Five Days Out, Washington Marijuana Measure at 55%

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2012/nov/01/five_days_out_washington_marijua

Washington state's I-502 marijuana legalization, taxation, and regulation initiative appears headed for victory with increasing support, according to the latest KCTS 9 Washington Poll, released Thursday. The poll had support among likely voters at 55.4% in surveys conducted during the second half of October, compared to 47.1% in surveys conducted in the first half of the month.

Similarly, opposition to I-502 was declining, from 40.1% earlier in the month to 37.6% in the second half of the month. The figures suggest that undecided voters have been breaking in favor of the initiative.

The 55.4% support figure includes 48.7% who are "certain yes" voters, 4.3% who are "yes -- could change," and 2.8% who are "undecided -- leaning yes." The 37.6% "no" figure includes 35.5% "certain no" voters, 1.6% "no -- could change," and 0.5% who are "undecided -- leaning no." Some 6.8% of voters remained truly undecided, while 0.3% said they would not vote on I-502.

I-502 is winning majorities of every age group except seniors ( 44% ), including nearly three out of four ( 74.8% ) voters under 30. It is running strongly ( 63% ) in the progressive, heavily populated Puget Sound area and among Democrats ( 69.1% ), men ( 64.2% ), and independents ( 60% ). It is doing less well with women, although women supporters ( 48.0% ) outnumber opponents ( 40.6 ).

One-third ( 33.4% ) of those surveyed have already voted, the poll found.

Pollsters surveyed 722 registered voters between October 18 and 31. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3.6%.

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2012/nov/01/five_days_out_washington_marijua
 
^If you're an MMJ patient, nothing will change (except for the DUI level). If you have no medical status, you'll be allowed to buy up to an ounce at a time. If you're stopped on suspicion of driving impaired, you'll be given a DUI penalty if the level of THC in your blood exceeds 5 ng/mL.
 
23536;11026932 said:
you'll be given a DUI penalty if the level of THC in your blood exceeds 5 ng/mL.

Which will be about all the time for me, my friends, my parents and even a few teachers of mine...



I used to think this was going to be passed for sure, but it seems a lot more people have realized this isn't the kind of change that they want for Washington. My parents are smokers, and they are voting no.. and my parents friends don't smoke but don't have a problem with their son who does smoke, and they are voting against it as well.


I believe that change is coming for us soon, but it's not in this bill. We can do better than this, and I hope Washington voters realize that when they send their ballots in
 
Given that you can already be stopped on suspicion of DUI for marijuana and there is currently *no* legal limit for blood THC I find it hard to believe that this bill is going to make things worse.

It is also worthwhile noting blood THC is just one chemical from marijuana, there are also 11-OH -THC and the 11-nor-9-THC-acid that is produced via metabolism (those are the long-half-life markers used in drug testing) It's not like this test is going to find every single chronic cannabis user and single them out for DUI's when they're not high.

. Smoking marijuana results in rapid absorption with peak THC plasma concentrations occurring prior to the end of smoking. Concentrations vary depending on the potency of marijuana and the manner in which the drug is smoked, however, peak plasma concentrations of 100-200 ng/mL are routinely encountered. Plasma THC concentrations generally fall below 5 ng/mL less than 3 hours after smoking. [ ... ] Plasma THC concentrations in occasional users rapidly fall below limits of quantitation within 8 to 12 h.

So this is kind of comparable to alcohol. If you get stoned wait 3-4 hours til you're not, and then you can drive.
 
Folley;11026961 said:
Which will be about all the time for me, my friends, my parents and even a few teachers of mine...

Well that's too bad for you. I don't think anyone cares about your right to drive while intoxicated on marijuana.
 
If you want your drug use to be legalized them you have to take responsibility for the possible consequences, you can't bitch because alcohol is legal but weed isn't, then bitch when they include restriction of DUI while trying to legalize weed.

I'm honestly starting to think that a lot of Americans just don't want weed to be legal because then all the lifetime stoners will lose their free ticket to the rebellious counter-culture cool kid club and actually have to start doing something real with their life to seem interesting. They're all talk, but when it comes down to it they're just as attached to the status quo and afraid of change as the lawmakers and law enforcers.

Your right to seem cool and rebellious or drive while stoned out of your mind does not take priority over the millions of lives being ruined or prematurely ended by prohibition and the black market.
 
ya couldnt you be given a DUI right now anyway? i am also sure that after a while when more people realize the lesser degree that weed impairs your driving they may higher the limit or get rid of it. But in the mean time people that want to smoke it but dont want to lie about using it medically can have it without getting arrested
 
S.J.P.;11027049 said:
Well that's too bad for you. I don't think anyone cares about your right to drive while intoxicated on marijuana.

