Congratulations washington!

i was wondering when someone was gonna post something about my state. I personally hate that this happened, 502 was written up by people who are not looking out for our rights.. This is adding new laws trapping patients. I'm curious to see how it will play out.

 

I like your optimism, you can understand if im a little hesitant to receive this new law considering the new penalties. but like you said things should change because in reality there is nothing wrong with this herb, we all know it, its about time everyone else woke up and smelled the dank.

 

I completely agree.

and everyone is saying "baby steps, etc"- yeah I'd agree with you to some extent, but how many false DUIs is it gonna take?

I mean it's pretty ridiculous- a law was passed many many years ago, and for whatever reason is still present today. In order to rectify the past legislative errors, state governments allow us to have a finite (rather small, too, 28 grams) amount of plant matter. Getting pulled over within 6 or so hours of smoking can land you a DUI.

I mean I'd liken this to alcohol, why are their such strict guidelines for marijuana possession and use while alcohol is more lenient?

also I'm talking about 502, not whatever colorado has. Haven't read theirs yet.

 

Washington and Colorado passed the same bill (in terms of legislation, not the actual same physical copy). I've heard this from many sources, most notably my PSC Int. Rel. professor.

What happened last night creates a divide between the levels of government. That I feel is the real gain from all of this. The Federal Government is going to have to bend and eventually break or it will go to the Supreme Court and they will be the one making the determination. This is a battle of the States will and the peoples way against the Federal Government's over-arching reign. To be honest, this is my opinion here, this is going to really start a strong debate about how much power the States have. The bills being passed has more to do with that argument than it does the legalization of marijuana.

The next 4 years are huge for the end of the prohibition in any fashion. Don't pay attention to discrepancies, they will be fixed. This is a long, long, long process.

 

I dunno man, you've got a lot of faith in the federal government. I just feel really sorry for all the people that are gonna get DUIs as a result of a shoddy initiative written from a non smoker's perspective.

I'd agree with your middle paragraph though- it's gonna be very interesting to see how this all plays out.

 

I mean....does anyone really believe that the police are going to be adding yet another pointless tedious facet to their jobs just to hassle people with DUIDs? I don't.

I walked out of my dispensary the other day....a cop car was parked right out in front with two cops sitting in the car. I just smiled as I walked right past them with over two ounces of weed and several grams of hash and some cake bombs in my bag. Gee, do you think they wondered what I was carrying? They couldn't care less about hassling anyone for weed. I honestly think they'd rather give out tickets for jaywalking rather than hassle anyone for weed.

We are going to generate a lot of revenue from marijuana in this state. Lots of that money is slated to go back into the community so that the police can get some better resources to go after violent criminals -for one thing.

I'd rather pay the tax to buy weed, legally, than I would to continue to pay the taxes to maintain the prisons to house the people arrested for possessing it, illegally.

 

That's cause you were a medical patient exiting a dispensary. It's obvious to every party involved that you're allowed to be doing what you're doing.

as for the DUIDs- ever heard of DUI checkpoints? ever gotten breathalyzed after getting pulled over? Well now, if you've smoked even within the past 8 or so hours, you can no longer safely drive a car without risk of DUID, regardless of how sober you actually are. DUIs (and now, DUIDs) are easy revenue for the state.

also, you said you had 2 ounces. Well enjoy being able to carry 2 ounces ag- oh wait, anything over 28 is a FELONY, whereas prior to 502 you could have up to 40 grams while still only possessing a misdemeanor. Does state government get to tell you you can only have 2 six packs of beer at a time? No, they don't. Then why can they tell me how much weed I can have?

And if you don't want people do to go jail for it, you should be in favor of decriminalization, not outright legalization. If an initiative was drafted that called for legalization and was actually fair, I'd be all for it. 502 was not that initiative.

502 is a prime example of a wolf in sheep's clothing

and as for everyone saying "oh it's a step in the right direction we'll fix the flaws later"- yeah, I hope you're right. I still don't see why we couldn't have just got it right the first time though

 

Well you can still buy an ounce, legally. An ounce is a decent amount, considering that, previously, ANY amount was illegal. As far as FELONY...I've been breaking the law for years. Haven't you?

But I see what you're saying when it comes to how obviously "in order" it must have looked to all parties involved when I exited the dispensary.

If I had pulled up with three of my friends in the car, looking all sketchy, then it might have prompted them to follow and do a traffic stop. If I had been hanging out in front, rolling a blunt, then yeah, it might have changed their perception. But that's ME doing MY part to NOT help give the MMJ community a bad image by acting irresponsibly. If everyone acted with discretion when it came to things, then everything is cool. But when people ape it up and almost TRY to "push their rights" onto the cops or onto to the community, in general, then it slows the pace of progress.

I'll say this much, I've smoked for a long, long time (decades of time) and I've rarely EVER owned or been carrying as much as an ounce of weed, at one time. The reason I was carrying so much on that day I mentioned previously is because I was looking ahead to the election and what might happen if "Sketch" Romney had gotten elected.

I currently have some advantages by being an MMJ patient, as far as amounts are concerned, but it's pretty cool that NON-patients can now access marijuana, whatever the limits, and do so legally.

Be truthful. If you were willing to break the law, before, then what's so different now? But if you decide that you don't want to break the law....and if you think it might be pretty cool to walk into a store and select the strain(s) you want...instead of waiting in a parking lot for "the man" to show up with whatever mystery weed it happened to be that week....You get the idea.

Law breakers will continue breaking the law. No surprises there. But now there is a new option.

The message is already being sent all across the nation (and beyond) that acceptance of marijuana is increasing, not decreasing. That's a step in the right direction if nothing else.

Let's discuss this subject again in a year or two and see what has unfolded by then.