New Intiative

By none other than one of our best MMJ attorneys, Doug Hiatt.

C/P From KING5

Wash. activists file initiative to legalize pot

Posted on January 11, 2010 at 4:38 PM

Updated today at 5:33 PM
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SEATTLE (AP) — Five activists have filed a ballot initiative that would legalize all adult marijuana possession in Washington state.

Its sponsors include two Seattle lawyers as well as the director of Seattle's annual Hempfest. The group calls itself Sensible Washington, and says it's time that the state's government stop wasting money on police, court and jail costs for people who use or produce marijuana.

Douglas Hiatt, a lawyer who represents medical marijuana patients, told The Associated Press after filing the initiative Monday that the proposal would remove all state penalties for adult possession of pot. Criminal penalties for juvenile possession and for providing the drug to juveniles would remain in place. Marijuana would also remain illegal under federal law.

Hiatt says volunteers are lining up to collect the more than 241,000 valid signatures required to place the initiative on the November ballot.

Huggy Douggy files an inititive?? Hmmmm? I sure want to read it. Did he include it in the news article? NOPE. Why not??

I hope he out does our government bill(s) on this subject. Personally I have never agreed with this guy in how he goes about helping us MMJ patients. We still get convicted no matter how much noise he makes.:mad:

My last encounter with him and his assoc. about cost me $25,000. Nice thing I am legally minded or I would have gotten FUCKED.....

I WANT TO SEE THE INITITIVE HE FILED.!!!!!

I was just going to post this. Just before the deadline too. Now 200K+ signatures to gather. If they are paying, I'll gather signatures. :D

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Originally Posted by gypski

I was just going to post this. Just before the deadline too. Now 200K+ signatures to gather. If they are paying, I'll gather signatures. :D

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I didn't post it when I posted the judge being sued because I was waiting for either you do it or killerweed420. Well he beat ya too the posting button brother.

Don't you want to read it first? or is it if they are forking out money yur game? Come on gyski I thought you had better skills than that. SHOW ME THE MONEY!??? WOW brother. That's what our state is doing with sb2401....

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Originally Posted by jamessr

I didn't post it when I posted the judge being sued because I was waiting for either you do it or killerweed420. Well he beat ya too the posting button brother.

Don't you want to read it first? or is it if they are forking out money yur game? Come on gyski I thought you had better skills than that. SHOW ME THE MONEY!??? WOW brother. That's what our state is doing with sb2401....

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I got paid a few years back to STOP THE NUKES initiative in Idaho. I'm on disability and a few extra bucks wouldn't hurt to help buy medicine. I know they pay them in other states. And yes, I've been looking to find it online to read. :D

Gypski,

Have you attempted to go onto his website or steinborns to see if they posted it there?? I would but I don't like either one of them crooks, and would be against my MMJ religion(lol) to do so.

I do agree with the extra money issue as I myself am on state dis. at $200 a month to pay my bills. Needless to say I am sinking in dept over it....I have my SSA appeal coming up soon this or next month, hope the alj treats me right.:D

Nice job on the nuke shut down:thumbsup: thank you for that. No one on earth needs that shit, it never goes away EVER.....

Haven't seen the intiative yet and its not posted on CDC ot the November Coalitions websites. I will retain my view on this intiative till I look at it. But Doug has always wanted this completely legal with no government involvement so it should be a pretty good intiative, certainly better than the state bill.
Realistically I don't see the intiative passing yet. I don't think Washingtonians are ready for this yet. I think there will be a big conservative drive to fight it.

More info.
SEATTLE (AP) - Five activists filed a ballot initiative Monday that would legalize all adult marijuana possession, manufacturing and sales under Washington state law - one of the most sweeping efforts at marijuana reform playing out around the country this year.

Its sponsors include two Seattle lawyers and the director of Seattle's annual Hempfest. They call themselves Sensible Washington, and say that in a time of dire budget woes, the state's government should stop spending money on police, court and jail costs for people who use or produce marijuana.

Douglas Hiatt, a lawyer who represents medical marijuana patients, told The Associated Press the proposal would remove all state criminal penalties for adults who possess, grow and distribute pot - no matter how much. Criminal penalties for juveniles who possess marijuana and for those who provide the drug to juveniles would remain in place.

Driving under the influence of the drug also would still be against the law. And marijuana would remain illegal under federal law.

"It basically tells the federal government, 'Hey it's your prohibition - if you want it, you pay for it,"' Hiatt said. "We're tired of screwing around and wasting all this dough."

Volunteers are lining up to collect the more than 241,000 signatures required to place the initiative on the November ballot, Hiatt said.

The campaign has competition in Washington. One bill introduced here would legalize and regulate marijuana, while another would decriminalize possession of small amounts of pot, making it punishable by a fine rather than jail time.

Legalization bills have also been introduced in California, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Nevada, and a group campaigning to place a marijuana legalization measure before California voters said last month that it has enough signatures to qualify for this year's ballot.

Alison Holcomb, drug policy director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, which is lobbying for the decriminalization bill, said she supports any effort to engage the public in discussing marijuana law reform, but she couldn't comment specifically on the initiative without reading it.

"If there were decriminalization of transfers of small amounts of marijuana not for profit, that might be one way to undermine the cartels' bottom line," she said. "But I think the push-back would be, are you just giving the gangsters a get-out-of-jail-free card in Washington state? Are you setting up incentives for criminal elements to come here and set up shop?"

Hiatt disputed that notion, saying the drug flourishes on the black market only because it is illegal. Furthermore, federal agents wouldn't stand for large-scale marijuana trafficking, he said.

He cited one recent study suggesting Washington could save tens of millions of dollars a year on law enforcement costs if marijuana was legal.

