Police get buzz on pot to public
Seattle blog informs on law
SEATTLE — Stoner humor just got a lot more complicated.
Back in the days when Cheech and Chong were more risque than wrinkled, it wafted along as one of those cultural subgenres, with its own nudge-and-wink punch lines. If you got it and laughed, you implicated yourself — and laughed again. The police mostly kept their faces straight.
But now the prospect of legalized marijuana in small amounts for personal use — approved by voters in Washington state and Colorado on Election Day — is creating a buzz of improvisation, from local law enforcement agencies up through state government.
Devising from scratch a system for legal sales and informing the public about the law are both tasks, state and local officials say, that require the turning over of a new leaf.
And the Seattle Police Department — through blog posts written by Jonah Spangenthal-Lee, 29, a former crime reporter for a Seattle alternative weekly called The Stranger — is leading the charge.
The goal: official communications in language that the hip, young, urban and quite possibly stoned audience that Spangenthal-Lee wrote for at The Stranger might actually want to read.
Worried about what happens if the police pull you over after Dec. 6, when the law, I-502, takes effect, and you are sober but they smell that bag of Super Skunk in your trunk? Spangenthal-Lee’s “Marijwhatnow” post has the answer. “The smell of pot alone will not be reason to search,” he writes.
Another question: “December 6th seems like a really long ways away. What happens if I get caught with marijuana before then?”
Answer: “Hold your breath.”
Whether full legalization will actually occur as envisioned by the law — up to an ounce is allowed for use by an adult — is hazy. Possession remains a federal crime, but Gov. Christine Gregoire, after meeting with Justice Department officials last week, said federal prosecutors gave her no clear indication of what they would do either before or after Dec. 6.
The law allows only one year for the state to create a system of licenses for growers, processors and sellers, and to resolve equally confusing issues like the potency levels of the various products and the prices. Teams began meeting after the election at the Washington State Liquor Control Board, which will create and administer a marketplace.