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Search Results: olympia (54)

Attacking Marijuana Patients Is Not A Good Legalization Strategy

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By on Legislation, News

Patients Against I-502

​The Unraveling of Dominic Holden
By Lee Rosenberg
The New Approach Washington campaign turned in its signatures this week for Initiative 502. This initiative would legalize personal possession of up to one ounce of marijuana and regulate the distribution and sale of the drug to anyone over 21 [in Washington state]. It also introduces a per se DUI limit for “active” THC – in layman’s terms, the amount of “unprocessed” THC in your body.
Over at Slog, Dominic Holden continues to lash out at the folks in the medical marijuana community who oppose it – primarily due to the DUI provisions. I’ve been trying to stay out of this fight for my own sanity, but Holden’s anger is so misdirected (and misinformed), I have to speak up.
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WA Marijuana Legalization Measure Likely To Make 2012 Ballot

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By on Legislation, News

From Our Corner
With 241,153 valid signatures required, it appears very likely marijuana legalization measure I-502 will make the ballot with 355,000 signatures reportedly in the can.

​Sponsors of a ballot initiative which would legalize marijuana in Washington state say they have enough signatures — more than 355,000 — to make the ballot in November 2012.

New Approach Washington, sponsors of Initiative 502, said they have made plans to bring in petitions on 10 a.m. on December 29 at the state Elections Division office at 520 Union Sreet near the State Capitol in Olympia, reports David Ammons at From Our Corner, the Washington Secretary of State’s website.
I-502 would authorize the state Liquor Control Board to regulate and tax cannabis for those 21 and older. Licensed production, limited possession, delivery, distribution and sale of marijuana in accordance with the provisions of the law would be allowed.
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DEA Sweeps Across Western Washington With Dispensary Raids

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By on Dispensaries, News

KOMO News
DEA agent Tuesday morning at Seattle Cannabis Co-op’s location in the Rainier neighborhood

​Federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided medical marijuana collectives in Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Puyallup, Rochester, and Lacey, Washington, as a coordinated raid swept across the Puget Sound region on Tuesday.

Patient advocates and legal defense groups report that at least nine dispensaries have been raided, according to The Seattle Times. Ben Livingston of the patient advocacy group Cannabis Defense Coalition said he’s spoken with several dispensary owners and defense attorney Aaron Pelley, who confirmed raids were occurring.

“I’m in shock because now I have no pain medicine,” said patient Cameron Christenson outside of Seattle Cannabis Co-op on Rainer Avenue, reports David Rose at Q13 Fox News. “I can think of 100 crack houses in town — why don’t you go raid those?”
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Tacoma Resoundingly Passes Lowest Priority For Pot Enforcement

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By on Legislation, News

Steve Elliott ~alapoet~
Tacoma Police officers hassle booth vendors selling pipes at this year’s Tacoma Hempfest in June. Police claimed that pot was “already their lowest priority,” but voters made it official on Tuesday.

​Voters in Tacoma, Washington, just south of Seattle, sent a powerful message Tuesday to law enforcement and to state legislators in Olympia by joining Seattle in officially declaring marijuana possession laws the city’s “lowest law enforcement priority.”

Organizers Don Muridan and Sherry Bockwinkel, cosponsors of Tacoma Initiative No. 1, CannbisReformAct.org, gathered the necessary signatures and the voters of Tacoma resoundingly agreed, passing with measure with 65 percent approval.
The measure overwhelmingly passed by an almost 2:1 margin, despite being voted on in an off-year election. Modeled after Seattle’s 2003 initiative, Tacoma Initiative No. 1 makes adult marijuana possession offenses the lowest priority for law enforcement.
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Marijuana Moments: Jodie Emery Thanked Marc’s Prosecutor

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By on Culture, News

Cannabis Culture
Jodie Emery testifying before the Washington Legislature in March, just after meeting U.S. Attorney John McKay, who sent her husband to federal prison

​John McKay, the U.S. Attorney who prosecuted “Prince of Pot” Marc Emery, ran into Marc’s wife Jodie in Olympia, Washington one day back in March. McKay is literally responsible for putting her husband in prison. But rather than the awkward scene it could have been, their encounter ended with Jodie thanking McKay.

“Mr. McKay? I’m Jodie Emery,” the attractive 26-year-old told the flustered former prosecutor. Jodie still runs a B.C. head shop and website called Cannabis Culture. 

