PROPOSED POT LEGALIZATION LAW COULD SET UP CONFLICT BETWEEN STATE, FEDS

OLYMPIA - Should Washington set itself up as a test case on whether
federal marijuana laws should be repealed?

That question dominated debate Tuesday in a Washington House
committee hearing on a bill that would legalize marijuana and allow
its sale in state liquor stores.

The core issue discussed Tuesday is that marijuana use is illegal
under federal law. The question of whether a state can allow its use,
even for medical reasons, is fuzzy.

Rep.Mary Lou Dickerson, D-Seattle, introduced a bill to legalize
marijuana use in Washington, regulate it heavily and sell it in the
state's liquor stores. Rep. Sherry Appleton, D-Poulsbo, is one of the
bill's 13 co-sponsors.

This is the second straight year that Dickerson has introduced such a
bill and Appleton has co-sponsored it. In 2010, the bill died in the
House's Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee - the same
committee holding Tuesday's hearing. The committee is scheduled to
vote Friday on whether to move the 2011 version along; a similar bill
is in the Senate.

Committee Chairman Christopher Hurst, D-Enumclaw, opposes the bill
because it runs counter to federal law. Any liquor store employee
selling marijuana could conceivably be arrested by federal law
enforcement officers.

Hurst pointed to a Colorado medical marijuana grower who was
sentenced in January to five years in federal prison, even though
Colorado had licensed him to grow cannabis under that state's medical
marijuana law.

Dickerson wants Washington to legalize marijuana in order to force
the issue to a national legal and political stage.

"Some state has to take the lead. Yes, it'll go to court and it'll be
on hold for a while," Dickerson said.

She contended that a state liquor employee arrested by the feds would
not go to jail until the matter is resolved in court.

After the hearing, Hurst said: "I don't want to make a Washington
citizen a test citizen. I don't want to see a liquor store employee
spend five years in prison."

A 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling upheld the federal government's
authority to arrest people for growing and selling marijuana. But
Alaska allows a person to possess an ounce of marijuana, several
other states have made medical marijuana legal, and many states have
decriminalized it.

Washington voters approved the use of medical marijuana in a 1998
referendum. That law is being tweaked in this legislative session.

Dickerson's bill would:

* Legalize marijuana use for adults older than 21.

* License and regulate marijuana farmers who would sell their crops
solely to the state for sale in its liquor stores. Marijuana
farmerswould be subject to an annual license fee of $5,000 a year.
Marijuana imported from out of state would remain illegal.

* Levy a 15 percent state tax on each gram sold in a state liquor
store. Seventy-seven percent of that revenue would go to the
Washington Department of Health and Human Services; 20 percent would
go to alcohol and drug abuse programs; and the rest would pay for
administrative functions. Dickerson and bill supporters contended
that tax will raise $400 million for the state.

* Prohibit the state from advertising its marijuana.

* Allow adults to grow their own cannabis as long as the garden is
not visible to the public and does not exceed 50 square feet.

* Still make providing marijuana to someone younger than 21 illegal.

On Tuesday, legalization supporters argued that the national
prohibition of alcohol backfired in the early 20th century, and that
the prohibition of marijuana is backfiring for the same reasons.

"The big picture is that prohibitions don't work," said Rep. Roger
Goodman, D-Kirkland, another bill co-sponsor.

Seattle's elected City Attorney Peter Holmes supported the legalization bill.

"Marijuana is much more like alcohol than a hard drug ... instead, I
support the laws against driving while stoned and against selling
marijuana to minors," he said.

Holmes and others said marijuana laws are inconsistently enforced
from state to state and from city to city. They noted that
African-Americans are arrested in significantly higher percentages
than whites for marijuana possession.

"If one does not get caught, one can still become president," quipped
Craig Burton of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

The Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs and the
Washington Association for Substance Abuse and Violence Prevention
led the opposition to the bill.

They contended that the dangers of marijuana were being downplayed by
the bill's supporters and they argued that legalization would make
marijuana easier for youths to obtain.

"Youth get alcohol from friends and siblings. That'll be the same
case with marijuana," said Liz Wilhelm of substance abuse prevention
association.