EDITORIAL ON TACOMA'S MARIJUANA INITIATIVE COULD HAVE USED SOME FACTS

The News Tribune's Editorial Last Week About Tacoma Initiative 1 Was
Short on Facts and Long on Hysteria.

The myth the TNT continues to proliferate is about how many
dispensaries and pharmacies are operating in Tacoma. The fact is there
are twice as many pharmacies as dispensaries. The City of Tacoma
business license department reports 30 "active" business licenses for
dispensaries, with two listed twice.

There are 18 dispensaries open and actually conducting business and
the other 10 are not in operation.

The number of pharmacies in business is 37 according to a Google
search, however, the city reports only 30 with business licenses.

The News Tribune editorial board should do a little fact checking
before printing editorials that are so misleading. One line in the
editorial stands out, "As far as we can tell, Initiative 1 would
pretty much tell the police to do what they're already doing."

Well, that is certainly a matter of opinion. The News Tribune's own
news report two days after that editorial told a whole different
story. That report said in the past year, 223 cannabis possession
cases have been charged in Tacoma.

Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes, has prosecuted zero cases during
the same time.

Tacoma police say they are understaffed and overworked. Police Chief
Don Ramsdell says cannabis offenses are already the lowest enforcement
priority. However, their actions speak louder than their words.

This comment from the editorial must be addressed, "For that matter,
it doesn't distinguish possession of an ounce from possession of five
pounds."

The facts. The city police prosecute cannabis offenses for 40 grams or
less. If a person is found with five pounds of cannabis, that would be
a matter for the county prosecutors. This hysterical comment was
actually printed in the editorial: "Strains of highly potent marijuana
appear to trigger schizophrenia, among other problems."

Wow, that sounds like a line right out of "Refer Madness," a
propaganda film from 1936 where high school kids smoke pot and quickly
go insane. It is slapstick humor but apparently some people actually
think it is a documentary.

Seriously, if The News Tribune editorial board is concerned about
"highly potent marijuana," the Cannabis Task Force created by Mayor
Strickland will address that issue by next August. The task force is
made up of 12 highly professional and well-respected members of our
community and they will be setting up rules and regulations for
dispensaries.

Perhaps if The News Tribune editorial board had bothered to contact
the Cannabis Reform Act campaign prior to running their editorial,
their editorial could have been based on facts instead of the fiction
they decided to publish.

Tacoma Initiative 1 managed to get on the ballot from the efforts of
patients. Patients know the benefits of cannabis use for pain relief.
This is certainly a far better choice than narcotics.

Tacoma Initiative 1 is modeled after Seattle Initiative 75, which the
voters overwhelmingly approved in 2003. A study was done for five
years after the passage of I-75 and found that the citizens in Seattle
have been well-served by making cannabis offenses the lowest
enforcement priority.

Voting yes on Tacoma Initiative 1 will send a message to police and
prosecutors that there are more serious crimes in Tacoma to spend
scarce police resources on than busting patients and recreational
cannabis users for 40 grams or less.

Voters may confuse Tacoma Initiative 1 with Pierce County Proposition
1. Just remember, voting yes on Tacoma Initiative 1 is a common sense
approach about directing the police to focus on more serious crimes.