| CBS News |
| Medical marijuana patients are concerned about the DUI provision in legalization initiative I-502, which they say would effectively criminalize most driving by patients |
Initiative Filed By Patients and Concerned Citizens’ Group
An initiative to the people of Washington state regarding cannabis for patients and hemp for farming was filed Friday at the State Elections Office. A group of patients and other concerned citizens filed the petition in response to concerns over I-502, a decriminalization initiative that threatens the driving privileges of every long-term cannabis user and fails to address hemp for farming.
Medical marijuana patients and advocates are concerned about the DUI provision in legalization initiative I-502, which they say would effectively criminalize most driving by patients. I-502 would include a five nanogram per milliliter (5 ng/ml) THC blood level as per se proof of driving under the influence of cannabis.
“While we have no problem with the recreational user becoming legal, we do have a problem with the per se DUI provisions criminalizing the innocent, while farmers in the state are still not allowed to produce hemp,” said Mimi Meiwes, spokesperson for the group.
Meiwes, who has worked for years as a home health nurse case manager, has been very vocal about those concerns, to both I-502’s sponsor New Approach Washington, as well as to many others in the cannabis community.
A copy of the initiative will be available after it is reviewed and assigned a number.