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Subscribe to RSSWashington State's new law makes it legal for adults to possess up to an 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.
Washington and Colorado say you can legally smoke marijuana for fun now, but here's the catch: You can't legally buy it.
Voters in those states passed initiatives last month to legalize recreational use of marijuana. As of last Thursday, it's legal under Washington law for anyone 21 and over to possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana, 16 ounces of "solid marijuana-infused product" (in other words, a pound of pot brownies) or 72 ounces of "marijuana-infused liquid."
In Colorado, Gov. John Hickenlooper signed Amendment 64 to the state Constitution on Monday, legalizing not only recreational use but also home growing, unlike in Washington.
Entrepreneurs are already planning stores to get more buck for the bhang.
PhotoBlog: Pot smokers gather under Seattle's Space Needle to celebrate
"Part of the mission of our company is to transform marijuana from a back-alley drug being sold by criminals into a premium product being enjoyed by responsible adults," said Jamen Shively, chief executive of Diego Pellicer Inc., a new company that hopes to open a chain of stores in Washington and Colorado as soon as the legal issues are cleared up.
The company is named for Shively's great-grandfather, who grew hemp in the Philippines. It eventually became the biggest hemp supplier in the world around the turn of the 20th century. ("It's a family business," said Alan Valdes, a veteran securities trader who recently joined the company as chairman.)
"We're creating the category of premium marijuana," said Shively, who worked as a corporate strategy manager for Microsoft Corp. from 2003 to 2009 before leaving for a specialty food startup. "If you are producing or intending to produce premium-grade product that's in line with our ethos, we're interested in talking to you."
Americans to feds: Keep your hands off our pot
But Diego Pellicer and its customers may be in for a long wait.
The federal government still insists that marijuana is a Schedule I controlled substance and that buying and selling it for any purpose remains a federal crime. Federal authorities officially even frown on the pot that patients get at medical marijuana dispensaries, although their policy is to look the other way in those cases.
For recreational users, well, "you're a felon," said Mark A.R. Kleiman, editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. "Period. End of paragraph."
And so is your retailer.
"Regardless of any changes in state law ... growing, selling or possessing any amount of marijuana remains illegal under federal law," said Jenny Durkan, the U.S. attorney in Seattle. She said the Justice Department is reviewing its options in Washington and Colorado.
Buzzkill: Feds fire warning shot over pot legalization
Shively said that under no circumstances would his company violate federal law.
"Let's suppose tomorrow that Washington state issued licenses and said, 'Go ahead, guys, have at it.' We would say to the state of Washington respectfully, 'Thanks, but no thanks, because we haven't heard from the federal government.'"
Until then, Diego Pellicer is rounding up funding and private shareholders to be ready if and when the Justice Department changes course.
"I think it's going to be hard for the Obama administration to slap this down," Valdes said. "Washington is a liberal Democratic state that helped (President Barack Obama) get elected. The people voted for him — it would be a slap in the face."
Like Amsterdam: Washington bar owner lets patrons get stoned
Dan Satterberg, the prosecuting attorney in King County, Wash., which is home to a thriving marijuana scene in and around Seattle, thinks the Justice Department will try anyway.
The Washington and Colorado laws require state agencies to facilitate something the federal government considers an illegal act — the sale and distribution of marijuana. That raises an important states' rights question that only the courts can sort out, he said.
Satterberg told NBC station KING of Seattle that he expects the states and the Justice Department to wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court within the next couple of years to argue the issue.
KING: Clearing up the new marijuana law: What's legal?
Overlooked in the immediate reaction to passage of the initiatives, both pro and con, is an important public health question, said Kleiman, who is a professor of public policy at the University of California-Los Angeles and co-author of "Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know."
It's not the question you might expect — how much does legalization increase marijuana use? — but "how much does legalization increase abuse?" he told NBC News.
Assuming marijuana use follows the pattern of alcohol use, most of the marijuana consumed in the U.S. is used by the 20 percent minority of people who abuse it, he said. Most pot users use it now for light recreational purposes, but if it's legal, how big will that 20 percent grow?
"Nobody knows," he said.
Questions like that are why it might, in fact, be wise for the federal government to step back and let Washington and Colorado serve as laboratories, so policy makers can "find out what happens."
