[BC省新聞] Ian Mulgrew: Prince of Pot says U.S. votes set stage for softer regulatory, voice, possession, personal, starting

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Ian Mulgrew: Prince of Pot says U.S. votes set stage for softer marijuana laws in B.C.
It tasted like vindication to B.C.’s Marc Emery, the prince of pot and a clarion voice for 20 years in the debate over legalizing marijuana.
Voters in Colorado and Washington state decided Tuesday to create new legal regulatory regimes for cannabis that allow personal possession for those over 21 starting next month, and envision production and retail outlets in a year or so.
Emery, who helped finance the crusade to Free the Weed for roughly 15 years, couldn’t have asked for more.
“This is the greatest achievement in 75 years of fighting to repeal the marijuana prohibition,” he said in an email from the Mississippi penitentiary where he is serving five years for selling mail-order pot seeds from Vancouver.
“This will make my remaining 609 days in this U.S. federal prison a gentler cross to bear.”
In Emery’s view, the milestone wins will reverberate around the globe, especially in B.C., where they will influence a marijuana advocacy group’s campaign for a provincial referendum on the issue.
“The I-502 campaign is a model for success that can be emulated elsewhere, and should be,” he added.
While Emery was often surrounded by a smoky haze, those behind the New Approach Washington Coalition basked in their success late Tuesday night sparking nary a joint.
Gregg Holcomb instead poured fine bourbons, premium tequila, champagne …
“Marijuana isn’t the drug of choice among the organizers and sponsors,” quipped the husband of I-502 campaign director Alison Holcomb.
“I hear there’s a heavy scent in the corridor down on the floor where some of the volunteers are partying.”
Emery was untroubled by the difference in approaches.
“Former U.S. District Attorney John McKay, who conducted the case that sent me to a U.S. prison (in 2010) … has redeemed himself in a glorious way by joining with me, my wife and Washington’s elite anti-prohibitionists,” Emery said.
McKay was one of several high-profile Washington figures who backed the initiative.
Another, Seattle Attorney Pete Holmes, said: “This is a common-sense policy that addresses all the issues that government should be concerned with — public safety, access by minors and tries at the same time to take the profits away from criminal cartels. I think most Americans recognize this is a smart approach and that prohibition has failed.”
The initiative succeeded, he said, because of the tireless work of local travel guru Rick Steves, the organizational strength of Washington’s American Civil Liberties Union, together with the support of the King County Bar Association and elected officials.
“We all collaborated to put together a comprehensive framework that just made sense,” Holmes explained.
“This is not a pro-pot — it’s treating a public health problem like a public health issue. We undermine law enforcement when we try to enforce an unenforceable law.”
Steves, one of the campaign’s public faces, agreed.
“Now the whole country is going to be looking at us with a lot of skepticism,” he said.
“The onus is on us to implement this smart law responsibly. If we do, other states will see they can do it even if they want to tweak it in certain ways. This is the start of taking apart prohibition one state at a time.”

Washington state thinks a hefty tax on pot will generate a half-billion in revenue and transform the black market.
It could have a profound effect on B.C.’s underground economy, too, with guerrilla growers perhaps facing new, stiffer American competition depending on developments.
Ben Schroeter, a Seattle pot retailer, wasn’t so sure.

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“I deal with one strain only and have been getting it from the same grower for like 23 years now,” he said “I first sold pot in high school in 1974 … California sensimilla for $6 a gram, $35 a quarter ounce.”

The change won’t affect that business, he said.

“My $35 eighths ($10 a gram) will likely be a bit less than the new stores (will charge) should they actually be implemented,” Schroeter explained.

“Most of my customers are doctors and lawyers and other professionals that I’ve dealt with for years. At least when I’m unavailable, now I will be able to tell them to go to the store!”

He predicted a crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries that have been profiting by operating as they do in B.C., illegally but rarely prosecuted.

They now will be forced to become part of the legal regime and pay taxes to survive.

Some of the strongest opposition to the initiatives came from members of the medical pot community fearing competition and stiffer impaired driving enforcement.

“Many dispensaries will go out of business,” Schroeter predicted.

Regardless, both Washington state and Colorado are on a collision course with the U.S. federal government.

Washington, D.C., like Ottawa, continues to reject legalization.

“We are in a collision course with our federal government and many of us believe that crash is long overdue because the prohibition has just caused so much damage,” said former Seattle police chief Norm Stamper, who speaks for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.

The Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration have not yet said how they will respond to the votes.

“I’m not thinking about the federal government,” Steves said.

“I’m thinking about our government, how we are going to do it in this state and I think if we do it smartly, I would be surprised if the feds would come in and blatantly overrule the state’s will of the people.”

Nevertheless, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat who opposes legalization, warned: “Federal law still says marijuana is an illegal drug, so don’t break out the Cheetos or goldfish too quickly.”


Medical marijuana is shown in a jar at The Joint Cooperative in Seattle, Washington in this January 27, 2012 file photo. Colorado and Washington voters passed a ballot measure on November 6, 2012 making their states the first to legalize possession and sales of marijuana for recreational use, putting the state at odds with federal law.