Stupid measure in Wash st to tax and regulate weed

[ginscpy]

When half of the pot-heads are against it - you know it is a bad measure.

And even if it does pass - the feds will be all over it.

Predict it will go down - and be the last measure for quite sometime to legalize any drugs.

 

[HUGGY]

Donations to this measure are around five million to pass and around five thousand against.

Most of the money is coming from out of state. SOMEBODY... Soros, Rick Steves, and another guy that spent over 3 million combined is obviously trying to build a test case for legalizing drugs.

They have a pretty respectable lineup of heavy hitters from law enforcement and the us attourneys office in the ads.

I had to laugh when the poor guys against it said they only had $5,000 in donations.. The dude looked beat down and about to cry.

In the past the money to push back on these types of laws has been huge. Where are the anti drug people on this?

This thing will most likely pass here in Washington and at least pot laws will go the way of gambling laws because of the percieved new bountiful revenue stream and job creation it promises.

 

[ginscpy]

Steves is a commie

 

[HUGGY]

End Cannabis Prohibition!
September 29, 2012

Cannabis prohibition has failed. It’s time we take a sensible approach to our cannabis policies, and legalize it for adults.

As we move forward in preparation of our 2013 initiative, here are some key reasons why we should re-legalize cannabis:

- Cannabis prohibition has inflated our prison populations with nonviolent individuals. Many have heard this statistic before, but it’s a powerful one: as a nation we possess 5% of the world’s population, yet harbor 25% of the world’s prisoners. The failed war on drugs (which has primarily been a war on cannabis) plays a large part in this.

- Without full legalization the black-market will continue to thrive, financially benefiting criminal organizations, and further endangering public safety. This dangerous black-market has fueled violent crime throughout the country, and many of the most dangerous criminal syndicates get a majority of their profit from the illegal cannabis market. For example, Mexican drug cartels, which have been responsible for tens of thousands of deaths in recent years, gain roughly 60% of their profit from U.S. marijuana sales.

- Cannabis is a multi-billion dollar industry. One of the top cash crops in our country. Legalization would bring a substantial and worthy revenue boost at a time when we could desperately use it.

- Legalization would create jobs. If we legalize one of the top cash crops in the country – one that for decades has benefited the black-market – we’ll legitimatize an industry that will quickly generate tens of thousands of jobs throughout the state and nation. Medical cannabis has already created thousands of jobs throughout the country, yet these workers are subject to arrest working at locations that are allowed under state law. Our national job market isn’t strong enough to ignore what will surely be an expansive new industry.

- Prohibition disproportionately affects minorities. Studies consistently show this to be true. For example, according to past reports, African-Americans and Hispanics make up 20% of cannabis consumers in the country, yet comprise nearly 60% of those sentenced under federal law. Further reports show that African-Americans are 2.5 times more likely to be arrested for a marijuana offense than someone who’s white, and 8 times more likely to go to jail for a drug offense.

- Cannabis prohibition ruins lives. Whether it’s a student losing college loan and grant money, a parent being refused employment or food stamps because of a current or past cannabis related conviction, or a person being sentenced to life in prison, cannabis prohibition consistently destroys the lives of those undeserving of punishment – all over their choice to use a safer alternative to legal substances such as alcohol.

- Cannabis is a vastly beneficial medicine, yet, because of prohibition, we refuse to take full advantage of what this plant has to offer, and we continue to imprison and ruin the lives of medical patients. We need to repeal cannabis prohibition in order to fully protect those who truly need it, and so that we can end the federal blockade on further research.

- An end to cannabis prohibition is an end to hemp prohibition. Hemp is one of the most diverse and useful products on the planet. It’s illegality is a travesty, as is the fact that we import hundreds of millions of dollars of hemp from Canada and China, rather than allowing our farmers to take advantage of this useful crop.

- Cannabis is a non-lethal and therapeutically beneficial substance that adults should have the right to use without fear of criminal prosecution.

- It’s a plant. Outlawing nature in its rawest form should always be seen as unacceptable.

 

[uscitizen]

NC passed a pot tax decades ago.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

When half of the pot-heads are against it - you know it is a bad measure.

And even if it does pass - the feds will be all over it.

Predict it will go down - and be the last measure for quite sometime to legalize any drugs.

What's stupid is people like yourself who haven't learned the lessons of Prohibition. The War on Drugs has done nothing but empowered drug cartels and massively increase the prison population.

As far as the Feds trying to interfere if this law passes, I'm sure they will, but if the marijuana is grown and sold only in Washington where is their Constitutional authority to crack down on it going to come from? They can't use the Commerce Clause.

 

[HUGGY]

NC passed a pot tax decades ago.

NC? Ya..I'm sure that was an honest attempt to legalize and tax pot.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

NC passed a pot tax decades ago.

Pot is not legal here.

 

[Katzndogz]

Pot is the path to winning elections.

Pot Prizes May Have Lured More Eagle Rock Residents To Vote « CBS Los Angeles

EAGLE ROCK (CBSLA.com) — Fliers offering $40 worth of free medical-grade marijuana were reportedly passed out in Eagle Rock to try and draw residents to vote in the local election.

