffer tremors or seizures as I did with the 'medicine'. MJ is not addictive, though some with dependency prone personalities will find and hold on to any available 'crutch'. Coffee is worse, as are cigs and alcohol. The addiction to those substances is real, both physically and mentally. Pot is not. Those drugs can kill you. Pot can heal you, and you can't overdose, per se. Studies show drivers under moderate influence are actually safer than most. They stay off the cell and drive more defensively, making up the statistical difference. Such studies are limited in # and more are is needed.
MJ does impaire short-term memory somewhat, and if used all the time may thus impair long-term memory. However, when used in moderation, it can improve powers of association. That, of course, leads to new insights we may not otherwise achieve. Music, art, all creative thinking is improved with a smaller amount. Take too much and you might just end up stoned and fat... but at least you had fun. Given the criminal element and the economics that result from our federal government's decision to place MJ as a category 1 (drug), we should be either laughing or crying. I just not sure which; maybe both. Does anybody remember 'Reefer Madness'? We have been smoking pot in America as medicine, ritual, religion, and recreation since time immemorial. This 'wayward stray' will not, and should not, last the test of time.