marijuana

It’s Friday — time to talk over the week’s news with Joni Balter, Eli Sanders and Knute Berger. Another week, another candidate for Seattle mayor as state Senator Ed Murray says he's in. Washington state ushered in history-making laws on gay marriage and marijuana. And in Washington, DC, Congress remained perched on the fiscal cliff. What stories caught your attention this week? Call us at 206.543.5869 or write to weekday@kuow.org.

Sean Green is the owner of Pacific Northwest Medical, a medical marijuana collective in the city of Shoreline. Today he’s wearing a suit and tie, a vestige of his former career in real estate. Green says he supported Initiative 502, but he’s celebrating legalization by turning off his phones. That’s because he’s gotten so many calls from recreational users who are under the delusion that it’s now legal for Green to sell them marijuana.

Starting today, you can light up in the privacy of your home. State law has changed regarding marijuana possession, but the business rules will have to be developed. The state Liquor Control Board has a year to figure out how to set up Washington’s marijuana market. The federal government’s tax laws will put a crimp on any Washington state entrepreneur until Congress makes a change. We talk to the Aaron Smith of the National Cannabis Industry Association about the path ahead.

Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes has been a longtime supporter of legalizing marijuana. But when he was elected in 2009, he said he never would have imagined that his goal would be achieved so quickly. This week Initiative 502 takes effect, or at least the part of it that allows people to possess small amounts of marijuana for recreational use.

Marijuana has been historically cast as a dangerous drug for outcasts and societal dropouts. But with the passage of I-502, marijuana is going mainstream. A Seattle web entrepreneur is building tools for the masses to bring marijuana – and its users – into the 21st century.

Officials with the Washington state Patrol say about 8 percent of the drivers they pull over turn out to be impaired by drugs. A lab test verifying marijuana in the blood is a factor in showing driver impairment, they say, but there’s never been a legal limit the way there is for alcohol. That changes with the new law allowing marijuana possession, which takes effect Thursday, Dec. 6. It contains a new limit on marijuana components in a driver’s bloodstream.

Medical marijuana is available in 18 states, and the vote on November 6 legalized the possession of pot in Colorado and Washington. With the highest incarceration rate in the world, and more than $2 trillion dedicated to fighting the "war on drugs," we continue to fill our prisons with drug offenders. Is it worth it? From the series Intelligence Squared U.S., the motion is Legalize Drugs.

Panelists:

Paul Butler, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center

Washington voters just passed an initiative legalizing marijuana that will be certified December 6.  But state Representative Roger Goodman thinks it already needs tweaking.

Plus, we talk to Muraco Kyashna-tocha, director of the Evergreen State Cannabis Trade Association. The association is expanding beyond medical marijuana now that recreational use is being legalized.

Governor-elect Jay Inslee announced three members of his transition team yesterday, just as the state revenue council announced their prediction of a $900 million budget shortfall over the next two years. Inslee spoke with KUOW’s Steve Scher about his approach to closing that gap and his role in supporting the initiative that passed recreational use of marijuana.

The Supreme Court of Washington ruled earlier this year that the state is not meeting its constitutional duty to fully fund public education. What does a well-funded school system look like? We talk with Diane Ravitch, research professor of education at New York University.

Correction:  In the original story Steve Sarich was referred to as an attorney.  He is not an attorney but a medical marijuana consultant and an opponent of I-502.

Hold off on that trip to Amsterdam. It appears recreational marijuana will soon be legal for adults in Washington, at least under state law.

The mood was jubilant at the official I-502 party at the Hotel Andra in downtown Seattle. In attendance was Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes, a primary backer of the measure. He says this law change is about good government.