This is one of the fascinating stories about the former federal prosecutor for Western Washington which you can read at Toke‘s sister site, Seattle Weekly, in “The Evolution of John McKay,” an excellent, in-depth personality profile from reporter Nina Shapiro.
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YEP or NAW? Two Pot Legalization Drives Active In Washington

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By on Legislation, News

Photo: Courtesy Don Skakie
Don Skakie, Yes End Penalties WA: “Removing marijuana penalties will not conflict with federal law”

​When it comes to cannabis law reform, what’ll it be, Washington? Your choices are YEP and NAW. (The respective acronyms stand for Yes End Penalties and New Approach Washington.)

The new kid on the block, Washington state cannabis reform group Yes End Penalties Washington (YEP WA), will announce a new marijuana legalization drive at 11 a.m. Thursday on the North Steps of the Legislative Building at the State Capitol in Olympia.

Initiative sponsor and Lacey City Councilman Ron Lawson will announce “Initiative to the Legislature 505,” which would remove cannabis-related civil and criminal penalties for adults in Washington state. Supporters of I-505 will speak at the event.
Yes End Penalties WA is inviting news media and interested members of the public to attend and compare YEP to NAW.
“Removing marijuana penalties will not conflict with federal law, avoiding preemption and empowering the people of Washington state to step away from the fear of speaking for cannabis reform and directing their legislators to create fair and evenhanded regulation that benefits the public, rather than special interest groups and based on fact and science, not misinformation or ‘reefer madness’ propaganda,” said YEP’s Don Skakie.
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Higher Education: Top 20 & Bottom 20 Colleges For Marijuana

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By on Culture

Photo: Little Eddy
A mass exhale of marijuana smoke at the Unibversity of Colorado Boulder campus at 4:20 p.m., April 20, 2010. UC-Boulder came in fourth on the list.

​California and Colorado dominated the The Princeton Review‘s Top 5 colleges for marijuana use this year, with two entries each.

In the rankings — part of the Review’s “The Best 376 Colleges” survey — Colorado College in Colorado Springs ranked as the #1 pot-smoking school in the United States.
The small private school blazed past the competition in the annual rankings, which The Princeton Review released on Monday.
Colorado College has been a “usual suspect” on the marijuana list for the past few years, said Rob Franek, vice president and publisher of the Review.
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Washington Man Chooses Jail Over Fine For Marijuana

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By on Culture, News

Photo: Dana Goes to Jail!
Dana Walker: “I am a keen patron of irony and I LOVE the fact that I am going to reclaim my freedom by going to jail”

​A Washington state man on Friday chose jail over paying a marijuana possession fine, as a way of protesting the laws against cannabis.

Dana Walker of Olympia was reportedly led away in handcuffs after telling Thurston County Superior Court Judge Gary R. Tabor, “As to the matter now before us I have no intention of making any more payments and I am requesting as long a jail sentence as the law allows for my refusal.”
Walker set up a Facebook event for his Friday court appearance, inviting the public to witness his statement to the judge, reports The Weed Blog.
“Have you ever wanted to go into a courtroom and honestly tell the judge and prosecutor what you think of their marijuana laws?” Walker asked on the Facebook page, “Dana Goes to Jail!”
“I have a golden opportunity to do just that and I plan to take full advantage,” he said. “Those of you who personally know me know I am fully capable of turning righteous indignation into an entertaining show, and I plan to pull out all stops on this one.
“I owe Thurston County over $3,000 for a marijuana charge from back in 1997,” he said. “I am currently unemployed, I am not a fan of hot weather, and I wouldn’t mind at all spending a few weeks in jail just for the opportunity to tell a court where they can stick their laws.
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Marijuana Advocates Take ‘CannaBus’ To Spokane; Join Protest

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By on Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Sensible Washington

​Two volunteers from marijuana legalization group Sensible Washington have been driving an RV dubbed “the CannaBus” across the state this week to gather signatures and rally support for I-1149, a ballot initiative that would remove all criminal penalties for adult cannabis offenses.

From Thursday, May 19 through Sunday morning, May 22, volunteers Mimi Meiwes and Tricia Rogers, along with the CannaBus, will be in Spokane, where new raids this week by Spokane Police and federal agents have left even more medical cannabis patients without safe access to the medicine their doctors have authorized.
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