Watch US News videos on NBCNews.com
If it does, Shively and Valdes will be ready.
"We are building our entire business on the premise it will be sufficiently legal in the next few months or a year," Shively said — a business that will include merchandising beyond simple sales of premium pot.
"Be looking out for really beautiful vaporizing products," he said. "That will be really hot."
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Veteran securities trader on dope. Now I understand Wall Street. Seems like they would bail out Hostess though.
Federal Law enforcement and the congress are at a crossroads: You are at the intersection of 0% effectiveness in the perennial "war on drugs" and State's rights. You can begin the legal process to assure the safety and quality of Marijuana, set up a process to tax it, and control the distribution in exactly the same way alcohol is handled, or you can waste another kabillion dollars a year in a failed program of prohibition.
As we totally failed to learn during prohibition, you can not ban a substance effectively when there is a large population of otherwise law abiding citizens who use it. Does 100 years of utter failure mean anything?
Here is the intelligence issue: Those with less intelligence will continue to argue the "bad"ness of pot. Argue that it should continue to be banned in spite of the fact that it is not banned, and the best they can do is to make criminals out of pot smokers. It is clearly illegal most everywhere, and also smoked most everywhere in defiance of the horrible evils and law enforcement pressure.
Those more intelligent people can see that whether they think pot is bad or good....there is no banning it. Banning it has been a total failure since the 1920's. Total failure.
Think the rich should pay their fair share of taxes? What about pot smokers? There is a lot of tax money going up in smoke on both sides of this issue. If you are on the side of continued "banning" of marijuana, let's hear your plan. How do you propose to ban it? Because nothing we've tried has worked. You're up...let's hear it.
Safety and quality? Let people grow their own and that "problem" is solved...it's a non-problem. And don't tax it. Why does everyone think it needs to be taxed? Maybe they should tax your lawn and ornamental trees? How about your rose bushes? geez.
"Why does everyone think it needs to be taxed?"
Automatic assumption. Because that's the way the gov operates, tax EVERYTHING into oblivion, blow ALL of the money faster than they take it in so that they can justify it in their own minds to continuously keep raising said taxes on EVERYTHING until NO ONE has ANYTHING left. We are doomed. We either sit back and allow them to strangle the life out of us, or we band together and go down fighting.
No stoner thinks it should be taxed. Boo Hoo. It costs society an amount of money, so the taxation is to replace that money and to provide controls. Want it legal once and for all? There will be taxation and control.
And by "controlling quality" I mean keeping out contaminants like poison ivy and rhubarb, not "getcha higher" quality. As you point out, that can be controlled by the grower. Wine can be made at home without a state or federal tax stamp up to...is it still 8 gallons a year?? Whatever the amount, pot could be grown at home NOT FOR SALE for home use only without tax if it gets set up that way.
First they need to arrest, convict and lock up their God who created it, then they can go after the "little" guys. I could never figure how a natural, unprocessed plant can be made illegal.
Not going but so far with you there Majick. I wouldn't want people growing coca or poppy plants 'round here since those are the ones that are used to produce the drugs that really screw people up.
Good luck in your God raid. Hope you brought some big cuffs...lol.
Troy, coca and poppy have to be processed to create opiates and cocaine. Weed--just dry it and smoke it.
I know....my point is only weed nothing else
Where will all that legal pot come from?....
Well if you legalize it and tax it heavily like you plan too it won't really matter because people will just buy it black market anyway....why pay more for legal weed than illegal weed?
Greyfox, I agree...lmao. The collective IQ of our Federal Government, except the military, is probably slightly above or right at retarded. Clearly nobody gives a shiznit what they think anyway about the issue and why should we? They have lost all credibility with regard to regulating anything at all period. For crying out loud, they classify it as dangerous and comparable to meth, heroin and cocaine....probably made the call while they were drunk off their asses too.
Iowa NICER 2012 - PLANET of the DRUG APES.
FREE DANA BEAL!
I'm glad they finally legalize pot, don't smoke it but don't care if others do. Now, the government needs to make it subject to the same laws as booze, don't drink either, tax the hell out of it and allow production. Next.
Course, all those that get killed from stoned drivers would probably rather it was not used..
