I am so happy to hear that you are sponsering this bill. I am a councilwoman in Chewelah WA. I have been fighting a huge battle in trying to get my baby granddaughter home with her sibling and me since she had to leave on January 21, 2009. I was accused of using MJ 30 years ago! So many accusations were coming at me, I could not respond. A psych eval was ordered that could have taken my oldest custodial granddaughter of 10 years; yes, I had to surrender the baby to save the other child as she was in my care as a foster child. Social services finally agreed this was rediculous and tried to bring her back home, CASA objected and held an all day hearing, stating again that I had used MJ all these years ago; the judge stating that I was responsible for my 31 year old daughter's drug abuse. I was involved in the signing of the Becca Bill in the 1990's. This is all wrong. CASA won and by hiring my prior divorce attorney from 1995! I have filed a grievance against this attorney. CASA worker admitted to having 2 prior arrests; my prior divorce attorney has been admonished in the past for wrongful conduct, yet I cannot have my baby granddaughter home with her sibling and me. I asked for 2 weeks to obtain counsel before surrendering my baby granddaughter, per foster agreement, and was denied. My foster agreement stated that I be allowed 2 weeks. I was put in a locked room, accused of MJ use all those years ago and do not have my baby granddaugher today; her sibling is so sad, has developed asthma from the stress of not having her sister. Baby's crib is still set up as is her high chair. All because an alleged ex, deceased husband of 20 years, may have used MJ. Now our child is in a foster to adopt home. The CAPTA bill will pay the state to adopt her even though I am a licensed foster parent; have owned my home for 5 years and served on my city counsel. I have a flawless background, no complaints with my other granddaughter of 10 years. All because of false allegations that I used MJ 30 years ago! If you need my story, I will help you any way I can. Thank you for sponsoring this bill. If alcohol were an issue, nearly every child would be taken with exception to a priest. I have lived alone for 16 years, raising my granddaughter for 10 years. My daughter, mom, wrote an explanation as to why she started using drugs. She lost her father in a car accident. I have no legal representation. All resources have been exhausted. I am trying to help others with the same issues; no abuse, no neglect, nothing but allegations. No facts entered into evidence, no witnesses, no expert witnesses. I took my own psych eval and it was good, but the judge did not allow the doctor to interrpret it, instead the judge critiqued it. Stevens County Washington is the most corrupt area as our prosecutor has stated, yet there is no money for a grand jury investigation. Please keep this plight going. Thank you,

Ever been to Amsterdam? There's no need for what you propose… anyone who wants to smoke dope in WA can & does. Law enforcement seldom targets anything but the largest operation. It's just another step towards the Amsterdam model. Go ahead and make Seattle a sister city to them, but keep the rest of the state out of your inaneness.

For the record, hempfest as an example. If it was a gathering of people getting drunk there woulda been a lot more problems. On the way in the door we had people screaming we were going to hell, while he probably goes home and indulges on alcoholic beverages.

I've known a lot more people die directly attributed to alcohol, only people that die in results of marijuana would be the organized crime as I mentioned earlier.

While reversing the nonsensical marijuana laws is certainly a step in the right direction, I believe that when facing the stereotypes and stigmas of marijuana, it is important to bring all pertinent and beneficial facts to the table.

I would encourage M. Dickerson or her staff to take the opportunity to read “The Emperor Wears No Clothes” by Jack Herer, which is an exhaustive expose' of the history and potential of not only marijuana, but hemp. While many individuals may continue to stonewall any honest and open discussion based on a Reefer Madness mentality, the undeniable facts of the benefits of the cultivation of hemp cannot be denied – and because hemp is not a psychoactive drug, the “What about the Children?” defense becomes a mute point.

http://www.jackherer.com/chapters.html

I wish you the best of luck in your efforts.

Sincerely,

S. Osweiler

It's far past time to stop demonizing Americans who seek to expand their consciousness and grow and imbibe their own medicines.

Dude, you are a walking case study for how smoking pot can fry your ability to think straight. I'm all for decriminalization, but dude, it ain't a conspiracy.

Prohibition of something many citizens want doesn't work, period. This should've been a lesson we took away from the failure of the Volstead Act, wishfully called “The Noble Experiment.” A misguided prohibition weakens the legitimacy of a democratically elected government and squanders resources that are needed elsewhere in society.

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Add vote in our poll about legalization at http://www.woodstockuniverse.com.

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The fact is that people will use marijuana whether it's legal or not. Our current policies have been nothing short of a failure. We pay through the nose for these policies in terms of monetary costs, not to mention the cost to our freedom as informed adults not being able to make informed decisions.

Even if the federal law would trump state law in this case, I applaud Rep. Dickerson for approaching what is a rather controversial issue. Getting the conversation going is the first step, and if states begin to decriminalize marijuana en masse, the federal government will eventually have to relent.