That's not the problem, bud.


The problem is that you can be arrested for NOT being high, if the officer just decides to be a dick and drug test you... and even though you haven't smoked for hours, you can still be taken to jail... and with the new harsher penalties, put in by this law, that driver who did nothing wrong will be going away for quite some time.


Yeah, they can test you right now too.. but this law put in new, stricter procedures as a common place, and anyone that is a heavy smoker is likely to CONSTANTLY test to be stoned, even if they aren't.




You people don't live in Washington. You want to see us sacrifice ourselves by voting in a shitty law, then have to spend countless hours, taxpayer dollars and probably some lives trying to fix it. I-502 is not something that will be good for Washington, and most of us realize that. Hopefully, next year, when we are voting on I-514, we can unite together and bring in some real reform to the Cannabis industry.... this law is not that.



thiz master;11029065 said:
But in the mean time people that want to smoke it but dont want to lie about using it medically can have it without getting arrested

Marijuana is OFFICIALLY the lowest priority of the Seattle Police Department. They give $200 misdemeanor tickets for anyone with under 40g of marijuana... this law changes that, and if a minor (under 21) is caught with weed instead of getting that ticket, he will be facing jail time.
 
^
interesting. im from utah so if you get caught with so much as a used pipe they try to fuck you so im not used to the police being lax on the laws already. i need to move....
 
Polls made it look like we were going to legalize here in CA a few years ago, but that didn't work out. Good luck folks!
 
f33lg00d;11030874 said:
Man I drive better stoned then sober

Washinton's I-502 makes it significantly more dangerous to drive stoned, basically a cop can ask for a saliva test whenever they feel like it. 5 nano-grams or more (thats .000000001 of a gram) and you've got a DUI.

I'm sure I'd fail a test right now and I haven't even smoked today 8(
 
23536;11026932 said:
THC in your blood exceeds 5 ng/mL.

I think that's good, should entice people not to do it. Driving while intoxicated is extremely irresponsible.
 
Clocktower;11030349 said:
Polls made it look like we were going to legalize here in CA a few years ago, but that didn't work out. Good luck folks!

That was during a midterm election though. They shouldn't have bothered.
 
And 5ng/mL of THC, though it sounds like a trifling amount, is typically achieved 2-3 hours after getting stoned. Blood THC concentrations start dropping as soon as you stop smoking. THC is rapidly chewed up by any cell that will metabolise it. And this test isn't measuring metabolites like 11-hydroxy-THC or 11-nor-9-carboxy-THC! (Those are the metaboiltes that hang around forever, and are used in the current "drug tests" to determine if you've used weed in the past 90 days.) If you haven't smoked recently (past 4-6 hours) you won't fail the test because you won't have any THC in your blood, simple as that! It doesn't matter if you're a chronic smoker, as long as you haven't consumed cannabis recently you WON'T HAVE THC IN YOUR BLOOD! So wait a good 4 hours for your high to fade after you blaze up and you'll be fine to drive without prosecution.

DUI standard applies only to active THC, which drops below 5 ng/mL within a matter of hours, not the inactive metabolite carboxy-THC that can be detected days, or even weeks, after last use.

Police officers still need proof of impairment to make an arrest and take a driver to a medical professional for a blood draw – just like current law.

You're fucking smoking crack if you think that this law is going to somehow make cannabis get prosecuted more strictly than it currently is. Folley, every single one of your arguments is full of so much shit I can smell it on the other side of the Canadian border. Cut it out.

It's not going to make medical marijuana suddenly illegal.
It's not going to ensure a government-run monopoly on weed.
It's not going to make everyone who's ever smoked weed in their life be popped for DUI immediately.
It's not going to somehow make marijuana *more illegal* for everyone.
 
Disraeli_Beers;11031381 said:
Washinton's I-502 makes it significantly more dangerous to drive stoned, basically a cop can ask for a saliva test whenever they feel like it. 5 nano-grams or more (thats .000000001 of a gram) and you've got a DUI.

I'm sure I'd fail a test right now and I haven't even smoked today 8(
F*** my life, they let us smoke legally but won't even let us drive our cars intoxicated and risk danger to other people? you guys are idiots, just because you can seemingly drive better high and sober doesn't make it the same for everyone. I have gotten in the car with some people driving high that have made me so scared with their driving i almost wanted to put a drunk person there instead. So quit your whining, wait a couple hours before you drive, its not that hard, in fact its easy as smoking and then eating and watching tv or taking a walk before you drive. You guys are exagerating your claims about these tests without providing any factual information like the other people on here. People always think they're right about issues close to home just because they're close to home. its the facts theories and opinions are based on, not the theories or opinions themselves
 
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