They're gone Ed, move on brother.
Death is a part of life and is an inevitable thing no matter the circumstances or timing. My guess would be that this alleged stoned driver that killed your relatives was probably impaired by more than just pot.
It could have just as easily been a myopic little old lady on Xanax or Darvocet.
You sir are a control freak who wants to run the lives of your peers as you see fit.
I will run my own life thank you very much and I' ll be the last person to tell you how to think and live and what you are allowed to ingest at your discretion. I would thank you to do the same.
"They're gone Ed, move on brother."
If they really ever existed...
I can tell you, they never did exist...or they were also LEGALLY DRUNK...
I have admitted HUNDREDS of patients with alcohol related injuries from falls (even off the bar stool itself, yes), car accidents, equipment injuries, fights and just plain stupidity.
In almost 20 yrs of nursing, I have NEVER admitted even one patient with these injuries while smoking pot and pot alone...now there may be one here or ther, but the number of injuries and overdoses of pot are not even measureable.
Same with cancer, zero from pot, lots from alcohol and cigarettes.
"Got any drugs"
"No, what are you in here for??"
"Drugs"
Charlie Sheen and Jennifer Grey from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"
Since when has the federal government decided to enforce so called "laws"? Maybe they should work on enforcing the statutes concerning illegal immigrants and maybe even not sell weapons to the cartels through schemes like Fast and Furious. Wouldn't that be refreshing? If the feds pick and choose which laws they want to enforce, maybe I'll pick and choose which ones I want to obey?
"If the feds pick and choose which laws they want to enforce, maybe I'll pick and choose which ones I want to obey?"
Then they'll just pick and choose which prison they would like to house you in. It's a no win for you, and a win win for them, and that's how it works.
If the Feds try to enforce the laws against pot, then they "WILL HAVE TO" start enforcing the "ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION" laws.
There have always been stoned people on the street. More stoned than drunk, you just don't know their there because they don't draw attention to themselves like drunks. Man you people are uneducated.
Oh yeah? Really? Have you not lived long enough yet to realize that they do as they damn well please?
I suspect some of the pot will come from Michelle's garden at the White House.
Just what we need - more stoned people operating cars and machinery. The drunks I've seen can at least tell you their names - the potheads can't tell up from down - nevermind their names or even the day of the week.
You are a FOOL. Enjoy your booze looser. When you get liver cancer you can then enjoy med pot to ease your chemo side effects. Can't wait for dumbfools like you to die off.
JP,
Drunks operating cars & machinery kill. At least the stoner knows he's stoned & acts accordingly. Drunks get the mistaken idea they're doing better than ever, but if you can feel the glow, your performance has already deteriorated.
you are a very stupid human being. you should read more and say less nonsess.
If you need the "weed" to feel high or better, good luck. It's a long road.
Not if you have an MMJ card. You can have it delivered to your house.
Who cares if it is legal or not. We can get it anywhere in the world anytime so why make it legal in some states. The feds are never going to allow it until another generation of Federal law enforcement takes over and is not scared like these old farts that they are running the country right now. Give it 10 more years and none of this will be an issue. All the feds who have devoted their lives to keeping pot off the streets have been wasting their time, and the so called war on pot, the feds will never win because there are so many rednecks growing pot it would boggle their minds. 20% users, wow, that is way off. More like 62%
The day is coming brothas and sistas. The man is getting it back this time. We all will have it on the federal level soon. Just like before when it was 100% legal before the alcohol and tobacco lobyists got it made illegal. Yes it's true, pot was once legal on the federal level. Bong hits for breakfast folks.
The sheer and utter ignorance of ANYONE claiming that Marijuana is addictive is puzzling. Instead of listening to all the facts people ( Namely Ed. ) are caught up on the fact that pot is addictive because people like and enjoy smoking it. That pot kills people or that people that drive while stoned kill people can happen to anyone with anything. The addition of any other substance with marijuana does create an effect of enhancement. So that can be dangerous. If you test 100 people and 1 person kills someone during an accident after having ingested marijuana, does that automatically mean that EVERYONE will have the same problem? Overall numbers seem to indicate no.
