Local Angle

Sensible Washington goes the grassroots route toward legalization

On one side is Sensible Washington, an organization composed of volunteers dedicated to legalizing cannabis in the state of Washington. On the other is Prohibition, the federal government’s ill-conceived effort to ban marijuana completely from society.

But Sensible Washington has a plan. Because the U.S. government currently does not allow the manufacture, sales and distribution of marijuana, Sensible Washington (which sponsored 2010’s failed I-1068) is going from one city to another—beginning with places like Spokane, Everett, Olympia and Bremerton—to build a grassroots support system to legalize cannabis throughout the Evergreen State.

Since, if successful, this would open up marijuana use to adults, the approach avoids some of the needless wrangling that comes with MMJ-only programs.

This approach avoids the needless legal wrangling that exists in allowing only people with medical conditions the right to use cannabis.

Sensible Washington (the organization has also questioned the merits of I-502 and posted a multi-part analysis of this statewide decriminalization measure on its website) and its strategy acknowledge a fact: cannabis is aspirin to some and a six-pack to others.

Sensible spokesman Troy Barber spoke with CULTURE about Sensible Washington’s legalization efforts.

“We want people to enact change at a local level, getting the idea of repeal out there,” he says. “By going city-to-city we can get volunteers acclimated to the political process. They will get confidence and realize that they can get involved and implement change statewide.”

Reforming legislation is going to take an extremely strong grassroots support system to happen.

“Right now it’s about gathering that support,” Barber says.

There are currently 59 cities and six counties in Washington that allow localized initiatives that would legalize cannabis. Built into the proposed legislation is a language that would prohibit local and state law enforcement officials from assisting federal authorities in raiding medical cannabis clinics, growers and patients’ homes.

Barber admits that preventing state authorities from cooperating with the feds is a difficult order.

“We have yet to find a way to make that legally binding,” he says. More than anything, the language is symbolic. “The fundamental message of repeal is that they don’t have to enforce the federal law. We are breaking it down to the local level, and getting the authorities to acknowledge that point.”

Another challenge: local police departments get taxpayer funds when they assist the DEA and FBI—even with Initiative 652 on the books.

“There’s a narcotics task force in Washington that receives federal funding, and it’s a culmination of state and local police officers that volunteer for this,” Barber says.

With the nation’s economy still anemic and many police departments laying off officers because of it, money such as taxes from legalized cannabis might be a temptation that’s too difficult to resist.

Legalizing medical cannabis for patients has been a success for many states that have adopted it, but it’s not enough, especially in the face of an increasingly aggressive federal government.

Fortunately, Sensible Washington is just getting started.

www.sensiblewashington.org

(photo by Mark Malijan)

Laws of the Land

Washington is no stranger to proposed marijuana legislation. In 1998, voters passed Initiative 692 (the Medical Use of Marijuana Act), which allows patients with certain conditions to use medical cannabis. Ten years later, state officials clarified the initiative, after they determined that a 60-day supply of medical cannabis is equal to 24 ounces of marijuana plus 15 plants. Initiative 502 (which Sensible Washington has analyzed as having several flaws), which would license and regulate marijuana production, distribution and possession and create DUI-type impairment criteria, is slated for the November ballot.