Dec.
6th
Public tokers to feds: Please bust Washington
This editorial will appear in Friday’s print edition.
True to form, some weed heads hailed the arrival of legal marijuana Thursday by breaking the law that legalized it.
Initiative 502, which took effect Thursday, allows legal possession of up to an ounce of cannabis but forbids smoking it (or otherwise displaying) it in public. That didn’t slow down the crowds of jubilant tokers who jointly lit up in front of cameras in a public park – Seattle Center – the moment I-502 kicked in at midnight.
No surprise: Dope-smokers are not renowned for respecting drug laws.
Nor are the Seattle’s City Council and its city attorney, Pete Holmes, whose attitudes reflect a marijuana-friendly city. Taking their cues from the top, the Seattle Police Department has announced it has no plans to issue the citations for the open-air consumption that is explicitly forbidden under I-502.
Seattle may be OK with public pot parties, but blowing smoke at the TV cameras does no favors to I-502 statewide.
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