Los Angeles Times, 10 Dec 2012 – SEATTLE – Customers have been drifting into Jay Fratt’s alternative pipe and tobacco shop, Smokin J’s, in the days since Washington state’s marijuana law took effect, wondering when cannabis would take its place on the shelves next to the handblown glass pipes. Hold on, he told them. Fratt is, before anything else, a businessman, and he quickly realized there was a lot of smoke in the details.

DrugSense

The Columbian, 09 Dec 2012 – Police Say Change in Oxy-Contin Lead to Rise in Heroin Addiction Vancouver police say a greater percentage of drug-addicted young adults are responsible for the area’s property crimes, including burglaries, commercial robberies, vehicle prowls and mail and auto thefts. Drug addicts looking to get a hit will do whatever they must to afford their habits.

Seattle Times, 09 Dec 2012 – SELECTIVE LAW ENFORCEMENT The Seattle Police Department has been trumpeting its respect for and cooperation with the new marijuana law ["State’s pot era lights up to smoke, dreams, angst," page one, Dec. 7]. However, it has also announced that it will not be writing citations for smoking pot in public, something the new law clearly prohibits.

Seattle Times, 09 Dec 2012 – FEDERAL ROLE In response to "Feds still reviewing new marijuana law, plan no action on eve of legalization" [seattletimes.com, Nov. 5], my main reaction is: Didn’t we all see this coming? No matter how many states vote to loosen the restrictions on marijuana, it really means nothing without the approval of the federal government. And since we also know Congress moves slower than glaciers (which we won’t be able to say for much longer, as the glaciers are all melting), it’s safe to say that we won’t be hearing about any decision made anytime soon.

Wall Street Journal, 07 Dec 2012 – VANCOUVER, Wash.-Pot smokers lit up in Washington state Thursday, when it became the first U.S. state to legalize possession of marijuana without a doctor’s prescription, following the approval of a ballot measure in November. Washingtonians, gathering in public places like Seattle’s Space Needle, counted down to midnight, after which they began to fire up joints, pipes and bongs. Under the new law, people 21 and older legally can hold up to an ounce of marijuana.

Seattle Times, 07 Dec 2012 – Federal Ban Still Casts Haze of Uncertainty Local Law Enforcement to Take Laissez-Faire Approach Maybe even a little before 12:01 a.m. Thursday, Washingtonians started celebrating – on sidewalks, in parks, outside bars and on their own comfy couches – a new marijuana law that is among the most liberal in the world.

Los Angeles Times, 07 Dec 2012 – SEATTLE – More than 100 hard-core tokers gathered under the Space Needle at the stroke of midnight to light one up in celebration of the state’s new marijuana law, which made it legal on Thursday for those 21 and older to possess an ounce or less of pot. Voters in Washington and Colorado approved the nation’s first recreational marijuana laws in November. The Colorado law doesn’t take effect until January.

Seattle Times, 06 Dec 2012 – WASHINGTON – Washington state’s new marijuana-legalization law, which takes effect Thursday, is a direct affront to federal drug policy. So does Dave Reichert – the King County sheriff-turned-congressman – think users still should be subject to arrest by federal agents? He isn’t saying. Neither is Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Spokane, the highest-ranking Republican woman in Congress.

Washington Post, 06 Dec 2012 – On the eve of marijuana becoming legal in Washington state, the Justice Department warned that the drug remains illegal under federal law. On the eve of marijuana becoming legal in Washington state, the Justice Department warned that the possession, growing or use of the drug remains illegal under federal law.