Washington’s open-container pot law is petty, illogical

Be on the lookout: Washington State troopers will be enforcing a new open-container pot law.

As of Sept. 26, you’re prohibited from driving with an open container of marijuana in your vehicle. It needs to be sealed in the original store packaging and stored either in the trunk or behind the backseat.

If you violate this law, you’ll get hit with a $136 fine.

Related: No, 27,000 King County men are not buying sex online

This is petty. The law lacks any logic or reason and furthers the silly demonization of marijuana consumers.

Why do they care if a container of pot is unsealed and in the front seat of the car? Why the trunk over the glove compartment? Do people get an uncontrollable urge to smoke marijuana the instant they see or smell it? Ah yes, we’re still pretending pot smokers are the equivalent of a heroin junkie dying to get their fix.

This law doesn’t keep anyone more or less safe on the roads. This is meant to nickel and dime citizens.

The scent of untouched marijuana alone doesn’t get you high, so it’s not like you’re driving under the influence. If you get pulled over for speeding, for example, and a trooper sees an open container of marijuana on the passenger seat of your car, you’ll get hit with a $136 fine on top of the speeding ticket simply so that the state can collect more money. That untouched marijuana didn’t cause any safety issues.

If you just can’t help yourself from smoking, and you unseal the weed for the purpose of consumption while driving, then you should get a ticket for smoking while driving and be put in jail. This is an obvious safety issue and it’s already addressed by current laws unrelated to the open-container law.

KING 5 reports that the “Washington Traffic Safety Commission pushed for the change so that the state’s rules governing marijuana would more closely resemble those for alcohol…” Perhaps the WTSC should better understand marijuana and alcohol are not the same thing.