Group In Washington State Still Going For Legalization.

[greenbuddha]

Group in Washington State still thinks 'legalization' has a chance in the next election.

 

Daily Headlines

 

 

FIGHT TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA CONTINUES

by Justin Runquist, (Source:Daily Evergreen)

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10 Nov 2010

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Washington

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Don Skakie Talked About Sensible Washington's Plans to Get Pot Legalization on the Ballot.

 

Students met with a representative of Sensible Washington Monday in Todd Hall 202 to discuss the future of the fight to decriminalize marijuana in Washington.

 

Don Skakie of Sensible Washington told students why I-1068, which would have decriminalized marijuana, failed to make it on the 2010 ballot.

 

"We are going to have no problem getting this thing on the ballot ( for 2011 )," Skakie said. "It's not going to be about getting high this year." Moving forward, the message will be, "It's not cannabis that hurts your kids, it's getting arrested that hurts your kids," he said.

 

Instead of networking the campaign with 286 businesses, Skakie said he would like to network with more than 1,000. He also said Sensible Washington is getting stickers, pins and other marketing materials.

 

Skakie said legal consequences for using marijuana, which he considers a positive alternative to alcohol, need to go. He said thousands of people are incarcerated each year in Washington for marijuana-related charges. This costs taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, Skakie said.

 

Support for I-1068 had a humble beginning, he noted.

 

"We started out with five people and a great idea: stop arresting people for cannabis," Skakie said.

 

From there, Sensible Washington expanded a grassroots movement to acquire enough signatures for the initiative to make it on the ballot.

 

Despite coming up short, Skakie said polls show there is enough public support to pass the initiative next time. He also said Sensible Washington identified mistakes in the campaign to legalize marijuana in California this year.

 

"Well, they were too ambitious," Skakie said. "They wanted legalization, taxation and regulation." In contrast, the Washington initiative would solely decriminalize marijuana, he said. It would leave regulation and taxation up to the government to flesh out.

 

However, it would not set a deadline for regulations to be set in place, he said. It would also not initially establish any regulations for use near schools.

 

Tyler Markwart, senior philosophy major and president of the WSU chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy ( SSDP ), said that could be a problem.

 

"If there's no regulation, you're going to have a lot of people that distribute near pre-schools and elementary schools," Markwart said.

 

Skakie said localities will make sure that does not happen.

 

As it stands, the initiative would decriminalize marijuana for people 18 and older.

 

"You're an adult at 18," Skakie said. "You can go down and buy a gun, you can go down and buy bullets, but I don't know why we're worried about cannabis." Markwart said the age is a problem.

 

"I think the biggest thing is at 18 years old, you're still a senior in high school," he said.

 

Markwart said this allows easier access to marijuana among high school students younger than 18, and there would be a better chance of getting the initiative on the ballot if the age was 19 or 21. He said this was one of the reasons the initiative failed to land a spot on the ballot this year.

 

Many of the students in attendance were from the WSU chapters of SSDP, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws ( NORML ) and Sensible Washington. Skakie said he wanted to reach out to them and harness support for the campaign. He said he appreciated their efforts to gain support for I-1068.

 

Junior agricultural economics major Brady Irwin said he appreciated Skakie's message.

 

"I thought he brought up a lot of good points," Irwin said. "Personally, I would like to see some more regulation attached." Irwin said his main concerns are keeping good people out of jail and making sure those who get in trouble for marijuana use do not lose access to financial aid.

 

Overall, he said the movement to decriminalize marijuana represents legitimate change for Washington. http://www.mapinc.org/norml/v10/n923/a12.htm

 

 

MAP posted-by: Richard Lake

 

 

Share This Article Pubdate: Wed, 10 Nov 2010

 

 

 

[smokeythebear]

"Group in Washington State still thinks 'legalization' has a chance in the next election."

 

 

why wouldn't it have a chance? Just because cali didn't make it dont mean someone else wont be able to be first.

 

would be kick donkey if we made it in 2012! lets go michigan :-)

[greenbuddha]

"Group in Washington State still thinks 'legalization' has a chance in the next election."

 

 

why wouldn't it have a chance? Just because cali didn't make it dont mean someone else wont be able to be first.

 

would be kick donkey if we made it in 2012! lets go michigan :-)

 

Right behind ya with that idea!

 

Let's go Michigan!