MEDICAL MARIJUANA - TIME TO REFLECT THE PUBLIC'S WILL

In 1923, Washington state passed a racially-based law prohibiting
marijuana. Many other states passed similar laws, all intent on
driving Mexicans out of our country. It was absurd to think that all
Mexicans smoke pot for one, and two, to think that would force them to
move back to their "native" lands. There have been drives to make
marijuana legal ever since then.

In November 1998, Initiative 692, legalizing medical marijuana for
certain medical patients with a doctor's authorization was passed
overwhelmingly by Washington state voters. Currently, there are 13
states that have passed similar laws and more are considering such
legislation.

In September 2003, Seattle voters passed I-75, a marijuana
prioritization law that set police enforcement of adult offenses to
the lowest level. Gil Kerlikowske, the Seattle police chief, made this
mandate police department policy and he made it clear that going after
people for possessing marijuana was not a priority for his force.

On March 12, 2009, President Obama selected Gil Kerlikowske to head
the Office of National Drug Policy. This position is more commonly
known as the "Drug Czar." Kerlikowske will take with him experience as
police chief of Seattle and continue the low priority classification
of medical marijuana.

On March 13, 2009, Time did a story on legislation currently in the
houses of California and Oregon looking to pass legalization,
regulation and taxation of marijuana. Washington currently has a bill
on the floor, HB 1177, to reclassify possession of 40 grams or less to
a Class 2 civil infraction, down from a misdemeanor.

On March 18, 2009, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that
states should be able to make their own rules for medical marijuana
and that federal raids on pot dispensaries would cease. The move
signaled a softening of the hardline approach to medicinal pot use
previous administrations have taken.

Kitsap County has had two high-profile medical marijuana cases in the
past six months. Last week, Bruce Olson was acquitted by a jury of 12
of his peers.

Last September, Robert Dalton was not so lucky, being found guilty by
Judge Anna M. Laurie. She reasoned he was not a qualifying patient and
could take opiate-based painkillers instead, even though Dalton said
opiates made him sick. I personally find it offensive that Judge
Laurie ignored a medical doctor's opinion and declared by her verdict
that she knew medicine and treatment better than a doctor and his patient.

Since Nancy Reagan's famous phrase, "Just Say No," was first spoken,
more than $2.4 trillion has been spent on the losing "War on Drugs."
Boy, could we use some that money today. Even worse still, our country
spends more money on building prisons than on building schools. One
out of every 100 U.S. citizens is in a jail or a prison. That's three
million people, folks! And many of those are for, you guessed it,
marijuana offenses. One thing history teaches us: prohibition proved
you can't legislate morality. People are going to do what they want to
do. We might as well legalize, regulate and tax marijuana. We sure
could use the tax dollars right about now.

With our economy in shambles and our state and county running enormous
deficits, why are our elected leaders wasting taxpayers' money
prosecuting and incarcerating people that we, with our votes, made
legal? Renegade judges and prosecutors who choose to go against the
public's will should be recalled and removed from office.

Judge Anna M. Laurie and Prosecutor Russ Hauge must be shown the door.
Let's put some responsible people in their place who reflect the
public's will.

Greg Jablonski

Bremerton