I-502 for legalization of Marijuana passed in WA

I-502 in Washington state passed, not exactly a model or good bill to pass for legalization and completely flawed. There was another initiative that would have been alot better IMO I-514..

And with Obama re-elected were fucked.. not for the marijuana thing just in general...

I'm in Wa state, and yeah I heard at first I was excited but,I've heard a lot of controversial things about this bill. Was wondering if someone could explain to me exactly how legal this is.
I've heard that its legal to grow, from others that it isn't. That driving on it is a worser offense now, and that cops won't bust you but sherrifs will? Could someone who knows what there talking about explain it to me?
And yeah wasn't so happy about Obama winning aka(one big ass mistake america) LOL, too bad no ron paul
we're fucked

As far as the DUI part does the limit theyve set is real low.. the last time you could have smoked would be a week or so ago and you could still be over there legal limit. esp for those that are medical marijuana patients. from my understanding they can also forcefully take a blood sample just as you can get a DUI and license suspended for not taking a breathalizer for a regular DUI

As far as the growing goes I think there wanting to control that aspect, they wanna have it sold in liquor like stores, overlooked by the alcohol board. heres the problem its still federally illegal and a substance one drug, there is no way they will allow state employs to sell.

I514 would of been the better bill to pass for legalization, but it didnt get onto the ballot. I wonder how Colorados legalization bill read..

This is such a dumb argument IMO I been driving and toking for 4 decades I dont drive like Chong in up and smoke and I don't get pulled over and I have pot leafs all over my clothes.
There has to be a provision for morons that over indulge it can't just be Thunderdome. Humans need rules or its Lord of the Flies!

Sub

I'm mostly worried with this law change that how I am percieved in appearance (long hair to my shoulders etc.) and personality are most likely going to contribute to a cop giving me a DUI. I smoke, and try my best to do it as responsibly as possible even being authorized. But now at the level nanogram given in the law, 5 ng/ml blood is not a standard for anyone that needs to smoke daily for medicinal reason.
And so, with the inherent nature of some cop having a bad day pulls over Stoney McStonerson who didn't toke before driving, I'm still a target for the quota that officer needs to reach that month. "You been smokin' the reefer, boy?" Not recently enough to even matter. I'll just be associated with recreational smokers, no real exceptions. It's kind of a tough blow to take!

what was the previous law in WA if you are busted for driving while stoned? Pretty sure it's less than .5ng and the same reasoning will apply when stopping people for DUID. Seems like a pain in the ass to take someone to the police station and do a blood draw in the "hope" that you might test over .5ng, then getting the AG to prosecute the case.

Kinda silly. Med patients and caregivers still get their same rights, nothing has changed for them. They can still grow and medicate as usual.

Thanks geekmike, that actually puts a little more positive outlook on it for me.

talked to the lawer a lil yesterday and he said the i 502 doesnt affect the medical cannabis community. if thats the case, does that mean we are still going to be able to donate to the dispensary without a state license????? sounds to me like there needs to be some rules set before they put this into affect. i think this is going to appealed or some thing like that just like what happend a few years ago to us....

Sub, what I was trying to get at while I agree with you yes we need rules but I502 gives officers more power. I514 would have legalized it just the same but without the bad aspects of I502. sure there are plenty of people drive high and what not, the point being for those rec. users or esp. medical users the 5 ng is low, and if pulled over and they decide to take a blood draw and the last time you smoked was over a week ago yet your still higher then 5ng do you think it would be right in the assumption that you should still be charged with a DUI? no thats ridiculous, of course your not still high after that long in-between, but according to officers youd still be considered high.

my whole argument is this, everyone was for I502 when there was a better legalization measure -I514- that didnt make it onto the ballot. Everyone says oh it has flaws we can fix them later this is a good start down right path, well no and yes.. By passing this it makes it harder to appeal or change rules within this law being passed. its stupid to say well its really flawed but its a start. The kinks and flaws so to say should be fixed before its even passed. It would be a whole lot better to come up with a really good bill to pass, then it would be to pass a flawed one and say oh we can fix it later when it would be harder to do so.

Im not against the legalization by any means I think we should, I just think we could of passed a better bill or ironed out all the flaws and kinks in I502 that made it not so great before it was passed is all.

BTW does anyone know how Colorados Initiative compares to WA?

Now, all that being said if this turns out being a very good bill being passed in means that officers dont pull over every tom, dick, and harry to try and see if there high just to charge them to make the state more money then yes it would be good. We can only wait and see what happens. I dont know how the selling will work on state level as stated because I dont believe they will allow state employs to sell with it still being federally illegal and still category 1, which really needs to be changed.

Any views on how the selling may work?

and on an unrelated topic congrats to Cali for passing prop 30, with keeping money in schools and not making more cut backs in education which has been a huge problem imo..

Changing the federal stance on cannabis is not possible without first having states step up and say they are sick of the status quo. I live on the east coast and the passage of this law and Amendment 64 give me hope for the future. One day prohibition will be dismantled but wishing for it to disappear completely tomorrow is unrealistic. Believe me it may not seem perfect and there will always be wrinkles to iron out but the positive momentum gained from these two laws passing is monumentally more important than waiting for a perfect legalization bill. It may not be perfect but its a step forward and it passed! Champagne problems out there for you my man, I get nervous trying to even openly discuss legalization with co-workers........even if you are dissatisfied I thank everyone who voted yesterday because you have changed the world!

asublimeutopia said:

Changing the federal stance on cannabis is not possible without first having states step up and say they are sick of the status quo. I live on the east coast and the passage of this law and Amendment 64 give me hope for the future. One day prohibition will be dismantled but wishing for it to disappear completely tomorrow is unrealistic. Believe me it may not seem perfect and there will always be wrinkles to iron out but the positive momentum gained from these two laws passing is monumentally more important than waiting for a perfect legalization bill. It may not be perfect but its a step forward and it passed! Champagne problems out there for you my man, I get nervous trying to even openly discuss legalization with co-workers........even if you are dissatisfied I thank everyone who voted yesterday because you have changed the world!