But if only one legitimate laboratory was allowed (currently) to test without stringent rules we might actually find out how the effects of marijuana go to in extreme cases and what people are likely to be like with it in their systems. But NO, we cannot have any of that because of the silly prohibitionist rules. See people like Ed are not bad, just someone that lost a loved on to a fools mistake. But cutting off your hand to spite your face is foolish. Unless you can cite reasonable statistics that are in line with OFFICIAL testing of marijuana -Read what Nixon said about it before and after he commissioned Governor Shafer to form a study on it to investigate it's harmful affects as pro-crime measures were being developed by Nixon himself - then compare the 2 and tell me that even one iota of it is addictive then I might agree with you.
Addiction as a word, term or popular thought is so widely misunderstood that it is thrown around ignorantly as a means to prove an argument. Marijuana is in NO way physically addictive. It is physically gratifying which is different than addictive. Does it have a long term affect on people? Most certainly, but how many places can you name that have a Betty Ford clinic specifically used to treat marijuana addiction? None. But you do have centers that specialize in addiction counseling for alcohol, hard drugs that affect the opiate receptors in the brain. Depressants, Uppers, Downers etc. Marijuana is only added in after the fact because most anyone that uses ANY substance to alter consiouness is trying to as a means of escape from the bull@!$%# around them. Ed said that if the Lord wanted us to use drugs we would be "born with needles in our arms" - Curiously enough every human being has specific chemical receptors in the human brain that recognize THC. How can you explain that? There are opiate receptors yes, and receptors that react to uppers and downers, but none so specific as Cannabinoid receptors.
Now do a small amount of people have withdrawal symptoms from marijuana? It does not seem so. If you're upset you cannot have it it is more likely from using it to deal with the stresses of the world. Withdrawal and addiction are 2 of if not the most misunderstood facets of brain chemistry by the layman. Crabby is not addicted, physical withdrawals are painful and draining. I have yet to see one marijuana user go through that or anyone document it happening.
In a country where they ship jobs off by the millions, the message everyday is consume, consume, consume. With no natural or unnatural way to fill in the gap and be productive. Yet something that with a fresh an open market could reviatalize our tax rolls, bringing jobs ( Hemp manufacturing for one), funding and security back to our country you say no. You vote and you vote, yet it seemingly never makes a difference when the government does what it wants to anyways. So how are all those other government rulings and additional laws helping so far? Deficit? Wow, did regular citizens run that up? No, piss poor mismanagement. Perhaps the same thing happened here. Too much Government is uneeded government.
To sum up, too much Government. Did you know there are people who believe the government should have the right to tell some folks who they can & can't marry?
Or what they can and can't marry as in your case, huh polka-boy? Imagine government telling you you can't marry your mom or a 2 year old. Oh, vicious government. always keeping the goat humpers down.
Of course Steve would introduce child molesting & bestiality into the situation. Apparently he's unfamiliar with the concept of consenting adults.
I have long voiced the opinion that medical marijuana and legalized marijuana if tolerated by any presidency is only as good as the term of the presidency. The Colorado model of allowing persons to grow their own is the only model that will work with the federal prohibition in place for the long term.
All the states that have retail centers are only creating an easy target for a federal crackdown. If a state is serious about taking the drug cartels out of the picture and eroding the federal prohibition needs to allow a personal growing option.
The federal government still insists marijuana is a schedule 1 substance in complete contradiction of the entire scientific & medical community. Judges, lawyers, & law enforcement have absolutely no business making scientific or medical decisions.
Science is all about asking questions in order to ascertain the facts, & make judgements accordingly. Can you imagine a lawyer wanting the jury to get the facts? While police officers have successfully delivered babies & applied first aid, would you want one prescribing medicine? Would you want a judge second guessing your doctor?
Clearly we need to distribute responsibility in a more rational manner.
Where will all the legal pot sales come from? Same place all the illegal pot sales come from... your friends. We don't want corporate slime taking over and cashing in on sale of the revolutionary weed anyway.
Free dope! For a happier United States of America TODAY! Can you say "We want the world and we want it NOW?"
