If you want to smoke grass, all you have to do is to relocate to Washington State. Today – Thursday December 6, 2012, Washington state made history as the first in the nation to legalize marijuana possession for adult recreational use. The new law decriminalizes possession of up to an ounce for those over 21, but for now selling marijuana remains illegal. The occasion was celebrated by many users of marijuana near Seattle’s popular Space Needle tower with blaring of reggae music and a haze of pot smoking.
Below are the rules and regulations for smoking marijuana in Washington State:
1. Pot puffing in public would not be tolerated and violators would face citations carrying $100 fines.
2. Marijuana law removes criminal sanctions for anyone 21 or older possessing 1 ounce (28.5 grams) or less of pot for personal recreational use.
3. It is also legal to possess up to 16 ounces (0.45 kg) of solid cannabis-infused goods – like brownies or cookies – and up to 72 ounces (2.4 kg) of weed in liquid form.
However, driving under the influence of cannabis, or imbibing in public places, where the consumption of alcohol already is banned, remains illegal.
4.If you’re smoking in plain public view, you’re subject to a ticket.
5.The new law ultimately will permit cannabis to be legally sold and taxed at state-licensed stores in a system to be modeled after those in many states for alcohol sales, but the state Liquor Control Board, along with agriculture and public health officials, have until December 1, 2013, to set up such a system. As long as you abide by the above listed rules, you are free to puff grass.
But marijuana remains illegal under federal law. That means federal agents can still arrest people for it, and it’s banned from federal properties, such as military bases and national parks.
Attorney Pete Holmes said at a news conference Wednesday. “Initiative 502 uses the alcohol model. If drinking in public is disallowed, so is smoking marijuana in public.”
Shouts of “Yeah!” and “Smoke some weed” and “Anybody got a bong?” rose after a Portland, Oregon, radio personality, “Radical” Russ Belville, finished a 10-second countdown on a bullhorn.
Marijuana advocates planned for for a larger celebration Thursday evening at the Space Needle tower. Others planned a midnight party outside the Seattle headquarters of Hempfest, the 21-year-old festival that attracts tens of thousands of pot fans every summer.Warnings to keep pot smoking indoors were ignored.
