Activists have filed a ballot initiative that would authorize marijuana possession in Washington state. Sponsors include two Seattle and the director of Seattle’s annual Hempfest. Backers of the measure would have to collect more than 241,000 signatures to put the question before voters in November.
Douglas Hiatt, a lawyer who represents medical marijuana patients, told The Associated Press after filing the initiative Monday the proposal would remove all state penalties for pot possession by adults. Criminal penalties for juvenile possession and for providing the drug to juveniles would remain. Marijuana would still be illegal under federal law.
Mike McGinn, Seattle’s new mayor, has said he thinks marijuana should be legalized. State attorney general Rob McKenna is against the idea.
Doug Hiatt and Jeff Steinborn are both NORML Legal Committee attorneys dedicated to ending prohibition in Washington. They could use the help of citizen activists like you. If you live in the Seattle / Tacoma / Olympia area, please send me an email at stash@norml.org if you’d like to be involved in reforming Washington NORML. With both a legalization bill and initiative in the running this year, there has been no better time to become NORML!
Loading ...
Windy, Please visit http://www.wamjlawreform for info about WA Marijuana Law Reform.
you can also get the details of I-1068 @ http://www.sensiblewashington.org
Please post the info on how to contact the sponsors of this initiative so that I can obtain a petition so I can sign it myself and gather signatures of others.
Wow, either way they will have it, got to love the voter initiative, thats the one thing we are missing in the rest of the country. States like mine we have no say in what laws get passed or not, only through legislators can anything be done and we all know how long and difficult that can be. Just a minor few can hold up a bill or law for years and then every year it has to start all over and can be held up at any point.
We need the west because they will set the stage for federal change, once the feds stay out of states then its only time that we will have to fight to free the rest of the states! So thank you WA, CA, OR all of them for pushing this issue and putting it to the people for a vote.