Washington State Dems: "Legalize marijuana"

[kpete]

State Dems: Legalize marijuana


By a 75-43 vote, Washington state Democrats voted Saturday to endorse Initiative 502, which would legalize marijuana with distribution and sales put under control of the Liquor Control Board.

The party’s state committee adopted a resolution claiming that “thousands” of Washington citizens are “arrested, prosecuted and convicted for simple marijuana possession each year, wasting millions of dollars in police, court and jail resources.”

The resolution said legalization would yield the state $215 million each year in much-needed income, with $80 million going to the state general fund and $135 million used for substance abuse control.

Actually, Initiative 502 would break down revenue from marijuana legalization in several ways.
Fifty percent would go to Basic Health Washington, 15 percent to the Department of Social and Health Services for drug abuse treatment, and another 10 percent to DSHS for drug abuse education. Just under 20 percent would go to the general fund and administration


MORE:
http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2011/09/18/state-dems-legalize-marijuana/

[gateley]

1. K&R! I'm proud to be a Washingtonian, and proud to be a Democrat! nt

[marlakay]

2. Got email to work on campaign

and husband says that is all he will do this election cycle. I live in WA state...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. What still needs to happen to see this become law?

And.........good luck with the Feds.

I truly hope Washington State can do this.

[cilla4progress]

4. Oh, man...

I could have issues if this passes! :7

[Rageneau]

5. Will Obama oppose this, or has he learned his lesson?

Obama's administration has been the most anti-legalization presidency in recent memory. Did the loss in New York shake him up enough to realize that he's been on the wrong side of THIS issue, too?

[pokerfan]

6. about time

:bounce:

Obama and the feds will take a dim view of all this, of course, but it's a step in the right direction.

[bluestateguy]

7. And as usual

The measure will lose when all of the curmudgeon old farts vote against it, as well as our current generation of helicopter parents who still have children in the house.

[reggie the dog]

8. helicopter parents will support legalization to protect their kids

what parent would want their kid denied student loans and with a criminal record or possible being raped in jail for cannabis?

[Fumesucker]

9. I don't believe it for a minute..

The helicopter parents will vote in huge numbers to keep cannabis illegal.

Pot is a gateway drug, don't ya know, and if their little perfect children ever get one whiff of pot smoke they'll be meth heads before you can blink twice.

One thing I've learned is that the seventy plus years of propaganda against pot have even convinced people that have smoked it for decades.

[reggie the dog]

10. you forget that many if not most of those helicopter parents

have already smoked weed and a good 20 percent have tried cocaine and know that most people dont develop problems with drug use.

[Fumesucker]

11. Actually no, I didn't forget it, you missed my last paragraph evidently..

"One thing I've learned is that the seventy plus years of propaganda against pot have even convinced people that have smoked it for decades."

[reggie the dog]

12. i was too quick to reply,

indeed you did think of that and take into account that the people will be against their kids doing something they themselves did. we shall see in the long run, my angle is to convince the helicopter parents that jail, arrest, and a criminal record are far worse for their kids than the actual pot is. many helicopter parents do not want their 18 year old kid's future runied due to an arrest record for 1.5 grams of cannabis.