Legalizing pot is one thing. Why the Federal government is so against it is another. What bothers me is when you read that the Taliban had eradicated opium in Afghanistan and then the American military came and within 8 years the American Military is guarding opium fields. Why? What is it with illegal drugs, the drug war and the billions of dollars involved that raises so many questions about Federal involvement? Someone is lining very deep pockets fighting the issue of legalizing marijuana and the other identified illegal drugs. I understand the Federal budget for the war on drugs. I understand the pharmaceutical concerns that they would loose billions on pain medications if pot were legalized and I understand why the breweries lobby against recreational use of marijuana. I just don't understand why our "Federal" government would think that the average American is blind to all the concerns about the Federal government's insistence that they won't change the classification of Marijuana from an illegal drug to something legal that allows people to choose whether they want to hide and use it or openly use it. The Federal government knows it isn't going away.
All one needs to do in order to be able to understand it ALL is just follow the $$$$$$.
Prohitbition always increases the price, & consequently, the profit margins. Availability largely remains unchanged. We've seen this many times whe abortion was outlawed, or legalized.
I'm not a smoker but I say good for those two states. Food is going to boom. California had enough votes before to legalize it and the federal court over turned it, I thought the people ran this country?
Munchies?? That is a litle funny. I can remember in "the day" I used to be able to put away two Woppers when I smoked...I can't even imagine my stomache holding that much at one time now LOL
"I thought the people ran this country?"
Used to, not anymore. It was all handed over to the global elitists and their puppet politicians who does their bidding for them. The people became bored with it after they were buried alive in good times and toys. Excellent strategy on the part of the elites if you ask me. It worked like a charm.
Kinda of funny the pot heads didnt think about this Hmmm
Lol! Obama's already flat out said he's not going to legalize pot!! Way to go under-informed voters!!
And the downside is?
I suppose that with regard to issues like the legalization of drugs, the people have the right to vote for whatever they want. There IS the question of states and federal rights of course, but putting that aside, if the people want drugs legal, then they should have that right, just as they did with alcohol However, my own opinion and exerience makes me think it is a mistake. but that is just me. I will continue to speak against it, or vote against it, but I am only one. Drugs like pot ( for recreational use) are something your body does not need. They are being used to cover up, take the place of, or to fix problems that should be adressed in other ways. I have used drugs like pot, I used to drink, I used to smoke, but now, I see that they really are just crutches and I don't need any of them to enjoy life. In most cases, all they will do is shorten it it, or that of others anyway....
But is pot a drug? An argument can be made that it's nothing more than an herbal treatment like so many teas, or aloe vera.
Also, I'm not comfortable with the idea of kicking someone's crutch out from under him, her, or it.
Well, that is you, it doesn't change what I believe, vote for a or argue against
Ed:
Do you think Alcohol Prohibition was a mistake? How about today's drug prohibition?
Besides addressing addiction, do you have any other alternatives or possible solutions?
And again, do you really think we can have a "drug free world"?
(Ans: yes, yes, no, & no.)
The new alleged progressive thinking. The marijuana druggies can solve our problems in 2 decades, and the cocaine druggies will have solutions in 2 seconds. Oh let's not forget the heroin druggies, there are no problems to solve.
First, is it a drug? How is it different from herbal teas, infusions, aloe vera, meditation, incense, etc?
mikeyknows:
Are you related to or do you know Arizona Tumbleweed?
He uses the same term 'druggies" which is actually an insult and derogatory. As with him, you show your ignorance of the subject when you refer to pot smokers as "druggies".
But, you probably all ready knew that, right? Just to be an ass, huh?
As a recent articule in MSNBC (NBCNews): Federals, Stay Away From Our Pot
They have not business contradicting the will of the people, The people of Washington, Colorado voted in majority as well as Massachusetts for Medical Marijuana.
I will expect that in the next Presidential Election another 3 or more States join the 'Legalize 1 oz of Marijuana'. That would be even more pressure to the Feds to keep their hands away from the Pot!
And they will still do as they damn well please. This is NOT OUR America any longer. It is theirs and the people who pulls their strings.
I wonder what is going to happen if the government overturns a popular vote by the people?
They already do that with the electoral college. Popular vote doesn't mean squat.
The electoral college is going to overturn the legalization of weed in CO and WA? I'm not talking about a presidential election.
Well, tell that to the citizens who voted for legalization and guess what their reaction is going to be if the feds try to overturn this vote.
If they do, we live in tyranny.