My colleague Wendy Goffe, a trusts and estates attorney in our Seattle office and a regular contributor to Forbes, wrote a fascinating article about Washington Initiative 502 (I-502), the marijuana reform law. As those of you who haven’t been sleeping under a rock already know, the initiative appeared on the November 2012 General Ballot and passed by a healthy ten point margin.
In her article, Wendy conducted several interviews to highlight some of the issues that have emerged following the initiative’s passage. Specifically, Wendy cautions that:
While publicly smoking marijuana has been part of Seattle’s DNA for some time, people still need to be careful about where they consume their legal ounce. Smoking in public continues to be illegal under state law, and possession of any sort is illegal under the federal Controlled Substances Act.
Wendy also describes the impact that the law may have on the workplace and employment policies, the response from the federal government regarding the initiative, and the potential for new mainstream business opportunities and entrepreneurship if and when selling marijuana becomes legal. You can read Wendy’s article here.
Meanwhile, we are continuing to track the progress of I-502 in Washington. Check out our other posts on the new law here, here, and here. Watch this space for more updates on I-502 from Stoel Rives.