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Subscribe to RSSWashington State's new law makes it legal for adults to possess up to one ounce of marijuana, but some speculate the federal government will prosecute those who use marijuana on federal land because federal law prohibits marijuana use. NBC's Kristen Dahlgren reports.
With marijuana possession now legal in Washington state, and soon in Colorado too, residents face a confusing mishmash of federal and state laws when it comes to whether and where they can get high.
That's because the federal government still bans pot growing and possession, regardless of what state laws say.
Last night, just hours before legislation legalizing pot in her state went into effect, U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan of Washington warned residents that "growing, selling or possessing any amount of marijuana remains illegal under federal law."
Her words could be a buzzkill for Washington's pot-lovers, yet at midnight -- the moment Washington's law went into effect -- marijuana smokers lit up beneath Seattle's Space Needle, reveling in the joy of living in a state that allows possession of pot, even if state law still says it is illegal to smoke it in public.
"It's too good to be just for the young," Pat Edmonson, 67, of Whidbey Island, Wash., said as she smoked marijuana in Seattle's City Center with a crowd of about 100 others who were lighting up, despite the no-pot-in-public rule.
State leaders have appealed to the Justice Department for guidance.
Jim Seida / NBC News
Pat Edmonson, 67, of Whidbey Island, Wash., was in Seattle with her daughter to celebrate the legalization of the possession of marijuana.
Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes encouraged celebrants to enjoy their highs inside closed doors.
"I think that they should acknowledge this newfound right," he told NPR station KUOW. "I think they should celebrate in the privacy of their homes if they choose to do so. And be thankful that we’re no longer arresting some 10,000 Washingtonians a year in the state of Washington and spending well over $100 million in law enforcement resources on that."
In Colorado, a measuring legalizing marijuana use and possession for those over 21 will go into effect next month. But one place where federal laws will have an impact: college campuses.
"In order not to lose federal funds, we need to comply with federal law," University of Colorado at Boulder spokeswoman Malinda Hiller-Huey told The Denver Post.
College students on campuses across the state will be issued criminal tickets if they are found with marijuana, The Post reported. Off-campus, however, students of legal age will be able to grow and use small amounts of marijuana, per the new amendment, according to the University of Colorado.
While Colorado's new weed measure doesn't have any provisions about driving under the influence built into it, Washington state will have a zero-tolerance policy.
"We've had decades of studies and experience with alcohol," Washington State Patrol spokesman Dan Coon told The Associated Press. "Marijuana is new, so it's going to take some time to figure out how the courts and prosecutors are going to handle it. But the key is impairment: We will arrest drivers who drive impaired, whether it be drugs or alcohol."
It's unclear whether the Justice Department will try to stop the decriminalization of pot in Washington and Colorado. The laws in both states allow adults 21 and older to possess a small amount of marijuana, which will be sold in state-licensed stores and taxed heavily, potentially bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars a year for school, health care and government needs.
Before the vote passed in his state, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper acknowledged the legal challenges his state would face.
"It's probably going to pass, but it's still illegal on a federal basis. If we can't make it legal here because of federal laws, we certainly want to decriminalize it,” he told NBC’s Brian Williams.
Seventeen states and the District of Columbia already have laws allowing for the medical use of marijuana, according to the National Council of Legislatures. The measures in Washington and Colorado go a step further, explicitly allowing people to smoke pot for more than just medicinal purposes.
NBC News' Pete Williams, Isolde Raftery and Jim Seida contributed to this report.
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All prohibition laws are evil and so are the people who advocate them.
Prohibition has transformed what was once the freest and most prosperous nation ever into a worthless police state. That which once made the US great has been destroyed.
Thanks a lot Christians. It is the passage of laws intended to serve your interests that destroyed freedom
and liberty.
Spare me the BS that the US began as a Christian Nation. The first treaty ever signed between the US and another nation, the Treaty of Tripoli, specifically states that the US was NOT a Christian nation. Google it.
The sad truth is that passing laws on behalf of the Christian faith are the cause of the destruction of our justice system. Its a simple process. Christians forced the passage of "Bad Laws" to serve their interests at the expense of others and in general BAD LAWS ATTRACT BAD PEOPLE TO ENFORCE THEM.
