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Graphic: Sensible Washington

​Voters in at least one state may get the chance to legalize marijuana this year. Washington State’s 2011 initiative to legalize cannabis for adults will be filed Wednesday, January 26, Sensible Washington state coordinator Don Skakie told Toke of the Town Tuesday afternoon.

The initiative, which would remove marijuana penalties for adults, will be filed in the Secretary of State’s office in the Legislative Building, Olympia, Washington, at about 2 p.m.
“Anyone wanting to be part of this historic event is welcome to participate,” Skakie said. “Please be mainstream in your dress and appearance.”

Graphic: Cannabis Culture

​Delegates to the Washington State Democratic Convention endorsed I-1068, the marijuana legalization initiative, with an overwhelming 62 percent “Yes” vote, 314 to 185, on Saturday.

The executive board had given no recommendation on the initiative, because “the committee was even more split than the delegates,” said State Vice Chair Sharon Smith, reports Bryce McKay at PubliCola.
“We expected this to come to a floor discussion,” Smith said. “There are some things that are clearly Democratic Party values, and then there are things like this that aren’t so clear.”
These welcome signs of the Democratic Party growing a backbone when it comes to cannabis issues are encouraging; there’s definitely a whiff of change in the air.

Photo: Emerald Herb

​“It’s an idea whose time has come,” said Douglas Hiatt, co-author of Initiative 1068, which would legalize marijuana in Washington State.

And now it’s time for voters to take matters into their own hands, according to Hiatt. “This year, one in six legislators sponsored marijuana reform legislation,” the activist attorney said Tuesday at a press conference on the steps of the Capitol Building in Olympia.
“And again this year, major reform did not get out of committee,” Hiatt said. “So we formed Sensible Washington and wrote an initiative that removes the criminal and civil penalties for adults.”
Every poll taken shows that if I-1068 gets on the ballot, it will win. Washington voters support sensible marijuana laws.
Tuesday’s press conference detailed a wide and diverse array of endorsements, from former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper to Republican legislator Toby Nixon.