POT'S SHOT

Marijuana Decriminalization Struggles in the Legislature

Twelve Democrats are cosponsoring a bill in the state house that
would reduce the penalty for possessing up to 40 grams of marijuana
to a civil infraction, subject to a $100 fine. It would only
decriminalize marijuana possession, not legalize it. Introduced on
January 14, this is the first legislative attempt to reform
Washington's marijuana laws in decades. Under current state law,
possessing even one joint is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail.

But does it stand a chance?

This seems an unlikely year for the legislature to embrace any
civil-liberty-lovin' proposals, considering the top item on their
agenda: bridging the state's $6 billion budget gap. However, the
financial crisis may, paradoxically, prove a windfall. According to
data from the Washington State Institute for Public Policy, the state
would save $7.5 million a year by passing the law-a figure that's
based on the 11,553 pot-possession arrests in Washington in 2007.

"I think any chances of passing will hinge on the opportunity to
achieve budget savings and whether this proposal is less unpopular
than other proposals for cost savings," says the bill's prime
sponsor, Representative Dave Upthegrove (D-33). "Is it more
controversial than closing parks?"

Upthegrove also hopes that, as a suburban representative, he gives
the bill "a little political cover."

But the bill has already hit a roadblock. Representative Christopher
Hurst (D-31), a former narcotics officer and ex-cop who chairs the
Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee, refuses to give
the bill a hearing. "I am concerned that [the bill] is in direct
conflict with federal law," which makes possessing any quantity of
marijuana a crime, he says. "If we tell citizens of Washington that
marijuana is no longer a crime, and they cross the border and get
arrested... or if they go out on their boat [and are arrested by the
Coast Guard], they are not going to be happy with us."

However, it's unclear whether the federal government would bother
prosecuting people for such a minor crime. Even federal
law-enforcement officers can treat possession of up to an ounce of
marijuana as an infraction, rather than arresting and jailing an
offender. And Representative Roger Goodman (D-45), an attorney and
former head of the King County Bar Association's Drug Policy Project,
says, "Federal law clearly allows the states to prescribe their own
penalties, whether civil or criminal."

"Thirteen other states have already [decriminalized
marijuana]"-including Massachusetts, where a measure similar to the
one in the Washington State legislature passed a public vote in
November by a 30-point margin-"and we haven't seen any of those other
states struggle with [the] problem" of federal prosecution, says
Alison Holcomb, director of the ACLU of Washington's Drug Policy
Project. California has made possession of marijuana a civil
infraction, and, like Washington, it also sits on an international
border and has a coastline patrolled by federal agents.

Hurst says that if a companion bill passes in the state senate and
comes to his committee, he will give it a hearing.

State senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-36) says she'll introduce
companion legislation within a week. But the bill faces an uphill
battle in the senate, where it will have to get out of the judiciary
committee. Three of the committee's eight members are Republicans and
another member is conservative Democrat James Hargrove (D-24).

Meanwhile, no Republicans have cosponsored the current bill, making
it a lefty long shot that could take years to pass, cosponsor
Representative Brendan Williams (D-22, Olympia) acknowledges. Cal
Anderson, Washington's first gay legislator, "used to be a voice in
the wilderness on gay civil-rights issues," he says. "You just keep
plugging away and people start thinking in terms of the change."