Community forum on marijuana-legalization Initiative 502

When:
October 18, 2012 @ 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
2012-10-18T17:30:00-07:00
2012-10-18T19:30:00-07:00
Where:
High Point Neighborhood House Center
6400 Sylvan Way SW
Seattle, WA 98126
USA

A forum with presentations and Q/A regarding marijuana-legalization Initiative 502 is set for 5:30-7:30 pm Thursday October 18th at Neighborhood House’s High Point Center (6400 Sylvan Way SW). On the pro-legalization side will be University of Washington professor emeritus and substance-abuse counselor Roger Roffman; on the anti-legalization side, Steve Freng, who works with the Northwest High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. All welcome. There will be an opportunity for questions from the audience and discussion.

4 Replies to "Community forum on marijuana-legalization Initiative 502 "

  • Dr. Richard Curtis October 18, 2012 (10:21 am)

    One has to wonder if perhaps Mr. Feng is not an impartial thinker when it comes to this issue. Does he oppose I-502 because he knows that it will affect his job? Is he simply arguing a position which protects his financial interests? Or is this because he was told to by his superiors? This is why some Medical Marijuana people are against I-502 — their “dispensaries” will not survive competition in the new system. They tell lies to confuse people because they are protecting their financial interests. Afterall, I-502 is clearly good for the people of Washington and in the end will improve drug treatment as well. Why then would Mr. Feng take this position, which is counter to the interests of the population he serves? There is very little in the way of rational arguments against I-502, so what irrational argument will he use?

  • Ex-Westwood Resident October 18, 2012 (1:27 pm)

    This is a moot point because the state can pass all the laws and initiatives that they want to. Until the FEDERAL gov’t legalizes “pot” you will still be breaking the law and WILL get arrested by FEDERAL agents.
    Now that being said I am not against the legalisation of pot. I’m not for it either. What worries me about all of this is that when people “Drink and Drive” there a way to quickly and quanitativly measure just how much alcohol is in their system and we have set limits as to the level where they are considered impaired.
    To my knowledge there isn’t a method to do this with THC. Until there I believe that we should wait to legalize pot.
    Another reason, this isn’t going to be the revenue generator that they claim it’s going to be. The drug lords can always lower the price to under cut the gov’t price.
    Think about it, since when do things get cheaper when the gov’t is involved???
    Thsi can actually have the opposite effect on the budget with added cost because of the regulations and having to hire more people to ensure that they are being adhered to.

  • Dr. Richard Curtis October 18, 2012 (6:53 pm)

    OK, let’s clear this up.

    1. There is, in fact, a new way to detect active THC and the DUI provision of 502 mandates using it. Currently anyone (patients included) are tested by the old method, which picks up historic use. So the DUI provision is quite reasonable and scientific.

    2. The federal government can arrest people but it can do that now with medical users. Things move forward. With alcohol prohibition it was also the states that led the way. State after state was legilizing alcohol on their own. 502 is following that same pattern.

    3. There is no way a criminal organization can compete with a legal market one unless something is really out of whack. In this case the legal market would be able to use larger scale methods, would not have the costs associated with hiding nor the additional profit attached for that. The legal market will destroy the black one by having lowering prices.

    This is why I said there are no rational arguments against it. There is confusion (as with our former resident) and there have been outright lies. There is o good reason why this is not the time and here is not the place to move forward.

  • Linda October 29, 2012 (12:57 pm)

    Re: Washington State’s I-502
    I am disappointed that some people are supporting this bill, knowing it’s a bad law, or they don’t realize what this initiative entails. That’s selling out. We aren’t desperate here in Washington, that we’ll take anything we can get. It’s more difficult changing something that already exists, than just doing it right in the first place.
    After reading through I-502 and listening to the marijuana community not wanti
    ng this to pass, I am going to vote NO. We have waited this long for marijuana to become legal, what is one more year to get the right initiative written up and passed??? I-502 is a wolf in sheep’s clothing!
    This is ridiculous to punish anyone for possession of any amount of marijuana above the proposed allowed amounts, of only 1oz pot or 1pound of an edible. That’s like saying you can’t have more than 1 bottle of wine in your house, or no more than a six pack of beer!
    You could get a DUI, when you know that pot stays in your system for weeks.
    I-502 is pushing to have an unrealistic sales tax of 25%, which is additional to the 8.9% sales tax we already have. That is close to a 34% tax!! That’s crazy and SO unfair to the citizens of this state.
    I’m for the legalization of Marijuana, but not the way this present initiative is written up!

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