Christian socialism can therefore be blamed for the epidemic of police brutality plaguing this nation.
It is a tragedy that so many Christians failed to learn from the Amish and Quakers the benefits of leaving other people alone and not hurting them. It is a tragedy that so many Christians are on the side of the DEA.
@ JEM-------they have been doing it since the first Nicene Council in roughly 325 AD.
Check history
Two Questions:
1) What will the State of Washongton do with the $100 MIllion savings?
2) Should state laws trump federal law? I am good with this as long as it applys to all states, not just some.
1) The State of Washington is currently running a massive budget deficit, so the savings will, hopefully, simply be absorbed into the budget as a lower deficit, as opposed to turning around and funding a new spending program. There is no particular call on those dollars at this time.
However, within a year, the state of washington's Liquor Control Board must release rules governing the production, distribution, and sale of marijuana, including a taxation scheme. The taxation is directed to be revenue-positive, as in it should generate more revenue than is needed to fund the regulatory operations. Those revenues are directed toward health care and education with in the state's general fund.
2) as to trumping federal law, that's based on a misunderstanding of federal authority and nature of the legal "conflict" herein. The supremacy clauses in the constitution basically state that no state can compel or order it's citizens to do something which violates federal statutes. In essence, states cannot force their citizens to choose between obeying state law and obeying federal law. It does not say that the states must make all the same things illegal that feds make illegal.
More specifically, it is possible in for the citizens to comply with both federal and state law by choosing to not smoke pot, so there is no legally judiciable conflict between the state government and federal government at this time. No trump card is being played. The state is simply saying "we no longer consider this a criminal act and will not spend our time and resources enforcing this prohibition." If the Feds continue to do so, that is their perogative, and undoubtedly, some smokers, sellers, and growers will face federal charges. But 95% of all marijuana prosecutions are state level, so the total number of people facing marijuana related charges will drop preciptously unless the federal government seriously ramps up resources in Washingto to fight marijuana usage.
There are only 5,000 DEA agents nationwide, involved in all aspects of the drug war, how many in Washington State I don't know. There are only three federal courthouses, and about 20 US District court judges in the state. That's what the US government has to draw from for pot enforcement.
Compare that to nearly 40,000 police, sheriff, and state patrol officers in Washington no longer arresting folks for pot. The county courthouses in all 39 counties no longer processing those defendants for pot. You can see where this is going. No amount of federal squeezing in Washington can effectively fight pot use without state help, which won't be coming. And without having to trump a single federal law.
But see the local law enforcement in Washington and Colorado have already stated that they will not assist or impede the feds enforcing of the laws regauring marijuana. Mainly because that local law enforcement isn't paid by the federal government. They are paid by the cities and states they serve.
B Mass...I'm not taking a stance on the subject...don't care one way or the other...but local and state police agencies receive a "boat-load" of federal dollars for everything from Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, to narcotic enforcement, etc., etc., etc. Should the feds ever decide to play "hard-ball" (which seems unlikely) your local and state taxes will climb right through the roof to make up the short fall. Also, should the feds decide to really play hard-ball, they could seize all of the tax taken in from the sale of marijuana in a particular state...what a cool constitutional battle that would be...huh? Wait a minute...could the US Attorney General arrest a state Governor for promoting the sale and distribution of a controlled substance? Could one state (a neighboring state) sue in federal court another state that allowed legal marijuana (under the "attractive nuisance" concept).
This is so much fun...you know...the "what if" stuff.
RT--sure, a lot of federal money flows in to local police departments for drug enforcement operations through "asset forfeiture" actions. You know, those "fun" little legal proceedings where it's "the State vs. Car with VIN#XXXXXX" or "state vs. a boat" or "state vs. a pile of cash" where the government doesn't have to prove the owner committed a crime, and doesn't even have to prove the property is proceeds from a crime. Rather, the owner has to prove that property was not involved in a crime and is not proceeds of a crime. Local police departments rake in millions this way by "participating" in federal actions and then having the proceeds kicked back down to them.
