This current state legislative session has been a doozie. Not only has the state legalized same-sex marriage, but it will also offer voters their first chance to legalize marijuana for recreational use.
Initiative 502, which was, in part, based on legislation backed by Magnolia and Queen Anne lawmakers Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson and Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, will hit ballots this November, and could turn marijuana into the state’s new version of alcohol. I-502 is a comprehensive, statewide proposal that would legalize, regulate and tax marijuana. The herb would be grown, processed and sold entirely within Washington state by private entrepreneurs who would be licensed and overseen by the state Liquor Control Board.
I-502 would authorize sales of up to 1 ounce to adults age 21 and older, legalizing possession in that same amount.
While major supporters of the initiative include state senators, U.S. and city attorneys and some law-enforcement officers, I-502 has a surprising opponent: the medicinal users and dispensaries.
Though it would seem like an initiative supporting the legalization of marijuana would be popular in the medical marijuana (MMJ) community, I-502 contains a particular clause referring to driving under the influence of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) that has this group concerned.
Elliot, known as ‘El’ (he refused to provide his last name), is the owner of The Medical Connection, a MMJ dispensary in the Greenwood area. He said that he not only worries about I-502’s DUI (driving under the influence) implications for his patients but also what state control will do to his business.
“I’m definitely not for people driving around stoned and smoking in their vehicles, but at the same time, I want to make sure it’s a reasonable amount of allowed intoxication for my patients’ sake,” he said. “I want what’s best for the patients, and I’m not so sure that [I-]502 is what’s best for them. I think the government should let the growers that have the experience growing herb, do it.”
El is not alone in his concerns, and although initiative sponsors have done their best to alleviate the worries of the MMJ community, they have also crafted the initiative in a manner that is most likely to appeal to the general public.
One thing remains certain: Should the initiative pass this November, it will take the state Liquor Control Board some time to figure out the best system for everyone involved.
Equating marijuana to alcohol?
In recent years, 16 states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana, including Washington, Oregon and California.
Federally, it is still considered a felony to possess or distribute marijuana, regardless of medical status.
Current Washington law still classifies possession of marijuana as a misdemeanor for any amount under 40 grams, and a felony for any amount more than 40 grams. Sale and cultivation is always considered a felony here, though MMJ dispensaries were deemed legal in Washington state in 1998.
Seattle City Attorney Peter Holmes said that this lack of clarity has left the issue murky, with prosecutions subject to the good graces of both the federal and state governments.
In 2003, Seattle voters passed Initiative 75, requesting that the city stop using funds to prosecute marijuana-possession cases and instead focus on DUIs and violent crimes.
“Even though I-75 was passed six years earlier, I was the first city attorney to actually decide to stop prosecuting possession cases,” Holmes said. “That’s purely a matter of prosecutorial discretion. The law hadn’t changed; I simply said that we were going to listen to the voters and not prosecute any more of these arrests referred to our office.”
Holmes, a major supporter of ending marijuana prohibition, said that, much like alcohol prohibition in the 1920s, criminalizing marijuana today has become the abject failure of the war on drugs.
“[I-]502 recognizes prohibition is simply wrong-headed government regulation. It doesn’t work; it’s a waste of money. It impacts our communities with drug cartels and gangs, and it deprives state and federal jurisdictions of lots of revenue.”
Kohl-Welles, who has worked for years to help develop many of the laws around the medical marijuana issue, agreed with Holmes: “We allow possession of alcohol and of tobacco products without imposing criminal penalties, and the evidence is becoming increasingly clear that marijuana should not be classified as an illegal, illicit drug.”
Because marijuana is currently illegal, most of the product in Washington state available to the general public comes in from the Mexican cartels. I-502 argues that by legalizing sales and working out a competitive market price, the state could effectively end cartel business in Washington. But Holmes admits that it won’t happen over night.
“Our whole focus will need to be finding the price that will undercut the cartels,” he said. “What is the price at which no one in their right mind would think about going and buying from a drug dealer on the corner, when they can go to a state-licensed store and be assured of purity, pricing and legality?”
