Washington State’s efforts to decriminalize marijuana were shot down by the Public Safety Committee, as well as the bill to legalize marijuana (see attached story). Proponents of the bills were hoping to generate close to $300 million a year, according to Rep. Sherry Appleton, (D)-Poulsbo. The legalization bill failed by a vote of 6-2, and the decriminalization bill failed on a 5-3 vote. However, just because the current efforts were fruitless, doesn’t mean that the fight is over. Activists filed an initiative to try to get on the November ballot, which would legalize all adult marijuana possession, manufacturing, and sales. But don’t get your hopes up yet. Supporters must gather more than 240,000 signatures by July 2nd just to get ballot access. And of course from there it would have to be voted in.
The questions I have for readers are ‘Do you think that they will be able to get that many signatures in just five months? And if it ends up on the ballot, do you think it will pass?’ I have to assume that the answer is a resounding yes, which leads me to yet another question; ‘Have you placed your signature on the initiative rolls?’ I know if I lived in the State of Washington, not only would I have signed the form, I would be out pounding the streets trying to get others to do the same. It’s ok to get high these next five months folks, but don’t get so high that you lose motivation to participate in the Democratic process! GO WASHINGTON!