Personally, as a citizen of Washington state, I'm happy our police forces will be out of that kind of legalized theft. And if they are doing fewer drug interdiction operations, they won't need that money anyway.
"$100 million in law enforcement resources" That is just Washington alone. Guess who the biggest lobbyists are that want to keep pot illegal: private prisons, the prison guard unions, and of course big Pharma corporations.
Personally I am just happy to know that ALL the crime at the Federal level has been eradicated and they have NOTHING left to do but harass people over a little bit of Marijuana.
They seem to be "cutting off their noses to spite their official faces".
Seriously all arrests will do is further take from the system and clog the courts whereas in the long term the tax benefits would ultimately allow even DoJ employees to get raises.
Further proof our federal government is deeply stupid and doesn't give a crap what the majority of it's citizens want.
Polls show that about 1/2 of Americans approve of legalization. Most of the 50% that are against are over the age of 60. The Feds and any politician that support interference with the state laws need to reflect on these numbers if they are considering a future in gov't. More states will continue to legalize. A paraphrase from Bob Dylan seems appropriate "The Times They are A-changin."
Funny how this issue makes pro State rights and keep government out of my life types out of liberals and promoters of personal freedom and choice proponents out of conservatives. Bipartisanship is a beautiful thing man.
Maybe if the feds stopped trying to legislate everything they are afraid of and concentrate on the stuff that actually kills people -- like tobacco, Mexican drug cartels and the amazing number of illegal immigrants from countries that hate Americans -- they might actually find they can make the US safer. Marijuana used to grow wild almost everywhere. It took only a few radical Baptists around 1950 to make pot illegal, and it is well past time to do away with the 'marijuana prohibition' the federal government still practices. Why do they worry so much about people driving while smoking pot and at the same time subsidize tobacco growers and distilleries in the Caribbean?
Actually it became illegal in the 1920's and 30's. It was deemed a poision then listed under the Uniform State Narcotic Act. They then also released the lie "Reefer Madness" also shown under several different names originally released as Tell Your Children and sometimes titled as The Burning Question, Dope Addict, Doped Youth and Love Madness.
The main reason for the prohibition was that southern states and many folks were worried about drug crazed Mexicans inpregnating their daughters and loss of farming jobs.
Many of you folks need to check out LEAP.CC incase they dont allow the link it is leap . cc just minus the spaces. The website is law enforcement against prohibition and it's members are judges, cops, DAs, etc. There is a wealth of info about the trillions wasted on this WAR, The War on Drugs and the trillions made by the private prisions. Right now we are building more prisions then Health Care Facilities
At no time since the years leading up to the US Civil War, has the US Federal Government been so reviled and distrusted. Moreover, this distrust is not isolated to a few Southern states but spreads across nearly two-thirds of the 48 contiguous.
What is a national security state to do?
Those that just passed laws legalizing pot have also just dipped their toes into the long-misunderstood pool of states rights. This corner of the US Constitution had been largely isolated and sealed off like some retarded child in the attic... repeatedly associated with racism. But the US Constitution IS very clear that the states DO have the right to makes laws regarding issues not DIRECTLY covered by the constitution.
This includes gay marriage and pot.
The feds are ticked because big pharma and the alcohol industry... not to mention the prison industry that makes billions locking away non-violent felons busted for pot, don't want to see this happen and they will pay the guys on Capital Hill to try and kill this leap for liberty.
If all the folks that are always speaking up on the side of States Rights don't come down real hard on the side of the State of Washington on this matter I'll never believe a single word you say ever again.
Not like I ever did in the first place, but you get the point, right?
I hear the cops are trying to figure out how to spot someone driving high on pot. That one is simple. They will be eating or driving very slowly enjoying life. Pot should be for the home and only for the home in my opinion. The FEDs will never wake up. That's half the war on drugs right there.
Dude, Like I forgot what I was gonna say....
Don't bogart that joint along my friend and I will tell you.
If they allowed smoking weed at baseball and football games they could sell pretzels and chips for a dollar a bag for the first hour. After that they could sell them for 5 bucks a bag.
They already sell chips for $5 a bag at the games well pro anyways. Heck it's almost $10 for a beer and a hotdog will set you back $6.
