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On Tuesday Washington State, along with Colorado, didn't just decriminalize marijuana possession, it legalized it. There's just one catch: Whereas the state allows people who use medicinal marijuana to form growing collectives, according to Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes, there is no provision in the new law for legal non-medicinal growing collectives. (AP Photo/file)

Go ahead and inhale, just don't hand it to a friend

BY Dave Ross  on November 9, 2012 @ 9:24 am (Updated: 10:54 am - 11/10/12 )

On Tuesday Washington State, along with Colorado, didn't just decriminalize marijuana possession, it legalized it.

There's just one catch: Whereas the state allows people who use medicinal marijuana to form growing collectives, according to Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes, there is no provision in the new law for legal non-medicinal growing collectives.

So the question is, come December 6th, when the law kicks in, is there any place a recreational user can legally by weed?

"No," says Holmes. "That will not happen until licenses are developed."

There it is. It will be legal to possess pot, but there's no legal way to get it and no protection if the cops see you sharing the marijuana you possess with someone else, which as you may know, is kind of a tradition.

"If they see a transfer, that is distribution," says Holmes.

It's unlikely you'd be arrested. But the question is, does this law really make marijuana legal if the only way to legally possess it is to participate in an illegal transfer?

Which has millions of Washingtonians asking: How willing to be cuffed would you be, to give a friend his lawful doobie?

Dave Ross, KIRO Radio Talk Show Host
Dave Ross is co-host of The Ross & Burbank Show on KIRO Radio (weekdays 9-Noon) and never too far from the spotlight.
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Comments (11)


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  • Cameron wrote...
    Gee Dave
    November 10, 2012 6:34 am
    Has there been a problem in obtaining Marijuana currently? Do you think the current distribution system is going to "shut down" while the State Liquor Board tries to get their arms around how to implement this law? No, what you have done is just given the illegal grows and distribution network an ability to make more money than they ever imagined, unbothered by the law.
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  • Pressman wrote...
    Mr. Cameron
    December 6, 2012 1:55 am
    This bizzare, right wing idea of Gang Controlled Marijauna Cartel Stranglehold is all just a load of crap. Ask the guy next to you in line at the deli, or the woman standing by you waiting to cross the street, where they get their pot- it's all around you, so many people grow- there is a vast, and I mean huge, amount of the people all around you that: grow, smoke, sell, trade, barter this commodity amongst themselves. Screw the feds on this one.
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  • Jeff Schroeder wrote...
    I miss the good old days already...
    November 10, 2012 7:19 am
    ...now, corporate America will try to show us how "hip" it is. Sigh......... I miss the Cat and Mouse game already. 45 years of outwitting the man.
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  • anotherfencewalker wrote...
    and your point is..?
    November 10, 2012 7:40 am
    So business as usual then? And, it's good business too except that it keeps the cartels that much busier getting the goods to market. You see, THEY have a distribution system. Works too.
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  • Cameron wrote...
    I wonder if the Obama administration...
    November 10, 2012 7:44 am
    Is going to allow the flow of Marijuana across the borders of Mexico and Cananda as long as its destination is Washington State or Colorado? It's only a little expansion of the Commerce Clause.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ron prevost wrote...
    Hey, if the Commerce Claise doesn't work...........
    November 10, 2012 7:50 am
    just call it a tax.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    Hard to get your hands on it.
    November 10, 2012 8:02 am
    Even harder to pay for it.

    Hey Potheads! Maybe ObamaCare will cover it? And those of us who did not vote for re immaculation will pay for it!

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  • jaysonoo7 wrote...
    When I was in 4th grade
    November 10, 2012 8:40 am
    I could get pot within 24 hours any time I wanted... I am pretty sure it has not gotten harder to get.
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  • Cameron wrote...
    So after all is said and done on 502...
    November 10, 2012 12:51 pm
    Please explain why someone who has been obtaining Marijuana without tax, at their local distributor, probably of higher quality than the State Brand is going to switch? Out of a sense of community and wanting to do their part by paying high taxes? You are funny Dave, years of scotch consumption has done to your thought processes, what people hope to acomplish with weed in a much shorter time frame.
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  • Hakuzen wrote...
    Why speak when you know nothing?
    November 10, 2012 6:53 pm
    Cameron, you lost. Just give up the ghost. No need to be bitter, making up facts just makes you look pathetic in your defeat.
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  • 333 wrote...
    Cameron
    November 10, 2012 8:06 pm
    You seem to have a alot to say....but you don't seem to have any idea what you're saying...
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