Marijuana and Cannabis News
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| Photo: Mike Siegel/Seattle Times |
| Former U.S. Attorney John McKay is sponsoring a drive to legalize marijuana for adults in Washington state. |
The former U.S. Attorney for Seattle who prosecuted "Prince of Pot" Marc Emery said Tuesday that he is sponsoring an initiative to legalize and tax marijuana in Washington state. John McKay, who spent five years enforcing federal drug laws, said he hoped the measure would help "shame Congress" into ending cannabis prohibition nationwide.
McKay, who was fired by the Bush Administration in early 2007, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the laws criminalizing marijuana are destructive because they create a black market fueling international drug cartels and crime rings, reports Gene Johnson.
"That's what drives my concern: The black market fuels the cartels, and that's what allows them to buy the guns they use to kill people," McKay told the AP. "A lot of Americans smoke pot and they're willing to pay for it. I think prohibition is a dumb policy, and there are a lot of line federal prosecutors who share the view that the policy is suspect."
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| Photo: WeedCorner.com |
| Travel host Rick Steves joints former U.S. Attorney John McKay in backing the legalization initiative. |
McKay is joined by Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes, TV travel host/writer and marijuana activist Rick Steves, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington in backing an initiative to the Legislature that would regulate the recreational use of cannabis similarly to how the state treats alcohol.
The measure would legalize marijuana for people over 21, authorize the state Liquor Control Board to regulate and tax it for sale in "standalone stores" (an important point to many cannabis consumers who don't want to frequent liquor stores), and extend driving-under-the-influence laws to marijuana, with blood tests to determine how much of pot's active ingredient is in a driver's blood (a possibly troublesome point, since THC blood levels don't always correlate with impairment, especially with experienced and medicinal users).
Activists would have until the end of 2011 to gather more than 240,000 signatures to get the initiative before the Legislature. Lawmakers could, at that point, either approve it, or allow it to go to the ballot (the more likely outcome).
According to City Attorney Holmes, taxing marijuana would bring the state at least $215 million a year.
McKay told the AP that he had long considered marijuana prohibition a failed policy, but that as U.S. Attorney his job was to enforce federal law, and he "had no problem" doing so. One of the most famous defendants McKay prosecuted was Marc Emery, who fought extradition to the United States after his 2005 arrest, but ended up getting five years in federal prison for selling marijuana seeds to U.S. residents.
"This bill might not be perfect, but it's a good step forward," McKay said. "I think it will eventually shame Congress into action."
Another legalization initiative, I-1149, is still gathering signatures in hopes of making the ballot this November, but some reports are that their all-volunteer effort is badly short of its signature goal.
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51 comments
Regarding conservatives and cannabis, here's one of my favorite quotes from arguably the most influential conservative of the 20th century:
"The anti-marijuana campaign is a cancerous tissue of lies, undermining law enforcement, aggravating the drug problem, DEPRIVING THE SICK OF NEEDED HELP [caps added], and suckering well-intentioned conservatives and countless frightened parents... Narcotics police are an enormous, corrupt international bureaucracy ... and now fund a coterie of researchers who provide them with 'scientific support' ... fanatics who distort the legitimate research of others."
--William F. Buckley, Commentary in The National Review, April 29, 1983, p. 495
I applaud John McKay for having the courage to take such a strong public stance, and I would be really impressed if he had the courage to also advocate for releasing all cannabis-related inmates, including McKaye's main target as a U.S. Attorney, Marc Emery.
The prison system, its lobby and their friends needs a check like this, because it is a serious threat to our Liberty and our National Security that WE have more people incarcerated in the U.S. than any other country in the world. That is entirely unacceptable and this trend of locking up people for no real crimes -- against another -- has ITS "roots in hell."
And one last thing: this is not just about how prohibition fuels gangs, cartels, guns and mass homicides; this is also about the fact that our government deliberately deceived the American public regarding a vital medical and social issue for more than 7 hellish decades, which has played a major part in the gang or cartel-related mass homicides in Mexico.
Like DEA Judge Francis L. Young concluded after one of the most comprehensive studies on cannabis to date:
"Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. By any measure of rational analysis cannabis can be safely used with a supervised routine of medical care...The evidence in this record clearly shows that cannabis has been accepted as capable of relieving the distress from great numbers of very ill people, and doing so with safety under medical supervision. It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for the DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance in light of the evidence in this record.
