The Columbian, 18 Mar 2013 – Either Way Eric Holder Decides, He’s Sure to Anger Many People Last December, when asked on an ABC-TV show if there would be a federal intervention into marijuana legalization laws passed in Washington and Colorado, President Barack Obama said, "We’ve got bigger fish to fry."On March 5, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, suggested the federal government has fewer bucks to spend, as well, and the Drug Enforcement Administration should not waste money or time chasing pot smokers in either state. Thus, marijuana reformists in both states have become strange new beneficiaries of the supposedly stark federal budget sequesters. The Washington Times reports that the Justice Department must cut more than $1 billion from its operations, which strengthens Leahy’s recommendation to focus on major federal crimes and not worry about new laws in Washington or Colorado.
US WA: LTE: Legalized Pot Will Bring Problems
The Columbian, 18 Mar 2013 – The Colorado Springs news outlet CBS4 reported on March 6 that a prominent local drug testing company, Conspire, has documented a spike in children using pot following the passage of Colorado’s Amendment 64. Conspire is now receiving requests for drug testing from school districts on a weekly basis, not monthly as before. One high school student states, "I’ve seen a lot more people just walking down the street smoking joints." Conspire staff are finding unprecedented levels of THC in kids: "a typical kid is between 50 and 100 nanograms. Now we’re seeing these up in the over 500, 700, 800." Jo McGuire of Conspire describes the danger to the human brain: "In the past we’ve used the term stoner or fried … because you literally take your brain and you rob it of the ability to fire the way it’s supposed to." McGuire expresses alarm that these stoned high school kids are driving after school.
US WA: Editorial: Delegation Drags Feet On Marijuana
Seattle Times, 17 Mar 2013 – WASHINGTON voters acted boldly last November to begin reforming our nation’s failed policy on marijuana. It was an act of leadership, in stark contrast to the inertia that has perpetuated the failed war on drugs for the past 42 years. Since then, state regulators have worked diligently to create the world’s first fully regulated recreational marijuana market, and Gov. Jay Inslee took the state’s case to Washington, D.C.
US WA: Meet State’s ‘Go-To Guy’ On Marijuana
Seattle Times, 15 Mar 2013 – Randy Simmons Used to Handle Audits and It. Now He’s Getting the State into the Pot Business. Just after Washington voters legalized recreational pot in November, a longtime drug dealer walked into the Olympia headquarters of the state Liquor Control Board.
US WA: Board Gets Pot Lessons
Seattle Times, 15 Mar 2013 – Sharon Foster is the public face of legal marijuana in Washington state. Foster, a retired lobbyist, chairs the state Liquor Control Board, the agency charged with creating a new legal pot system. And decisions about how much weed should be grown, who should grow it, and how to keep it from the black market fall to her and board members Ruthann Kurose and Chris Marr.
US WA: Teens More Likely To Use Pot Than Cigarettes
Seattle Times, 15 Mar 2013 – Washington high-school students who participated in a statewide health survey say they are twice as likely to smoke marijuana as cigarettes. High-school smoking has decreased significantly across the state, with cigarette smoking down in grades six, eight, 10 and 12, but the number of high school students who believe using marijuana is risky is also at a low point, health officials said Thursday after releasing the 2012 survey results.
US WA: Editorial: New Pot Rules Won’t Please Everybody
Yakima Herald-Republic, 10 Mar 2013 – Initiative 502, the marijuana-legalization measure that Washington state voters approved last November, spelled out a number of ways to implement what is now the law. For example, I-502 sets up a three-tier system of marijuana producer, processor and retailer; determines taxes to be collected at each level; defines limits on possession amounts and thresholds for intoxication; and so on. That the measure was relatively tightly drawn, especially compared with a legalization initiative in Oregon last fall, is one reason why it passed here but failed down there. But Washington’s initiative left many of the critical details to the state Liquor Control Board, which on Feb. 28 conducted a well-attended meeting in Yakima on the matter.