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I agree with you federal stance on this will not change without the initiative of it first starting at the state level. your completely right and there will of course always be issues to work out. and hopefully this will pave the paths for legalization in more states and the re-categorizing of marijuana from a level 1 substance on the federal level.

I just believe it could have been better written then it was and will be harder to change since already passed compared to making the changes before the pass of the bill. It would not have been very hard at all to make minor changes or to have the other legalization measure I514 on the ballot which I believe was better written. Now we just need more states to follow suit! and work on getting it changed at the federal level..

I'm just hoping this isnt taken advantage of with the way it was written in prosecting more individuals just to gain more money at the state and local levels.

the cost to the state to process a marijuana DUID conviction is far more than the fines that would be received to the state. The state is required to follow these laws, that's kinda the point.

There would need to be some crazy local police conspiracy on pot for this to go down... and that doesn't seem likely. That one dick head cop that decides to try and make a point about a federal law, wont have a job long because he will get his ass handed to him in county and state courts time and time again.

Voter initiatives hold way more weight than senate or judicial law changes.

waiting to see if obama calls off the dogs here in ca after the election. also waiting to see what federal prosecutors have to say regarding the legislative triumphs last night.

Kushking i doubt he'll call the dogs off, and I dont see anything changing federally until the Director of the DEA changes.

Personally I see State's legalizing marijuana for recreational use basically the state saying we're not going to enforce federal law in this instance, because we don't believe it should be illegal. That does not prevent the federal government from stepping in and enforcing federal law. What's been going on is the DEA realizes it's got a budget it needs to work with, and so it's only going after medical marijuana dispensaries that are breaking state law. The question remains how they will feel about your typical liquor stores selling marijuana over the counter in states like Washington and Colorado. If I were Colorado or Washington, what I'd do is not boom the industry just yet. Wait until other states have legalized marijuana and then the DEA will again, have to make a line in the sand with only some of the people selling and/or distributing marijuana being busted, just like they're doing right now. Basically the DEA is doing the jobs of the states enforcing their own laws. If a dispensary breaks state law the DEA steps in and takes care of it. Colorado has some of the strictest and tightest regulations so I honestly think the DEA might actually back off them and focus more on Washington.

snowboarder396 said:

Kushking i doubt he'll call the dogs off, and I dont see anything changing federally until the Director of the DEA changes.

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It really has nothing to do with Obama. He did ask the DEA to back off somewhat, and actually it was the Director that agreed that the DEA needs to, but it was because of public outlash and budget restraints, not really simply because President Obama had asked. It just made President Obama look good by asking the Director of the DEA to back off a little on shutting down medical marijuana dispensaries. That's politics for ya.

Obama just needs to step in and legalize that shit!

Expialidocious said:

It really has nothing to do with Obama. He did ask the DEA to back off somewhat, and actually it was the Director that agreed that the DEA needs to, but it was because of public outlash and budget restraints, not really simply because President Obama had asked. It just made President Obama look good by asking the Director of the DEA to back off a little on shutting down medical marijuana dispensaries. That's politics for ya.

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your missing a big cog in the wheel. the dea enforces @ the behest of the doj. obama appoints the attorney general and gives him directives. obama said in 08, no federal resources for those complicit with state law. obviously not the case with the hard line that local federal prosecutor melinda haag has taken with dispensaries and the mendocino county zip tie program. et all

Obama said he wouldnt interfer at the state levels with medical marijuana however recently he has stated to the affect when questioned why so many dispensaries are being raided he simple gave a half ass answer. I cant remember exactly what it was but he basically stated something along the lines he never did promise anything of the sorts. and its not just the ones that arent following state laws there have been many raids on very compliant dispensaries. and Kushking would be right abouth the attorney general, and it does have to do with an extent of whos in charge such as the director of the DEA and who do they get there orders from? the Department Of Justice... which trickles down from the commander in chief being Obama.

As Kushking mentioned the zip tie program of those dispensaries who are working with the sherrifs department on the local level to make sure they are being compliant are still targeted and hit as well. shit rolls down hill... it all has to start from somewhere and it all comes down from the top.

Raincitycheefergirl420 said:

And yeah wasn't so happy about Obama winning aka(one big ass mistake america) LOL, too bad no ron paul
we're fucked

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Ron Paul wants to re-institute state's rights. This means a lot of really bad things for anyone living outside of California. The things he says sound nice until you get to the nuts and bolts of his policies and their repercussions.

To the OP, I think its great that Washington is taking another step towards legalization, but yeah, it will take a while to get the laws written fairly and thoughtfully.

Also, why all the hyperbole about Obama? You guys sound like Fox News. The world isn't ending, no one is "fucked". Presidents are over-rated anyways, its all about people power. If you're expecting a president to do anything but listen to public opinion and/or donors, you've lost the political battle from the get-go.

Just my 2c