"Source; In the Matter of Marijuana Rescheduling Petition - September 6, 1988. DEA Docket No. 86-22. Francis L. Young, DEA Administrative Law Judge's Conclusions and Findings of Fact
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steve, we in bama love ur rag dude!! secondly can someone show this to the jerk off holding up our repeal bill please??????
Wolf in sheeps clothing. WTf just happened. So the guy who put away Emery for essentially the same things is now trying to fit that image??
Two steps back....... then take two more steps back.
Hey Buddy you are totally right on it. Well we shouldn't be to hard him........... this is the classic case of relieving his own guilt for the ring of politicians who are doing real drugs and doing illegal activity behind closed doors that actually destroys lives. Atleast he can redeem himself and his corrupt friends by having Marajuana legally in his back pocket to smoke and flush the crack that they smoke down the toilet. I SPEAK THE TRUTH
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It's hard not to get mad at these guys. No one should ever go to prison for pot. This whole thing would go faster if prosecutors and DAs just stopped pursuing marijuana convictions. But that's not gonna happen. So I will be grateful that some people do have a change of heart or of conscience. And at least he's willing to step up and try to change a law he now considers unjust. So Welcome to the fight for cannabis freedom, John McKay. May you find redemption in Victory.
Thats fine and dandy philosophically, but.....first off, settling for and supporting good legislature is two different can o worms.
This law has glaring holes. No established guidelines for consumption proliferation, i.e. what is a, "unsafe in public dose"? So that makes blood tests a violation of most peoples constitutional rights for most proceedings, because as of now with no established guidelines, it all may be probable cause. What is Washington's State's law about probable cause? Because that is where a law like this will backdoor in the shadows. Great concept but the overall language of the bill is FLAWED!
Free Emery!
" the blood test limit for driving under the influence purposes - 5 nanograms of active THC per milliliter of blood - are so strict that most medical marijuana patients would fail even if they hadn't recently medicated."
For all of you who are patients, you may want to read the fine print. Patients who regularly medicate will now be illegal to drive, even though scientific studies done by the government prove that the above numbers do not correlate with driving skills and ability. This will totally screw mmj patients once again, oh thank you so much ACLU, once again you FAIL!!!!
i'm not sure why you think you can drive while medicated now. you can't. in fact, if you have even trace amounts of THC you can be prosecuted for DUI.
I was talking to Ca State Senator Marc Leno, and he says there are impairments tests which can be done rather than blood tests, which would be a better way of determining if someone was able to drive. Perhaps They people behind this Excellent Bill in WA can tweak the bill a little.
What the movement has needed is former lawmakers and law enforcement to come out of the closet and support measure such as these. The time for legalization is here. But the hippie persona is simply not going to make it. We need these mainstream folks to tell everyone else on the conservative side that it's an issue that's OK to support. We can't afford to bite the hand that feeds us AT THIS MOMENT IN TIME. Forget the past. Once legalized, then we can worry about what his hidden agenda may be. Frankly, I bet the legal system is as sick of the cannabis issue as the rest of us are!
Let's get this thing legalized, then use these people to also free those incarcerated.
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And wipe every cannabis offense from all those who have been arrested from their criminal records. They need to clean up the whole mess not just parts of it. The greatest crime has been ever arresting and/or jailing anyone for cannabis.
I believe the state needs to stay out of the selling of cannabis. We all know anything the government does is fucked up in today's world and they play to special interests that aren't necessarily the interests of the people. Just free the goddamned plant and allow any and all to grow it just like tomatoes, basil, corn, lettuce, or any other garden variety of plants.
Its all just one giant cluster fuck for something so simple. If congress would go after Wall Street and other fraudsters the way they go after cannabis users we be much better well off. Our elected officials keep thinking they need to write new laws to prove they are worth their pay, but I believe they need to write less laws and stay the fuck home rather then keep making things worse with their tinkering.
