Search Results: new approach washington (123)

New Approach Washington
Former U.S. Attorney John McKay is among the sponsors of a drive to legalize marijuana for adults in Washington state.

Marijuana ‘Legalization’ Effort Features Former U.S. Attorneys and F.B.I. Special Agent in Charge 
New Approach Washington, the committee backing Washington state’s “legalization” ballot measure Initiative 502, will launch its fall media campaign on Thursday, October 11. The campaign will feature two 30-second ads that will air on broadcast and cable television throughout western Washington and Spokane.
“An overwhelming majority of Washington citizens agree that treating marijuana use as a crime has failed,” said Alison Holcomb, campaign director for New Approach Washington.  “Initiative 502, endorsed by law enforcement, public health doctors, and prevention and treatment experts, is a carefully considered, responsible approach to changing course.  We can do better, and our communities deserve it.”

Photo: Douglas Hiatt
Douglas Hiatt: “It is not legalization, and it is going to criminalize patients in this state”

​The New Approach Washington initiative, which has gained financial support and big backers for relaxing Washington state’s marijuana laws, is not real cannabis legalization, according to Seattle-based activist/attorney Douglas Hiatt of Sensible Washington.

“It is not legalization, and it is going to criminalize patients in this state,” Hiatt told Toke of the Town Monday afternoon of New Approach Washington. “They’re using polling to justify their positions, saying we have a ‘nervous public,’ and that we have to win at all costs.”
The New Approach Washington initiative would authorize the Washington State Liquor Control Board to regulate the production and distribution of marijuana for sale to adults 21 and older through state-licensed stores. A new marijuana excise tax would be earmarked for prevention, research, education and health care. State and local retail sales taxes would be directed to the general fund and location budgets.

Photo: Don Skakie
Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes: “Ending marijuana prohibition and focusing on rational regulation and taxation will free up law enforcement resources to combat violent and property crimes, and it will restore respect for government and the law”

​There’s a new move afoot to legalize cannabis in Washington state. The newly formed political action committee New Approach Washington on Wednesday filed an initiative to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana in the state. Sponsoring the measure are prominent civic leaders, along with members of the public health and legal communities.

The initiative would authorize the Washington State Liquor Control Board to regulate the production and distribution of marijuana for sale to adults 21 and older through state-licensed stores. A new marijuana excise tax would be earmarked for prevention, research, education, and health care. State and local retail sales taxes would be directed to the general fund and location budgets.
Unfortunately, the initiative would not allow the cultivation of marijuana by recreational users (medical marijuana patients in Washington are already allowed 15 plants). Cannabis users would be required to buy their supply at state-licensed stores. Another possible sticking point is the codification a THC blood level of of 5 ng/ml as per se driving under the influence; that would criminalize any driving by most medical marijuana patients, although very few daily medicinal users would be impaired at that level.

Tuesday marked one of the best of times for marijuana reform in the nation’s capital of Washington D.C., and one of the worst of times.
It truly seemed to be a tale of two cities yesterday as the local District council voted 10-1 to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of weed, while right across town federal U.S. lawmakers were battling with the Chief Deputy of the DEA over anti-weed talking points as tired as most of the cranky old men arguing.

President Barrack Obama thinks Colorado and Washington are blazing a trail with marijuana legalization the rest of the nation should consider, telling the New Yorker that racial disparity in marijuana arrests need to end.

“It’s important for it to go forward because it’s important for society not to have a situation in which a large portion of people have at one time or another broken the law and only a select few get punished,” Obama told the New Yorker.

Michael Saffioti.

Last year, 22-year-old Michael Saffioti had a warrant out for a misdemeanor pot charge in Washington state. Despite having severe allergies and asthma, Saffioti turned himself in and turned over his life to jailers who let him die from an allergic reaction to his breakfast despite knowing full well of his condition.
At the time, the state denied pressing any criminal charges against anyone in his death because there wasn’t enough evidence. But a new video turned up by KIRO 7 in Seattle shows Saffioti questioning what he was being fed to guards who had medical files on him.

M.V. Jantzen/DCist

D.C. Council Legislation Criminalizes Possession of “K2,” “Ivory Wave” and Other Synthetic Drugs
Councilmembers Ignore Plea from D.C. Advocates to Reject Criminalization, Regulate Retailers Instead
The Council of the District of Columbia on Tuesday approved legislation that would subject people to juvenile detention or jail for up to six months for simple possession of certain synthetic drugs. People in their teens and twenties are more likely to possess synthetic drugs than older adults, according to the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA).

Real Screen
Morgan Freeman is narrator for “Breaking the Taboo,” a brand new documentary which examines the failed global War On Drugs

Features Interviews with Former President Carter and Former President Clinton on Global Drug Laws

First movie made by indie documentary maker Sam Branson
Sundog Pictures on Wednesday announced the release of their first feature documentary, Breaking the Taboo, which takes a critical look at the global War On Drugs and how it has failed.

Zach’s Soap Reviews

Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, makers of the top-selling natural brand of soap in the United States, announced on Friday a new donation of $100,000 to voter initiatives in Colorado and Washington state that would tax and regulate cannabis. The company’s new donation to the Campaign to Tax and Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, sponsoring Amendment 64 in Colorado, was $75,000, and the donation to New Approach Washington, sponsoring Initiative 502 in Washington, was $25,000.

Ironically, nothing was donated to Oregon’s Measure 80, which has stronger industrial hemp provisions than either the Colorado or Washington voter initiatives. Measure 80, which contains more protections for cannabis consumers and fewer concessions to law enforcement than A-64 or I-502, unfortunately hasn’t attracted the kind of major financial support from cannabis organizations and industry figures as the other two.

No On I-502

By Ezra Eickmeyer
The sponsor of I-502, New Approach Washington, in collusion with Seattle alternative weekly The Stranger, have been accusing the medical cannabis community of opposing Initiative 502 because of greed.
So, let’s say for the sake of argument that everyone who provides cannabis to patients was just a greedy capitalist trying to get a million bucks. We all know that is NOT the truth at all, but just humor me for a moment. 
Their current “market” consists of medical patients ONLY, no more than 160,000 people, but very likely less. Considering that these patients are mostly in the Puget Sound region, we estimate that about 2 to 4 percent of the population either has become or will become a patient. 
I-502, assuming the feds don’t trample it, would open up the market to everyone over 21, or close to 5 million people, of which 10 to 30 percent are likely customers. That seems like a huge increase from 2-4% of the population. I can be bad at math and almost flunked trig in school, but I think 502 would potentially provide a 250 percent to 700+ percent increase in the size of the state’s legal cannabis “market.”
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