Hiatt said he was inspired to file the initiative in part by a recent conversation with Mason County prosecutor Gary Burleson, who told him to "put your money where your mouth is" and get an initiative before voters.

In an interview Monday, Burleson said he doesn't necessarily support legalizing marijuana - and certainly not in the unlimited, unregulated way the initiative proposes. But he said he's frustrated with Washington's complicated medical marijuana law, which authorizes patients to possess marijuana but is vague about how they can obtain it.

"Wouldn't legalizing this answer a whole lot of questions?" he said. "Aren't we just beating around the edges with all of these legal nuances?

"I don't have a problem with marijuana being legal, and I don't have a problem with it being illegal," Burleson said. "But right now, I have a big problem understanding what's legal and what's not."

My budy Gary Burleson.lol
Its not complicated idot. Stop persecuting people who are hurting no one.

The reason they claim confusion is because if they don't they can't keep forfieting property to buy new equipment....;) 90% to the seizing agency and 10% to the general fund. Retirement comes from the general fund.:D

Yep. Its always about the money

I will do what I can to get the Initiative passed ,maybe we can get it called
I-420. I'll bet that IF it gets passed some politician will file a lawsuit against it ,claiming that it conflicts with Federal Law.
IF Rep.Goodman gets the language in HB2401 that removes legal protection for MM people taken OUT of that Bill I would support it , But not as it is now. If this Bill gets passed by the legislature the Gov.will probably veto it.

The problem we have in Washington is intiatives are only good for 2 years and then the legislature can modify it. So even if it passes it may just be temporary. I think the decididng factor is by how large of a margin it passes. If it passes by a large margin maybe the legislature will leave it alone.
The other issue we have is judges coming in and killing these intiatives because they don't think we know what we're voting for.
All we can do is keep moving forward.

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Originally Posted by killerweed420

The problem we have in Washington is intiatives are only good for 2 years and then the legislature can modify it. So even if it passes it may just be temporary. I think the decididng factor is by how large of a margin it passes. If it passes by a large margin maybe the legislature will leave it alone.
The other issue we have is judges coming in and killing these intiatives because they don't think we know what we're voting for.
All we can do is keep moving forward.

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I agree,IF any of these Bills OR initiatives get passed ,you can bet that some asshat politician will file a lawsuit to throw it into the courts ,so they can "talk" about it for who knows how long.
As a MMj patient I am happy with the way things are now, I have legal cover to grow and possess Cannabis, so basically I don't want to see HB2401 ,as written to become law.:thumbsup:

Well looks like we don't have to worry about the legislature doing our job for us. On with the initiative.

C/P
From KOMO
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - A House committee is rejecting changes to the state's marijuana laws.

The Public Safety Committee on Wednesday voted down a measure to legalize marijuana for those 21 and older, and another that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of pot for adults.

Chairman Chris Hurst, D-Enumclaw, voted against both, saying he couldn't vote for something that conflicted with federal law.

The legalization bill failed on a 6-2 vote, while the decriminalization bill failed on a 5-3 vote. A decriminalization measure is still alive in the Senate, although a public hearing hasn't yet been scheduled for it.

Last week, activists in Washington state filed a ballot initiative that would legalize all adult marijuana possession, manufacturing and sales.

So our weasels who are supposed to represent us have killed both HB1177&HB2401 , I figured as much.
So what we have to do now is ,support the initiative put forth by Sensible Washington to straight out legalize Cannabis for adults .
To be honest , I am glad that HB2401 died , because it would have screwed the MedMJ people out here, HB1177 was OK by me, but not exactly "legalization".
support the initiative, gather signatures,sign it,encourage everyone to sign it ,AND VOTE IT INTO LAW> then let's watch the weasel bastards scuttle

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Originally Posted by killerweed420

Well looks like we don't have to worry about the legislature doing our job for us. On with the initiative.


Chairman Chris Hurst, D-Enumclaw, voted against both, saying he couldn't vote for something that conflicted with federal law.

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Well he will get the answer from the voters, and King County will lead the way. Maybe he will feel the wrath of the cannabis supporters, even the closet ones. Yoo hoo, its time, you can come out now. And since he voted against it along with others, fuck them on the taxes too!!! Can't wait to see the initiative and get the signature sheets. :D

Exactly take note of the ones that are getting in out way for sensible drug policies and vote in november.
I too am glad that HB2401 died. It would have been terrible to have the state running the sales of MMJ.

The initiative will pass with flying colors if we get out and get enough signatures to put it on the ballot for a vote, Hands down !!

We are ready for this to occur here in Wa....especially with our supreme ct. ruling the way they did in state v. fry......not to mention how our representatives handled their own bills put forth.....can ya say DUH?

Another thing to be aware of is Sen. Jim Webb from Virginia has a bill SB 714 "As amended, Senate Bill 714 will establish a `National Criminal Justice Commissionâ?? to hold public hearings and â??undertake a comprehensive review of the criminal justice system, including Federal, State, local, and tribal governmentsâ?? criminal justice costs, practices, and policies".
Write your Senators and tell them to support this AND also tell them to reschedule Cannabis from schedule 1 to schedule 3.:D

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Originally Posted by LLLou2

Another thing to be aware of is Sen. Jim Webb from Virginia has a bill SB 714 "As amended, Senate Bill 714 will establish a `National Criminal Justice Commissionâ?? to hold public hearings and â??undertake a comprehensive review of the criminal justice system, including Federal, State, local, and tribal governmentsâ?? criminal justice costs, practices, and policies".
Write your Senators and tell them to support this AND also tell them to reschedule Cannabis from schedule 1 to schedule 3.:D

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Is this a bill in front of congress or state of Virgina?

US. Congress, here is a link to the story;
Marijuana Law Reform - NORML

Thank you for the link. It appears they passed it.? On to the next level?