Blazing cannabis trail, US states eye tourism surge

[Shampoobra]

9. The media keeps (incorrectly) lumping the state of Washington in with this news

Last edited Tue Dec 31, 2013, 11:32 PM - Edit history (1)

Marijuana users in Colorado and Washington are counting down the hours before the western US states become the first to legalize recreational pot shops on January 1.

Nothing is changing (on the marijuana front) on January 1 for Washington State residents.

Recreational marijuana was signed into law in Washington State over a year ago, on December 6, 2012. And other than by medical dispensaries (and only to registered cannabis patients), no one can legally sell marijuana in Washington State. They couldn't sell it on December 6, 2012, and they still won't be able to on January 1.

(The state originally predicted the stores would be open by March 1, 2014, and then by May, but they've been eerily silent about the subject lately. Bottom line: It's legal, but no one can grow it or sell it except for medicinal purposes.)

It's becoming a source of shame for those of us who so eagerly backed and promoted Initiative 502. It's legal to possess, legal to use, even legal to buy it here (because Washington never passed an original law forbidding the purchase of marijuana - just its cultivation, sale, and possession). But it's still illegal to sell it here, which turns the legality of its purchase, possession, and use into a practically irrelevant bit of trivia.

Winterlife is the only "legal" way to buy recreational weed here (they do home deliveries, charging for the delivery instead of charging for the product) and what they're doing is still technically illegal. I spoke with (and bought from) a Winterlife representative who said his company is just itching for a legal challenge from the state of Washington, but the authorities have refused to take the bait.