The Best Way for the State to Fix its Budget is – Pot Legalization?

‘Weed With Roots in Hell’ is Public Favorite – Leads Voting on Governor’s Website

By Erik Smith

Staff writer/ Washington State Wire

OLYMPIA, July 29.—Looks like the governor’s suggestion-box plan is going to pot.

            Marijuana legalization is the public’s top pick among ideas to fix the state budget. It has been for more than a week. And even if crackdowns on state employee salaries and illegal aliens are coming right up behind it, the public preference for weed has been so pungent and pronounced that this looks like one smokin’ idea.

            So does this mean Gov. Christine Gregoire will say yes to drugs?

            The rankings show up on a website launched by Gregoire last week as part of an effort to involve the public in discussions over the budget. The website allows people to submit suggestions, and then vote for the ones they like.

            And from what we can tell so far, it appears that Washingtontonians are mighty creative people. Some 1,720 ideas have been submitted so far, everything from canceling the governor’s inaugual ball – which isn’t paid for by the state, by the way – to taxing the tribal casinos – rather a sore spot for the governor, after all the sharp words on that topic during the last campaign. And then there are a few ideas that just might work. Like eliminating the state’s front license plate, and remembering to turn out the lights when people go home for the day.

            All of them are going to be tossed into the mix when the governor’s new task force on transforming the state budget finishes up its hearings and starts getting down to work. Gregoire spokeswoman Karina Shagren insists that the governor is reading the list herself, as is Marty Brown, the director of the governor’s budget office.

            Which means, by now, she must have noticed the fact that the public loves the wacky tobacky plan to balance the state budget. Legalize marijuana and tax it to the max. Save on law enforcement. Save on prison costs. And rake in more than enough to kiss budget shorfalls goodbye forever.

            So what does the governor think of the idea?

            Well, it’s come up once before, Shagren said. Early this year, when the legislature was in session, Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, D-Seattle had a bill that would have done that, and it got a hearing before it vanished. It’s not that the governor opposes the idea, Shagren said, but the feds might have a different thought on the subject. “It’s a legitimate idea,” she said. “But we’d have to see how the federal government would respond.”

            The governor’s website allows the public to submit ideas and vote for others they like. They can vote for more than one at a time. As of Thursday morning the pot plan has 1,075 votes.

            The next-nearest contender, limiting state salaries and benefits, has 1,026 votes. Requiring proof of legal residency before people are eligible for state services has 969 votes.

            Philip Dawdy, campaign director for this year’s marijuana-legalization initiative, said the heavy voting for marijuana demonstrates that legalization is a mainstream issue. Initiative 1068 didn’t make the ballot this year – the all-volunteer campaign wound up with a little more than 200,000 signatures, a little short of the 241,000 required. But the issue is going to be back next year, either in the form of an initiative or a lobbying push at the statehouse, or both.