Updated February 5, 2010 -- SSB 5798 passed the Washington State Senate by a vote of 37-11-1.

• Bill info
• Roll call

Voting Yea: Senators Becker (R-2), Berkey (D-38), Brandland (R-42), Brown (D-3), Carrell (R-28), Delvin (R-8), Eide (D-30), Fairley (D-32), Franklin (D-29), Fraser (D-22), Gordon (D-41), Hatfield (D-19), Hewitt (R-16), Hobbs (D-44), Jacobsen (D-46), Kastama (D-25), Kauffman (D-47), Keiser (D-33), Kilmer (D-26), King (R-14), Kline (D-37), Kohl-Welles (D-36), Marr (D-6), McAuliffe (D-1), McCaslin (R-4), McDermott (D-34), Murray (D-43), Oemig (D-45), Parlette (R-12), Pflug (R-5), Prentice (D-11), Pridemore (D-49), Ranker (D-40), Regala (D-27), Rockefeller (D-23), Shin (D-21), and Tom (D-48)

Voting Nay: Senators Benton (R-17), Hargrove (D-24), Haugen (D-10), Honeyford (D-15), Morton (R-7), Roach (R-31), Schoesler (R-9), Sheldon (D-35), Stevens (R-39), Swecker (R-20), and Zarelli (R-18)

Excused: Senator Holmquist (R-13)

January 19, 2010 -- SSB 5798 would expand our state's medical marijuana law to allow nurse practitioners, physicians assistants and naturopaths to authorize the use of medical marijuana. The bill is universally supported by the medical marijuana community -- a rarity these days -- yet nobody seems to be talking about or working in support of the bill. Until now, that is.

This week, the CDC hired veteran lobbyist Lonnie Johns-Brown to work on SSB 5798. Lonnie has been lobbying in Olympia since 1985 and specializes in representing social service, health care and human rights issues. One can read an in-depth 2004 Seattle P-I article about her here.

Starting in February, Thursdays are Cannabis College Night at the Cannabis Resource Center. All classes are $20, with a $10 discount for CDC members.

Cannabis Defense Coalition meets the first Monday of the month. Our next public meeting is Monday, February 1st, at the Cannabis Resource Center, 8456 Dallas Ave S, in the South Park neighborhood of Seattle. The meeting begins at 7:00 p.m. and is open to the public.

* What: Cannabis Defense Coalition April Session

* When: Monday, February 1 at 7:00 p.m.

Updated January 25, 2010 -- We received a third and final installment of documents from the Washington State Department of Corrections.

October 27, 2009 -- The Washington State Department of Corrections has a medical marijuana policy which requires patients with voter-approved ailments to "provide evidence published in a peer-reviewed scientific publication to support the medicinal use of marijuana" for their qualifying condition.

• DOC Form 14-053 (PDF, 21k)
• DOC Policy 380.200 (PDF, 31k), Directive IV, Medicinal Use of Marijuana

To learn more about how and who came up with this odd, legally-curious policy, the Cannabis Defense Coalition filed a public disclosure request for:

1. all records related to requests and appeals for the medicinal use of marijuana; and
2. all records related to DOC Policy 380.200, Directive IV, Medicinal Use of Marijuana.

In October 2009, the Department of Corrections provided a first installment of documents amounting to 785 pages. In December 2009, we received a second installment of documents totaling 494 pages. In January 2010, we received a final installment of 491 pages. We are making these documents available online for all to review, in searchable PDF format.

January 20 vote on marijuana bills

On January 20, 2010 at 1:30 p.m. the House Public Safety Committee will hold a vote on HB 1177, which would decriminalize misdemeanor marijuana possession, and HB 2401, which would regulate marijuana like alcohol. This is do or die time for both of these bills.

• Public Safety committee agenda for 1/20/2010
• Public Safety committee members

Video of Jan 13 hearing

On Monday, January 11, 2010, a group of activists called "Sensible Washington" filed an initiative to legalize marijuana in the State of Washington.

The group has until July 2 to turn in 241,153 valid signatures in order to qualify for the ballot. The group's web site is a bit sparse at the moment, and spokesman Philip Dawdy says they will make the initiative text available in a few weeks, "as soon as it is approved by the Secretary of State and state Attorney General."

Unable to wait to see this proposed legislation, we obtained a copy of the initiative text and the five sponsor affidavits filed with the Secretary of State on Monday. We are making the initiative text available online in searchable PDF format, and below that, in plain text. According to the Secretary of State, "this is a preliminary draft of the initiative as originally submitted by the sponsor."

Attorney General Rob McKenna is one of the most vocal anti-marijuana zealots elected to public office in Washington State. His office is largely responsible for the ridiculous Department of Corrections policy on medical marijuana use by parolees. And he frequently takes times to spew federal anti-drug propaganda about marijuana's increased potency being of such concern that we should "stay the course" on the government's war on marijuana.

We have created a printed public service announcement detailing Rob McKenna's position on incarcerating nonviolent potheads.

• Rob McKenna poster, 8.5x11 (193k pdf)
• Rob McKenna flyers, 8.5x11, 4-up (274k pdf)

Buy tickets here!

• What: Winston Jarrett at the Cannabis Resource Center
• When: Thu, December 31, 2009 - 8 p.m.
• Where: Cannabis Resource Center, 8456 Dallas Ave. S. in Seattle (map)
• $20 pre-sale, $25 at the door, 21+ w/ID, Cash Bar
• Music mixing all night with Selecta Gro and the GroDUB Sound System

Tickets

Tickets available here through Brown Paper Tickets.

OLYMPIA, WA. December 7, 2009 -- Legislators in Washington State unveiled a bill to legalize marijuana on Monday.

• HB 2401 Summary
• Bill Text: HB 2401 Text

Bill analysis

Below is a line by line analysis of HB 2401. We have color-coded the entries with our view of whether the change is positive, negative, neutral, or something related to alcohol parity which one might want to consider. Legend:

• Positive impact
• Unknown impact
• Alcohol parity impact
• Negative impact
• Neutral impact

P2, L2. A new section spells out the legislative intent: 1) to legalize marijuana, 2) to remove criminal penalties for adult marijuana use and cultivation, 3) to tax marijuana in order to fund drug education, and 4) to regulate marijuana like alcohol.

• What: Cannabis Defense Benefit
• When: December 5, 2009, 5-11 p.m.
• Where: Cannabis Resource Center - 8456 Dallas Ave S (map)
• $5, 21+ w/ID, Cash Bar
• Featuring Boys of Greenwood Glen and Sidestreet Reny