Legalization Bill in Washington State

I had missed this news earlier this week.

6 co-sponsors in the State House are introducing a bill that will legalize marijuana for adults over the age of 21. The bill will also utilize the existing mechanisms in place for regulating wine and hard liquor to establish a distribution system that makes our existing state run liquor stores the sole distributor. One thing that’s not clear yet is whether there will be any limit on people growing plants for themselves.

Interesting development. Probably not the plan I would have chosen, but this is the great thing about the states being able to try things. If the Feds can be pushed out of the way, we can learn things from each state and the models they choose.

To stay experimentation in things social and economic is a grave responsibility. Denial of the right to experiment may be fraught with serious consequences to the Nation. It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous State may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country. – Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, 1932

Lee Rosenberg at HorsesAss has a nice discussion about the case for regulation.