Was the free pot an incentive to get a larger turnout? Politics ranked “high” on resident’s list of priorities. Nearly 10 times as many voters – 792 residents – turned out to the polls during the recent Neighborhood Council elections than last year.

“It’s a little weird that people can’t come out and vote on their own. I see that as a problem, as a social symptom,” Eagle Rock resident Joerael Elliott said.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

NC passed a pot tax decades ago.

Pot is not legal here.

There are pot tax laws on the books in almost every state. It's just a way to doubly charge people - once for selling pot, and again for not collecting the sales tax on it.

For the most part, they're stamp taxes - as in, each baggie of weed you buy should have a tax stamp on it.

 

[whitehall]

You almost gotta laugh. Cigarettes are regulated and taxed to death and they want to sell marijuana to your kids without worrying about being arrested.?

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

You almost gotta laugh. Cigarettes are regulated and taxed to death and they want to sell marijuana to your kids without worrying about being arrested.?

Can you tell me where in the proposed Washington State legislation it says they will be selling marijuana to kids?

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "As if we don't have enough drunks on the road already...

With pot legal, police worry about road safety
November 15, 2012 — It's settled. Pot, at least certain amounts of it, will soon be legal under state laws in Washington and Colorado. Now, officials in both states are trying to figure out how to keep stoned drivers off the road.

Colorado's measure doesn't make any changes to the state's driving-under-the-influence laws, leaving lawmakers and police to worry about its effect on road safety. "We're going to have more impaired drivers," warned John Jackson, police chief in the Denver suburb of Greenwood Village.

Washington's law does change DUI provisions by setting a new blood-test limit for marijuana — a limit police are training to enforce, and which some lawyers are already gearing up to challenge. "We've had decades of studies and experience with alcohol," said Washington State Patrol spokesman Dan Coon. "Marijuana is new, so it's going to take some time to figure out how the courts and prosecutors are going to handle it. But the key is impairment: We will arrest drivers who drive impaired, whether it be drugs or alcohol."

Drugged driving is illegal, and nothing in the measures that Washington and Colorado voters passed this month to tax and regulate the sale of pot for recreational use by adults over 21 changes that. But law enforcement officials wonder about whether the ability to buy or possess marijuana legally will bring about an increase of marijuana users on the roads. Statistics gathered for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration showed that in 2009, a third of fatally injured drivers with known drug test results were positive for drugs other than alcohol. Among randomly stopped weekend nighttime drivers in 2007, more than 16 percent were positive for drugs.

Marijuana can cause dizziness and slowed reaction time, and drivers are more likely to drift and swerve while they're high. Marijuana legalization activists agree people shouldn't smoke and drive. But setting a standard comparable to blood-alcohol limits has sparked intense disagreement, said Betty Aldworth, outreach director for Colorado's Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol. Most convictions for drugged driving currently are based on police observations, followed later by a blood test. "There is not yet a consensus about the standard rate for THC impairment," Aldworth said, referring to the psychoactive chemical in marijuana. Unlike portable breath tests for alcohol, there's no easily available way to determine whether someone is impaired from recent pot use.

MORE

See also:

Seattle police produce a user's guide to pot
November 15, 2012 — When Washington state voters overwhelmingly legalized the recreational use of marijuana on Nov. 6, Seattle police knew they'd be getting a lot of questions.

And while many details surrounding the state's Dec. 6 decriminalization of pot remain, the department didn't shy away from answering what questions it could about Initiative 502, posting a funny, question-and-answer blog that has become a big web hit — having been viewed more than 120,000 times and shared more than 15,000 times on Facebook since it was posted Friday. The result was "Marijwhatnow? A Guide to Legal Marijuana Use In Seattle," by Jonah Spangenthal-Lee, a former journalist who wrote for The Stranger, a weekly alternative newspaper. He was hired by the police department earlier this year.

Here, he and Sgt. Sean Whitcomb, a police spokesman, explain the thinking behind the blog, which included some of these memorable passages:

Q: SPD seized a bunch of my marijuana before I-502 passed. Can I have it back? A: No.

"I just try to write posts I'd want to read," Spangenthal-Lee said, via email. "I knew we were probably going to be inundated with questions about 502, so I figured I'd try to get answers to the kinds of questions Seattle residents (and reporters) might ask, and put them out there."

Q: What happens if I get pulled over and I'm sober, but an officer or his K9 buddy smells the ounce of Super Skunk I've got in my trunk? A: Under state law, officers have to develop probable cause to search a closed or locked container. Each case stands on its own, but the smell of pot alone will not be reason to search a vehicle.

Whitcomb noted that pot cases have not been a priority in Seattle for some time. "This is a city where marijuana possession has been the lowest (enforcement) priority. There's a built-in expectation that Seattle is going to have something to say about it," said Whitcomb, referring to the fact that voters in this liberal city directed police nearly a decade ago to treat adult pot use as its lowest enforcement priority.

