TWO WASHINGTON STATE LAWMAKERS OFFER POT LEGALIZATION BILL

A pair of legislators in the state of Washington have submitted a
marijuana legalization bill much like the one introduced by
Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D- San Francisco, back in February.

The bill was introduced by state Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, with Rep.
Roger Goodman as the principal coauthor. The two Democrats represent
Seattle-area districts. Four other legislators have also signed onto
the bill. Goodman was scheduled to join Ammiano on a conference call
with reporters Thursday morning.

While there have been numerous bills to decriminalize marijuana,
advocates say these bills represent the first two times a full
legalization bill has introduced in a state legislature. Ammiano's
bill, which would not only remove criminal penalties but set up a
regulatory and tax structure for pot sales, was the first such bill to
get a full committee hearing, according to Stephen Gullwig, California
state director with the drug policy alliance.

"This is virgin territory," Gullwig said.

Goodman has long advocated changes in drug policy, and became
something of a hero to legalization advocates during his first
election campaign in 2006. His Republican opponent, Jeffery Possinger,
used attack ads and mailers in an attempt to label Goodman as soft on
drugs. This included the charge that Goodman wanted to be the state's
"director of drug dealing." But after these ads hit, Goodman's numbers
went up, and he ultimately became the first Democrat to win the
suburban district since the 1960s.

The Seattle House was already set to debate a decriminalization bill.
But Goodman said his bill is "very different, and much more important."

"Decriminalization is a step in the right direction," Goodman said.
"We're still punishing people, but were punishing them less. But
meanwhile the illegal market thrives."

Like the Ammiano bill, the Washington bill will be introduced lacking
some necessary specifics until it's amended. For instance, Goodman
said he wants to introduce a clause that would forbid marijuana being
sold in any outlet that also sells alcohol. The bill is currently
written to bar advertising, and tax proceeds would go to fund drug
treatment, rather than being put into the general fund. Goodman said
he's also looking for ways to craft the bill to make it compatible
with federal policies, though this probably won't be possible.

The Ammiano bill has been widely written about, but was also widely
viewed as dead-on-arrival. Indeed, it has yet to move in the
California Legislature's Health or Public Safety committees, the
latter of which Ammiano chairs.

Goodman said he thinks his bill may have a better chance--though it
will also have to survive a trip through a public safety committee,
this one chaired by a law-and-order legislator who doesn't want to let
it out. He said that polls show support for marijuana legalization in
Washington is in the high 50s, similar to California.

The bill is also more ambitious than the California legalization
initiative sponsored by Oaksterdam University, Gullwig said. That
measure was written "defensively" in order to allow it to survive an
election campaign in which numerous law enforcement groups will spend
big to defeat it.

Gullwig also took aim at the idea that legalized pot will solve either
state's financial woes -- something most serious advocates aren't
claiming in the first place.

"Marijuana prohibition is such a colossal failure that it needs to be
ended regardless of how much money could be made regulating it,"
Gullwig said.