Marijuana

OLYMPIA – In legalizing marijuana last fall, voters created more questions for the Legislature, not fewer. Some, including how the federal government is going to react, can’t be answered yet, officials from the State Liquor Control Board told a Senate committee Monday.

YAKIMA – Irrigation canals line Washington’s Yakima Valley east of the Cascade Range, transforming a desert landscape into one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world – including crops for some of America’s biggest vices. Thousands of acres of wine grapes dot the landscape, contributing to Washington’s No. 2 rank for premium wine production behind California. Farmers grow more than two-thirds of U.S. hops for big beer companies and craft brewers alike, and a large tobacco field is flourishing on a valley Indian reservation.

Worried about what you're gonna do if those extended unemployment benefits ever run out? Options abound for the marginally skilled in Spokane. Some call them slacker jobs but you can call them non-traditional career paths if you want.

OLYMPIA – Washington residents have suggestions for how the state should write new rules to grow legal marijuana. Hundreds of them. Some want the state Liquor Control Board, which is trying to come up with those rules, to keep out the large corporations. Others want the board to limit the kinds of chemicals that could be used to fight off weeds, bugs or mold. Still others fear the taxes will be too high or regulations too restrictive and stub out a budding industry.

OLYMPIA – Elections are designed to place a punctuation mark on political disputes. Sometimes it’s a period; other times, it’s more of comma, pausing to allow one to take a breath before the argument continues. That seems the case with Initiative 502, which as most of the world knows opens the door for adults to smoke marijuana in private. (Who among us hasn’t had a reprobate relative, old high school buddy or college roommate call to suggest they were planning a visit to, wink-wink, take in the air of democracy in the Evergreen State, or something equally prosaic?)

SEATTLE – People in Washington decided that marijuana, long derided as a dangerous drug that could lead to more harmful addictions, wasn’t so bad after all. Initiative 502, legalizing pot for adults, was easily approved in November and that sweeping change to drug policy was voted the state’s top news story of 2012 by Associated Press member editors. The other top news items of the past 12 months included another vote by Washingtonians, this one affirming gay people’s right to marry, as well as the expensive, hard-fought governor’s race, a local soldier accused of massacring civilians in Afghanistan and large, destructive wildfires in central and Eastern Washington.

Will the Marlboro Man light up a joint soon? The states of Washington and Colorado legalized possession of small amounts of recreational marijuana in the November elections, but it is unclear if any cigarette makers plan to supply either market.

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Will the Marlboro Man light up a joint soon? The states of Washington and Colorado legalized possession of small amounts of recreational marijuana in the November elections, but it is unclear if any cigarette makers plan to supply either market.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — President Barack Obama says he won't go after pot users in Colorado and Washington, two states that just legalized the drug for recreational use. But advocates argue the president said the same thing about medical marijuana — and yet U.S. attorneys continue to force the closure of dispensaries across the U.S. Welcome to the confusing and often conflicting policy on pot in the U.S., where medical marijuana is legal in many states, but it is increasingly difficult to grow, distribute or sell it. And at the federal level, at least officially, it is still an illegal drug everywhere.

SEATTLE (AP) — Officials and pot advocates looking for any sign of whether the Obama administration will sue to block legal pot laws in Washington state and Colorado or stand idly by as they are implemented got one from the president himself. But it did little to clear the air.

SEATTLE — Backers of new laws that legalized marijuana in Washington and Colorado were cautiously optimistic after President Barack Obama said Uncle Sam wouldn’t pursue pot users in those states.

Spokane city leaders will meet today to begin planning for how to deal with businesses that want to sell state-sanctioned marijuana. City Council members will meet with the city of Spokane Plan Commission to map out priorities for the next year, Councilman Jon Snyder said. Part of that discussion will be how to deal with the voter-approved Initiative 502, which allows residents 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of marijuana.

Abnormal electrical use on an Elk property led to last week’s discovery of an elaborate marijuana grow operation from which authorities seized nearly 100 plants. Spokane County Sheriff’s detectives could smell freshly harvested marijuana on Dec. 5 while standing outside near the 43000 block of Newport Highway, according to court documents.

Abnormal electrical use on an Elk, Wash., property led to last week’s discovery of an elaborate marijuana grow operation from which authorities seized nearly 100 plants.

DENVER (AP) — Marijuana for recreational use became legal in Colorado Monday, when the governor took a purposely low-key procedural step of declaring the voter-approved change part of the state constitution. Colorado became the second state after Washington to allow pot use without a doctor's recommendation. Both states prohibit public use of the drug, and commercial sales in Colorado and Washington won't be permitted until after regulations are written next year.

SEATTLE (AP) — Marijuana became legal under Washington state law Thursday. So, bong hits and funny brownies for everybody? Not quite. Pot legalization in the Evergreen State has raised many questions, some that likely won't be answered for a while. Here's a quick primer: