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 Linda Thomas
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Linda is the morning news anchor and features reporter for KIRO Radio. This is her local news blog, with an emphasis on social media, technology, Northwest companies, education, parenting, and anything else that grabs her attention.

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Marijuana.jpg
The Drug Enforcement Administration eradicated over 10.3 million marijuana plants in fiscal year 2009 and 10.3 million in fiscal year 2010, according to a new report. (AP file photo)

New DEA report says marijuana legalization promotes drug use

January 23, 2013 @ 4:37 pm (Updated: 6:01 pm - 1/23/13 )

The more available marijuana is in Washington, the more users and abusers we'll have.

That's what the nation's top drug enforcement agency says, as our state figures out how to implement the voter-approved initiative legalizing marijuana.

In a 100-page financial audit,the Drug Enforcement Administration says, "Keeping marijuana illegal reduces its availability and lessens willingness to use it."

Conversely, "Legalizing marijuana would increase accessibility and encourage promotion and acceptance of drug use."

The statement appears in a section about challenges that might prevent the DEA from meeting its 2013 goals.

The DEA eradicated over 10.3 million marijuana plants in fiscal year 2009 and 10.3 million in fiscal year 2010, according to DEA data.

This report comes one day after Governor Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson met with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in Washington, D.C. Federal law banning marijuana conflicts with Washington's new Initiative 502, which makes possession of an ounce of pot legal for those 21 and older.

While President Obama has said the federal government has "bigger fish to fry" than to go after marijuana users in Washington state, Holder has not said whether he intends to look the other way with our law or enforce the existing national policy which considers marijuana to be an illegal drug.

By LINDA THOMAS

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Comments (27)


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  • Concerned US Citizen wrote...
    Ya Think
    January 24, 2013 5:38 am
    I wonder how many millions of dollars that study for the DEA cost us taxpayers? If it is legal and even one more person uses it it promoted drug use. DUH Still need more taxes on all of us to piss away on stupid studies like this one or to pay for some Washington DC idiot to say it?
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  • W & L Nettles wrote...
    legalize it
    January 24, 2013 9:17 am
    If you think it's gonna cause more drug use if it was legalized,I Think YOUR wrong. what about all the meth labs that keep going and people report them and theres not a darn thing being done.wheres the justice in this. marijuana is a medical med. i just can't understand for the life in me why it's not legal already .It's and herb grown from the ground not cooked up in a lab with bad stuff that can kill. I THINK THE ONLY REASON IT'S NOT LEGAL IS THAT THE GOVERMENT IS REAPING THE REWARDS,MONEY,to better them self not to help the public,only their self. Also IF IT CURES CANCER RATHER IT BE HEMP OIL OR marijuana.Every Cancer Patient has the right to know the facts.They Have The Right For a Chance to Live.instead of all those treatments that not only make them sicker,and those treatments are not a cure just a way to make us as a Nations think we will be fine but what is these meds doing to our good cells? Killing them.. MAKE IT LEGAL IN ALL STATES. and crack down on all the other drugs that seem to be on the side burner.these are the bad ones,,please tell me how is it that marijuana has gotten a bad rap? just wondering how many lolly pops or pop rocks has been laced with meth and given out in schools.I Stand Up for Legalizing Marijuana,and will continue until it's legalized..
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  • akomachi2 wrote...
    New D.E.A
    January 24, 2013 9:50 am
    You people say the same thing over and over same ol'rhetoric it is,well u c what happens when u keep things away from kids what we will do u tell us no and we do the opposite like those 2 boys got poison something for marijuana but it was not marijuana and it killed them ur fault,this will happen again if u don't get it right we r going to get what we want,u know that just like we did to get whiskey killin and brutality beyond,in the 20's-30'sblood ran like the whiskey or more tha people were stupid,and then loved hemp for what it did for the country we need that back,and mr Holder will look back cause he knows all the lies behind marijuana,in 50yrs,no-one has died from marijuana im proof and my friends to,alcohol killed my best friends and cigarettes,yet both run rampant and not gonna stop no matter how many die u cannot stop them try it,and u won't stop us,so do what is right,,,ty
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  • akomachi2 wrote...
    name
    January 24, 2013 9:52 am
    steve lol
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  • akomachi2 wrote...
    killed
    January 24, 2013 9:57 am
    killed one of the boy's
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