To drive, or not to drive? That is the question

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How much is too much?

Voters just approved a new law (Initiative 502) making marijuana legal for adults 21 and over, and to regulate it and tax it just like alcohol.

Just like you can't drink and drive, you can't drive while intoxicated with marijuana.

Which brings us back to the question: how much is too much?

This Wednesday at 1:30 p.m., the House Public Safety Committee will dive into the issue.

There's accepted science involving alcohol to determine when you're driving under the influence (DUI). If your blood-alcohol level is .08 or above, that's a DUI.

I-502 puts forth a blood limit of 5 nanograms per milliliter of the active drugs in marijuana. So is the science behind that number solid, or do lawmakers need to look at something else?

The Public Safety Committee is bringing in all kinds of experts – scientists, law enforcement and prosecutors – to talk it over.

Here's the lineup for Wednesday:

Overview of I-502: What is legal? What is still illegal?

• Alison Holcomb, ACLU
• Rick Garza, Liquor Control Board

Driving Under the Influence of Marijuana: From the Roadside to the Courthouse

• Officer Wylie, Olympia Police Department
• Lieutenant Rob Sharpe (and DRE Program Manager), WSP Forensic Laboratory Services Bureau, head of Impaired Driving Section
• Fiona Couper, State Toxicologist, WSP

Enforcement Protocols and Prosecution of Driving Under the Influence of Marijuana:

• Aaron Pelley, Defense Attorney
• Patricia Fulton, Defense Attorney
• Amy Freedheim, King County Prosecutor's Office

The Science of Cannabis and Impaired Driving

• R. Andrew Sewell, Yale University (via Skype)
• Paul Armantano, NORML

Read this story in Spanish.

Liquor Control Board holding public forums on new marijuana law implementation

The Washington State Liquor Control Board (LCB), which is responsible for implementing Initiative 502 and regulating recreational use of marijuana, has announced that they will hold six public comment periods around the state.

Voters approved I-502 with 56 percent of the vote in November's election. While it laid out some specific provisions – including legalizing possession of up to one ounce of marijuana as well as details of a state licensing scheme – many details were left up to the LCB to decide.

Now, they are seeking to hear from citizens on how to best fill in the gaps.

“This is an opportunity for the public to meet the Board and staff involved in implementation, learn about our role in implementation, and to provide testimony,” LCB Chair Sharon Foster said in a statement.

The first public hearing will be in Olympia on the evening of Tuesday, January 22. Here is the full list of statewide public hearings:

• Tuesday, January 22

WSLCB Headquarters, Conference Room 201
3000 Pacific Ave SE, Olympia, WA 98501

• Thursday, January 24

Seattle City Hall, Bertha Knight Landes Room
600 Fourth Ave, Seattle, WA 98104

• Thursday, February 7

Clark College, Vancouver, Foster Auditorium
1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver, WA 98663

• Tuesday, February 12

Spokane City Hall, Council Chambers
808 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane, WA 99201

• Tuesday, February 19

Skagit Valley College, Mt. Vernon, Theater
2405 East College Way, Mount Vernon, WA 98273

• Thursday, February 21

Yakima City Hall, Council Chambers
129 North Second St, Yakima, WA 98901


Read this story in Spanish here.

I-502 legalized marijuana – so what does that mean for taxpayers?

Now that voters passed Initiative 502 to legalize marijuana, what happens next?

The details about how the new law will work aren't done yet. State officials will draft rules and regulations to figure out who will grow and sell marijuana.

The bigger question, for taxpayers and budget writers, is how much legalized marijuana might mean for Washington state's economy.

As this Seattle Times post explains, there's a lot of debate about the money side, too.
The non-partisan budget people at the Office of Financial Management (OFM) – the ones who crunch all the numbers for the state budget – have done a couple of different reports about the initiative, full of numbers and charts and possibilities.

The budget folks did a fiscal report on the initiative. Click here to read it. Bottom line: by 2015, the initiative might mean $532 million or more per year in tax revenues. Of course, there are caveats, and if the federal government shuts the whole thing down, the financial impact would be zero dollars.
A second OFM report show the estimated impact to different state agencies and such. Click here to read that report.

The Times cites two private sector sources, one of which uses the OFM report to estimate the size of a national marijuana market. One expert quoted is John Gettman, a marijuana researcher from Virginia, who says Washington state's marijuana market could potentially hit $1 billion a year, which would make pot the No. 2 agricultural crop in the state. (Apples are No. 1, milk would be No. 3 and wheat would be No. 4).

To read thos story in Spanish, click here.