Supporters also argue that allowing marijuana to become a state-run commodity will create government revenue that is desperately needed during these tough economic times.
Kohl-Welles said that excise taxes added to the sale of marijuana could fund state programs that are desperately lacking right now, including drug treatment and prevention programs.
Holmes also pointed out that criminalizing marijuana has led to a social-justice issue, filling Washington’s — and the country’s — jails with nonviolent offenders: “The United States is the No. 1 jailer-nation on the planet. We incarcerate more of our citizens than any other nation. The majority of those inmates are there for low-level drug offenses.”
More accessible to minors?
But what about minors? Will the legalization of marijuana lead to an increase in underage usage? Both supporters and opponents of the initiative say no. Both sides anticipate a stricter regulation system if legalization occurs — a system that currently does not exist since the business is illegal and run by cartels and gangs.
El said that almost everyone he sells to are over age 35 and victims of chronic pain, and that he does not see a lot of young people buying marijuana from legal MMJ shops.
“I know there’s a lot of misconceptions that the younger people who are not sick are going and getting MMJ cards and using them as a way to buy marijuana,” he said. “But the real truth — from a person who does this day after day — is that I see nothing but adults in pain.”
El admitted that some dispensaries are operating illegally by selling to minors and those without legitimate medical authorization, but he added that legalizing marijuana would likely create a system of regulation that protected minors.
Kohl-Welles said that as long as what is contained in the initiative is actually enforced, she does not foresee a spike in minor usage. She said that monitoring and regulation from the state Liquor Control Board would decrease the availability to minors, especially as cartel business was removed from the equation.
But she admitted that no one can know exactly how the initiative will affect availability: “That’s the intention of the initiative, but I also have to add that we don’t know for certain.”
Holmes reminded voters that with cartels running the business, there is no effort to avoid selling to minors: “We really can’t do worse than what the status quo is doing; we can only do better.”
Unlikely opposition
So if I-502 is fighting to legalize marijuana, then why isn’t the MMJ community thrilled?
With dispensaries concerned with how the state will choose who it licenses and medical users wanting to know how a DUI portion of the initiative will affect them, the MMJ community has become the biggest opponent of I-502 in its current form.
El said that he is worried that if the state takes over marijuana sales, he will either be forced to shut down or will be forced to carry a lesser quality of product.
“Is the state really going to be able to produce the high-quality product and all the varieties of that: cough medicine, teas, organic banana bread? Can they really fill the demand there’s going to be in the medical community, or are they just doing what’s in the best interest of state-sanctioned stores? Charging their extra tax and making extra money off people who are sick and are just trying to get quality medicine in the easiest possible manner?”
El also commented on the long distances that his patients might need to travel just to reach a state-run marijuana store, pointing out that the nearest liquor store to his shop is several miles away. He said that he has patients who live in the government housing across from his building, who come to his store in wheelchairs.
Holmes said that the initiative is trying to find ways to make sure that patients still have adequate access and that retail stores will not be state-run, only state-licensed. He added that private entrepreneurs will own the shops, just as they do now.
But El and other local dispensaries remain skeptical. “There’s a lot of red tape I’m worried about,” El said.
The biggest concern for the MMJ community stems from the DUI portion of I-502, which states that if a person is pulled over for erratic driving and the officer has probable cause, the driver can issue a blood test for THC levels. I-502 currently sets legal THC limits at 5 nanograms per milliliter of blood.
Holmes said that I-502 errs on the side of public safety and has set the current limit based on medical studies done relating to active THC levels in patients. But a recent letter from Dr. Richard Bayer, a board-certified internist, cited a study from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that states that actual effects of impairment based on specific THC levels are difficult to establish.
Bayer and several other marijuana activists urged initiative sponsors to reconsider this portion of the law.
But Holmes said that driving under the influence of any substance that impairs judgment needs to be regulated. He added that while the initial I-502 sets certain limits, the state Liquor Control Board would work to amend any sections that need fixing after the bill is enacted.
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