More http://cnsnews.com/news/article/seattle-police-produce-users-guide-pot

 

[Katzndogz]

It's like no one thinks that dealers will still be selling untaxed pot!

 

[emilynghiem]

OK so legalize it in states that agree to fund health care with the profits.
To pay for cancer treatment and therapy for the addiction and paranoid personality changes related to marijuana use.

And states that promote spiritual healing instead of marijuana can enjoy reduced costs of health care, because spiritual healing not only cures cases of cancer and other diseases, but also addiction to alchohol, drugs, sex abuse, and other mental and physical illness.

You can either pay to fuel addiction, the same way Big Pharmaceuticals make big money off medications that placate symptoms but never cure the cause of conditions.

Or you can invest in sustainable solutions to health care and criminal issues costing taxpayers millions if not billions, by choosing to cure diseases instead of making money off them. Your choice!

End Cannabis Prohibition!
September 29, 2012

Cannabis prohibition has failed. It’s time we take a sensible approach to our cannabis policies, and legalize it for adults.

As we move forward in preparation of our 2013 initiative, here are some key reasons why we should re-legalize cannabis:

- Cannabis prohibition has inflated our prison populations with nonviolent individuals. Many have heard this statistic before, but it’s a powerful one: as a nation we possess 5% of the world’s population, yet harbor 25% of the world’s prisoners. The failed war on drugs (which has primarily been a war on cannabis) plays a large part in this.

- Without full legalization the black-market will continue to thrive, financially benefiting criminal organizations, and further endangering public safety. This dangerous black-market has fueled violent crime throughout the country, and many of the most dangerous criminal syndicates get a majority of their profit from the illegal cannabis market. For example, Mexican drug cartels, which have been responsible for tens of thousands of deaths in recent years, gain roughly 60% of their profit from U.S. marijuana sales.

- Cannabis is a multi-billion dollar industry. One of the top cash crops in our country. Legalization would bring a substantial and worthy revenue boost at a time when we could desperately use it.

- Legalization would create jobs. If we legalize one of the top cash crops in the country – one that for decades has benefited the black-market – we’ll legitimatize an industry that will quickly generate tens of thousands of jobs throughout the state and nation. Medical cannabis has already created thousands of jobs throughout the country, yet these workers are subject to arrest working at locations that are allowed under state law. Our national job market isn’t strong enough to ignore what will surely be an expansive new industry.

- Prohibition disproportionately affects minorities. Studies consistently show this to be true. For example, according to past reports, African-Americans and Hispanics make up 20% of cannabis consumers in the country, yet comprise nearly 60% of those sentenced under federal law. Further reports show that African-Americans are 2.5 times more likely to be arrested for a marijuana offense than someone who’s white, and 8 times more likely to go to jail for a drug offense.

- Cannabis prohibition ruins lives. Whether it’s a student losing college loan and grant money, a parent being refused employment or food stamps because of a current or past cannabis related conviction, or a person being sentenced to life in prison, cannabis prohibition consistently destroys the lives of those undeserving of punishment – all over their choice to use a safer alternative to legal substances such as alcohol.

- Cannabis is a vastly beneficial medicine, yet, because of prohibition, we refuse to take full advantage of what this plant has to offer, and we continue to imprison and ruin the lives of medical patients. We need to repeal cannabis prohibition in order to fully protect those who truly need it, and so that we can end the federal blockade on further research.

- An end to cannabis prohibition is an end to hemp prohibition. Hemp is one of the most diverse and useful products on the planet. It’s illegality is a travesty, as is the fact that we import hundreds of millions of dollars of hemp from Canada and China, rather than allowing our farmers to take advantage of this useful crop.

- Cannabis is a non-lethal and therapeutically beneficial substance that adults should have the right to use without fear of criminal prosecution.

- It’s a plant. Outlawing nature in its rawest form should always be seen as unacceptable.

P.S. Spiritual healing is also natural, is free and nonaddictive, and cures disease and addiction instead of causing them. Why aren't you lobbying for that equally as for pot?

 

[whitehall]

First of all it isn't "weed", it's marijuana and the issue isn't about regulation, it's about the pipe dream of nut case junkies that they might be able to make a "legal" buck by selling drugs to our kids. At a time when cigarette smoking is so restricted how the hell can we even consider legalizing a smoking substance that is not only as unhealthy but can cause you to kill yourself if you are driving under the influence?

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

First of all it isn't "weed", it's marijuana and the issue isn't about regulation, it's about the pipe dream of nut case junkies that they might be able to make a "legal" buck by selling drugs to our kids.

What state is allowing kids to buy it?

At a time when cigarette smoking is so restricted how the hell can we even consider legalizing a smoking substance that is not only as unhealthy but can cause you to kill yourself if you are driving under the influence?

Like alcohol?

 

[Oddball]

OK so legalize it in states that agree to fund health care with the profits.
To pay for cancer treatment and therapy for the addiction and paranoid personality changes related to marijuana use.

They say that at first in order to get the bills passed or pimp for votes on a ballot initiative, but the money almost always end up getting blown on welfare handouts or other social engineering boondoggles.