"McKay told the AP that he had long considered marijuana prohibition a failed policy," but that he had "no problem" persecuting and prosecuting marijuana users, I wonder how many of his "no problem" marijuana users are still rotting in prisons as a result of McKay's persecution/prosecution. It's kind of sociopathic behavior to have no problem destroying lives while preaching another tune altogether.
McKay said; " I think prohibition is a dumb policy," which must make him the King of Stupidity, as he was one of the top prohibitionists.
If McKay was pushing for the release of his victims, the ones he had no problem with taking away their freedoms, families, and throwing away the prison door keys, I would be more sympathetic with this government thug.
So perhaps this rabid prohibitionist government terrorist, enemy of individual freedom, has really seen the light. Maybe he really is changing his stance. But once a snake, always a snake. I am skeptical of his motives, perhaps just his ego wanting to make a political career for himself, especially when this criminal shows no remorse for those lives he destroyed, and continues to destroy as a result of his "no problem" persecutions.
If this snake actually does some good and shows some feelings for the damage he has caused to countless lives,, I will welcome into the fold, Until then, he is just another political psychopathic egotistical predator..
There are many worthy advocates that deserve praise for their anti-prohibitionist efforts, McKay is not one in my book....yet.
I hope he spends as much time trying to get Marc out now, as he did throwing him behind bars, then.
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About time these politicians start thinking right. Legalize pot, Tax it which translates to.....a dramtic drop in use of Heroin, Ecstacy,Ice, Cocaine, and abuse of medical pills which would guess what? Save lives. Cigarrettes and Alchohol kill more people than all the disease in the world combined. The nearly 150,000 people in our American prisons who are there for posession of Marajuana do become animals once they are caught up in the prison system. Believe me the people who I see on Marajuana are not running through the streets stealing purses, and comitting crimes. Let's lock up the real criminals and save ourselves some tax Money by keeping people who are caught with Marajuana out of jail. Legalizing pot makes all the sense in the world. There would not be a single starving Child in America from all the tax profits America would make. OOPS I forgot the GOVT doesn't want to legalize Marajuana because it is bad for your health and addicting. WOW I am sure glad cigarrettes and alchohol don't happen to fall into this category LOL.................. In any case I don't smoke Marajuana and probably won't even if it becomes legal. I agree with legalizing it because it makes the most sense. It will be legal in 3years or less. Someone out there tell me I am wrong. I Speak The Truth.
you may only be wrong about one thing, the 3 years. im thinking 1.5/ 2 at most. reason being that i have been following this movement for years and i have never ever seen a view of anything gain momentum strength and support in such a short period of time as this. this issue is off the charts with support. God bless the weed and God bless those that are in need off.
Hey how are you? Glad you responded. If you noticed I wrote in 3 years or less that MJ would be legalized.With that bieng said it seems you are very happy that the time is near for legalization of MJ. You are very correct about the momentum that it has gained and your timeframe seems about right. Well I tell you what I don't smoke MJ , but for those who do and treat people with respect and lot's of love who the hell are the politicians who are against it think they are. What they need to do is stop all these wars thats costing us Billions in Taxpayer money and worry about stopping the Dangerous drugs like the new Medical Drugs they pass so quickly and paint it with a beautiful commercial stating severe bleeding, stroke or death may occur while taking this so first consult your Doctor and you have a model person usually pretty good looking for thier age smiling on the commercial and wind blowing through thier hair like its cool. You get my point right? Because they can tax it is the only reason its even on the market. Think of it .... for all the super overpriced medical pills that are on the market MJ probably could cure 30% of those illnesses and do a better job than the pills. Here is the Truth. Legalizing pot would cause atleast 1.5 billion dollars a year less for the pharmasutical industry.................. Think I Speak the Truth
Why is it these people collect a pay check and then after the cash is collected they somehow have a conscious?
"the laws criminalizing marijuana are destructive because they create a black market fueling international drug cartels and crime rings, reports Gene Johnson"
That's because our governors, especially Christine Gregoire, are addicted to tax-free black-market street cash for her and her criminal cabal.
The same people who refuse to take food donations for NEEDY POOR CHILDREN, are the same people who have NO PROBLEM confiscating the valuable property of suspected "cannabis criminals".
Christine Gregoire and the scumbag politicals like her, will do ANYTHING to maintain a lucrative black-market in cannabis.
