Photo by InnerVisionPRO/iStock
Recreational marijuana use
has been legal in Seattle since 2012, but I still felt like I was
getting away with something when I walked into a dispensary there this
fall. There was a bouncer waiting behind a roped-off entryway on the
otherwise quiet Capitol Hill side street. He passed my driver’s license
through a small digital reader, which he said was meant to catch fake
IDs, but which other dispensaries have used to log customers’ identities and track purchases.
The staff inside was friendly, but sampling the product was strictly
prohibited.
In fact, there was almost nowhere to legally smoke what they were selling—not the sidewalk outside, not at the park a few blocks away, and definitely not in the patio smoking section at the neighborhood bar. The only safe place was at home—or the home of the friends I was staying with.
In fact, there was almost nowhere to legally smoke what they were selling—not the sidewalk outside, not at the park a few blocks away, and definitely not in the patio smoking section at the neighborhood bar. The only safe place was at home—or the home of the friends I was staying with.
At such moments, it’s easy to think marijuana legalization
in Seattle is largely a technicality, more of a theoretical freedom that
leaves plenty of potential for smokers to run afoul of the law. In
Washington state, marijuana is governed under the same laws that prohibit public consumption of alcohol. “If you’re smoking in plain public view, you’re subject to a ticket,” Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes warned in late 2012, just as Initiative 502—the legalization measure—was going in to effect.
In Copenhagen’s Nyhavn neighborhood, café diners share space with
locals getting buzzed on bodega beer sitting on canal-side benches. In
alleys across China, an all-night vivacity surrounds shao kao stalls,
where people from all walks can stop in for cheap beer and barbecue.
Yet in most of America, our laws against publicly sharing a high or buzz
with friends or neighbors will land you a court summons, and possibly
even a night in jail.
In most cases in Washington state, limits on how and where marijuana
is used are easy to ignore, with the most common punishment in Seattle
being a $27 fine.
Yet, they still leave police with power to enforce them at their
discretion, which almost always reflects racial and class-based
prejudice.
In 2014, Seattle was scandalized when police reported that almost half of the city’s marijuana violations were issued to homeless people, and more than a third went to black residents. The department later traced the majority of these summons back to a single police officer, who they claim had issued close to 80 percent of those violations.
In 2014, Seattle was scandalized when police reported that almost half of the city’s marijuana violations were issued to homeless people, and more than a third went to black residents. The department later traced the majority of these summons back to a single police officer, who they claim had issued close to 80 percent of those violations.
The city moved to vacate the summons after public criticism but
continued passing new laws governing marijuana possession and use. Over
the summer, the state Legislature extended these limitations, passing a bill that makes it a felony to run cannabis clubs
or allow patrons to get high at your place of business.
Lawmakers also made it illegal to carry marijuana in any part of a car accessible to either the driver or passenger. Smoking was also banned in all public housing in Seattle in 2012, and many landlords can include lease clauses prohibiting smoking on their premises, making it illegal to smoke in many private residences around Washington state.
Lawmakers also made it illegal to carry marijuana in any part of a car accessible to either the driver or passenger. Smoking was also banned in all public housing in Seattle in 2012, and many landlords can include lease clauses prohibiting smoking on their premises, making it illegal to smoke in many private residences around Washington state.
Recreational marijuana use is now legal in Alaska, Colorado,
Washington, Oregon, and Washington, D.C. Many states, from New Mexico to
Maine, allow medical marijuana use. Each varies in terms of how much
one is able to possess or under what conditions one is allowed to grow
marijuana. Meanwhile many municipalities have decriminalized the drug:
In Maryland you can now have up to 10 grams of marijuana and not risk being arrested while in New York City you can have up to 25 grams and only face civil penalties.
Next year Massachusetts will vote on a ballot initiative to fully legalize marijuana. (It was decriminalized in 2008, with legal medical marijuana following in 2012.) Similar ballot measures will go to voters in Nevada and Missouri next year. Arguably the most watched ballot to legalize will be in California. A similar initiative was rejected by California voters in 2010, but a Public Policy Institute of California poll suggests that support for legal marijuana there is higher than it’s ever been. Given the size of California’s population and economy, a victory there could be a historic turning point for the movement.
Next year Massachusetts will vote on a ballot initiative to fully legalize marijuana. (It was decriminalized in 2008, with legal medical marijuana following in 2012.) Similar ballot measures will go to voters in Nevada and Missouri next year. Arguably the most watched ballot to legalize will be in California. A similar initiative was rejected by California voters in 2010, but a Public Policy Institute of California poll suggests that support for legal marijuana there is higher than it’s ever been. Given the size of California’s population and economy, a victory there could be a historic turning point for the movement.
Though marijuana has been illegal in some form or another since the early 1900s,
the number of marijuana-related arrests has risen dramatically over the
past few decades—alongside arrests for alcohol and other controlled
substance. Marijuana possession arrests tripled between 1991 and 2008,
according to a study from the University of Maryland’s Department of
Criminology. An American Civil Liberties Union study of marijuana
arrests nationwide found blacks were 3.7 times more likely than whites to be arrested despite having similar usage rates.
While legalization efforts have led to major decreases in marijuana
arrests, prohibitions on public consumption still give police discretion
when it comes to enforcement—enforcement that continues to reflect and
reinforce structural racism.
Every state that has so far legalized recreational marijuana maintains a ban on public consumption, either smoking it or eating or drinking something made from it. A survey from the Colorado Judicial Branch found that while marijuana arrests had dropped by 80 percent between 2010 and 2014, marijuana arrest rates for blacks remained 2.4 times higher than for whites.
In D.C., possession arrests have dropped by 99 percent since marijuana was technically legalized in 2014, but public usage remains punishable by $25 fines, almost half of which were issued in the city’s Seventh District, part of the city’s southeastern section that is 94 percent black.
Every state that has so far legalized recreational marijuana maintains a ban on public consumption, either smoking it or eating or drinking something made from it. A survey from the Colorado Judicial Branch found that while marijuana arrests had dropped by 80 percent between 2010 and 2014, marijuana arrest rates for blacks remained 2.4 times higher than for whites.
In D.C., possession arrests have dropped by 99 percent since marijuana was technically legalized in 2014, but public usage remains punishable by $25 fines, almost half of which were issued in the city’s Seventh District, part of the city’s southeastern section that is 94 percent black.
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