Seattle Times, 28 Oct 2012 – I-502 Would Legalize Use, Define Impairment Lack of Clear Answers Fuels Fight Over Measure Under a clear blue Southern California sky, four editors of Car and Driver magazine stepped on a closed driving course and got, as they later wrote, "stoned back to the bomb age."

Bellevue Reporter, 26 Oct 2012 – We’ve waged a war on drugs for decades. Sometimes the battle is worth it. That’s not the case with marijuana. Voters should vote "yes" on Initiative 502 and license and regulate it instead. The illegality of marijuana doesn’t mean it’s not available. Far from it. It is grown extensively and is readily available to those who want it. But, because it’s "illegal," we waste millions of law-enforcement dollars trying to eradicate it, money that would be better spent stopping violent crime. It also means marijuana use is uncontrolled – and untaxed – by government.

Seattle Times, 30 Oct 2012 – The majority of voters in Washington state understand that cannabis prohibition has failed. It’s accomplished none of the intended goals (such as stopping youth usage), and it has continued to allow for the enrichment of criminal organizations. It’s also continued to fill our prisons with nonviolent individuals. Legalization and taxation is becoming the obvious answer to these problems.

The Herald, 28 Oct 2012 – Initiative 502 allows us to answer some simple questions regarding current policy on marijuana: Are our current marijuana laws working? Is their enforcement a good use of our police, prosecutors, judges, and jails? Are they reducing marijuana’s availability and use, or increasing public safety? We don’t think so. One of us is a travel writer who spends a third of each year abroad and has had the opportunity to observe how other societies deal with marijuana use. The other has served as a state representative for eight years, focusing both on the well-being and education of children as well as criminal justice issues. Both of us have shepherded our own kids through the tricky teen years, and both of us agree that our marijuana laws need an overhaul. That is why we are voting yes on Initiative 502, and we encourage our fellow Washingtonians to do the same.

DrugSense

DrugSense

DrugSense

The Stranger, 24 Oct 2012 – People Will Give You a Lot of Reasons to Vote to Legalize Pot on November 6, but You’re Not Going to Hear Much About the One That Matters Most I grew up near the edge of the Central District, and our house was at the top of a ridge, which served as a sort of racial dividing line. Houses on the eastern slope had spectacular views of the mountains and Lake Washington. They were expensive and their residents were all white. I can’t recall a single black person who lived on that side of the hill. On the other side of the ridge, the houses’ territorial views looked back into the gulch. With only scattered exceptions, those were all African American households.

Edmonds Beacon, 25 Oct 2012 – I am concerned about the growing push by some to legalize the use of marijuana in Washington. I imagine there is some merit to the arguments in favor of such legalization but it would appear that, unlike what we hear from the proponents, the apparent grave dangers outweigh them by far.

Kitsap Sun, 25 Oct 2012 – The ballots arrived last week and in addition to electing those who will represent us there are a number of ballot measures which must be decided. The following are my recommendations on those measures. Is it in the public’s best interest to increase marijuana usage? That’s the question I asked myself when deciding how to vote on Initiative 502, which would decriminalize limited use of the drug. Would there be support for making cigarette smoking legal if possession of cigarettes were illegal today? Knowing what we know about the health hazards related to smoking, I doubt it. Yet the most common way marijuana is used, like cigarettes, is through smoking and inhaling the substance.