Smokers party over legal pot

[ChaoKuan]

The New Paper
Monday, Dec 10, 2012

The crowds of happy people lighting joints under Seattle's Space Needle early on Thursday morning with nary a police officer in sight bespoke the new reality: Marijuana is legal under Washington state law.

Hundreds gathered at Seattle Center for a New Year's Eve-style countdown to midnight, when the legalisation measure passed by voters last month took effect. When the clock struck, they cheered and sparked up in unison.

A few dozen people gathered on a sidewalk outside the north Seattle headquarters of the annual Hempfest celebration and did the same, offering joints to reporters and blowing smoke into television news cameras.

"I feel like a kid in a candy store!" shouted Hempfest volunteer Darby Hageman. "It's all becoming real now!"

Washington and Colorado became the first US states to vote to decriminalise and regulate the possession of 28g or less of marijuana by adults over 21, AP reported.

Singapore has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to drugs.

Both measures call for setting up state licensing schemes for pot growers, processors and retail stores. Colorado's law is set to take effect by Jan 5.

Technically, Washington's new marijuana law still forbids smoking pot in public, which remains punishable by a fine, like drinking in public. But pot fans wanted a party, and Seattle police weren't about to write them any tickets.

In dealing with marijuana, the Seattle Police Department told its 1,300 officers on Wednesday - just before legalisation took hold - that until further notice they shall not issue citations for public marijuana use.

Officers will be advising people not to smoke in public, police spokesman Jonah Spangenthal-Lee said.

 

[ChaoKuan]

For now, selling marijuana remains illegal.

Washington has been given a year to come up with a system of state-licensed growers, processors and retail stores, with the marijuana taxed 25 per cent at each stage.

Analysts have estimated that a legal pot market could bring Washington hundreds of millions of dollars a year in new tax revenue for schools, health care and basic government functions.

Still illegal

But marijuana remains illegal under federal law. That means federal agents can still arrest people for it, and it's banned from federal properties, including military bases and national parks.

The Justice Department has not said if it will sue to try to block the regulatory schemes in Washington and Colorado from taking effect.

"The department's responsibility to enforce the Controlled Substances Act remains unchanged," said a statement issued Wednesday by the Seattle US attorney's office.

The legal question is whether the establishment of a regulated marijuana market would "frustrate the purpose" of the federal pot prohibition, and many constitutional law scholars say it very likely would.

That leaves the political question of whether the administration wants to try to block the regulatory system, even though it would remain legal to possess up to 28g of marijuana.

Ms Alison Holcomb, drug policy director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington and campaign manager for New Approach Washington, which led the legalisation drive, said the voters clearly showed they're done with marijuana prohibition.

Weed laws elsewhere

Uruguay moved a step closer to becoming the first country to legalise marijuana, with lawmakers introducing a bill that outlines how the drug would be produced, sold and regulated.

The bill introduced last month in the lower house of Congress would allow citizens to grow up to six marijuana plants and to buy 1.4 ounces (39g) of marijuana every month, New York Times reported.

It would also allow for the licensing of marijuana clubs with up to 15 members, 90 plants and an annual production limit of nearly 7kg.

President Jose Mujica has promoted the legalisation of marijuana as a way to reduce the addiction and crime associated with harder drugs.

Supporters expect the bill to become law by early next year.

'Tourism suicide'

In the Netherlands, the government had ditched a plan to issue "weed passes".

This means that from Jan 1 next year, only Dutch residents can buy cannabis.

This was labelled "tourism suicide" by critics because an estimated one million holidaymakers a year go to Amsterdam to legally buy and smoke drugs, Daily Mail reported.

Dutch MPs have now ruled that each city is free to decide its own legislation on the sale of marijuana and hashish.

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