Since there has never been any definitive proof that cannabis is harmful it should be legal. But as long as the liquor lobbiests continue to pump booze into the halls of congress it will never be legal on a federal scale. Thats why it will continue to be illegal. After all you can't win against people that love their booze. I think sobriety tests should be performed on every congressman as he or she enters the hall. If their all sober maybe they can get something done instead of bickering like a bunch of children. And by the way, I don't think the liquor lobbiests should be able to donate their wares to congress.
Those tests should be applied anytime they are in office/on the Hill. Heck how many people here have jobs that let them drink while they are working
What ever happened to "by the people for the people"? The PEOPLE voted to legalize this relatively benign herb and who are the stinking FEDS to try and deny them that right?
Gun sales are soaring. They say its because Obama got re-elected and they fear a ban through the United Nations better known as the field of fools. I hope they are right about the reasons lol
Lots of people think 'hey I don't use it personally so why should I care'? Well here's why you should care.
-Less of your tax dollars spent prosecuting nonviolent mj users in the courts.
-Less of your taxes spent locking them up.
-Less of your taxes spent funding DEA operations and task forces.
-LOADS of taxes brought in from legalized sales.
--It would help lots of people with medical conditions+less money for big pharma.
-Your friends and family wouldn't have their lives screwed up big time for enjoying a better and safer alternative to alcohol.
-Legalization largely would eliminate the whole gateway theory.
-Better education for your kids on the issue.
-Regulation would make it HARDER for your kids to get it. Drug dealers don't ask for ID. Liquor stores do.
-Alcohol use would probably go down(always a plus)
-Industrial hemp has huge applications. It would improve loads of everyday products that we use and make them better/cheaper. It has potential for bio-fuels, clothing, paper, construction materials and much much more./
-We could redirect the resources spent fighting mj to really crack down on the dealers and producers of the harder stuff like meth/heroin/coke.
Or hey let's just waste another trillion dollars fighting the 'devil weed' and ruin the lives of millions more.
An arrest without a trial is pretty worthless. If a federal trial is held within the state of Washington, the jury is likely to tell the feds to go stuff it. In other words, it may be illegal, but nothing feels better than sticking it to the man.
Oh Baloney, Feds Fire warning shot?? Oh come on now, the Socialist Demoncrat Regime in Washington probably help arrange the entire thing from the get go. Now the Case would probably be not so much over the Pot but over the Fed's ability to dictate, er, over rule the States as in limiting States Rights which the current Socialist Demoncrat Regime has been trying to do now for going on 5 years. So what is the real reasons behind the Feds objections...We aren't getting that information from the Media are we..It may be time to set up an Underground Newspaper system like we had in the 60's and 70's to spread the truth and word about our government like we did back then.
Dude, we're doing that. Right here. Right now.
Put down the drink and back away slowly.
Where exactly are they going to get the marijuana they plan to sell. Are the states, in violation of federal law, going to grow their own? Do they plan on buying it from the drug cartels in Mexico? Since the state is going to license these stores, will the governor and the legislature be arrested on federal drug charges for distribution? It's a nice idea to legalize pot state by state but it's not feasible.
Support your local sheriff.
Pot is safe in your own homes, was 50 years ago and will be tomorrow. Buying it has been illegal, growing user amounts safe... Nothing really has changed. Keep your weed at home and not in your glove box etc.... Ive smoked for years and years and never a problem with the law... not sure what the hub bub is about.......
This legalization issue aside. It's really time for people to start talking about where to draw the limits on federal power. The fed's think the states have no right to decide anything for themselves anymore. Whether it's immigration or pot or whatever. You can't elect a state level politician that can do anything to stop the federal governments hegemony. I think the Federal branch of our government needs to be trimmed back. It's too expensive and has control over things that it should even be involved with. It's part of what's wrong with America.
Paranoia strikes deep for the smokers and tokers now that the government is involved, but that's what America voted for.............more government control.
Sigh. No, it is actually less government control. Government allowing something to be possessed, bought and sold in exchange for tax revenue is less control than government throwing people in jail for possessing, buying, or selling it.
Full national legalization..now !
I say if the USA can vote a person like Obama to be President than the USA should allow pot