Until it's a tax revenue, it won't be a legit business.

Everything flows from that.

Everything.

#1

That's why medical marijuana is a great deal.

a. brings in revenue
b. controlled quality
c. monitoring of users/criminality is curtailed

I would say forget about "street legalization" and just make everyone go to the dispensary.

Could be the first step in the direction of "single payer".

The zinger for me: "never get behind a nonviable initiative"

Thanks for that. I was one of the volunteers for last year's Sensible Washington (I-1068) campaign. The whole time I was collecting signatures, something felt off--the proposition was a bit of a stretch, the campaign managers were pretty much pushy assholes, then a volunteer coordinator chastized me more than once, and I was done. I am grateful to have had a few thousand quick conversations about pot with people, but I will never collect sigs for something, like you say, so nonviable.

You couldn't have really convinced me at the time that it was nonviable, but hindsight's a 20/20 bitch.

Hindsight's great when you're driving a car in reverse, though.

Impossible to pay attention to this post, with a Liter stein of BEER staring at me. BEER!!

We, Cannabis Defense Coalition, are a 501(c)(3) activist cooperative focused on marijuana policy -- both medical and non-medical -- in Washington State. Formed in 2008, we have about 200 members, a couple dozen of whom are actively involved. Most of our projects are relatively small, costing a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. We do just about anything our members dream up and raise funds for that fits our mission (with the notable exception of distributing cannabis; our lease bars that and we feel that doing so would negatively affect our ability to do the work we do).

Have money to donate but no time? Time but no money? Ideas for projects you're unable to accomplish or uncomfortable with accomplishing on your own? Please join us.

We helped pass a law last year that expanded the list of health care professionals who can authorize the use medicinal use of cannabis. Last October, we hosted a legislative forum for Senator Kohl-Welles to gather input on the bill Dominic mentioned. A few weeks ago, we met and reviewed the latest draft of her bill -- the entire thing, line-by-line -- and provided her with detailed feedback.

Our projects page provides a good view of what else we do:

Strategic Goal: Supporting Prosecuted Patients

* Traveled to medical cannabis court hearings and trials throughout Washington State to bear witness and provide moral support.
* Created the Washington State Potline, a toll-free medical marijuana hotline where one may obtain legal info, attorney listings, and report marijuana arrests in Washington State. cdc.coop/potline
* Placed newspaper ads attacking county prosecutors who intentionally focus on medical marijuana prosecutions. cdc.coop/tucker_ad and cdc.coop/hauge_ad

Strategic Goal: Defending and Expanding RCW 69.51A

* Hired veteran lobbyist Lonnie Johns-Brown to work for passage of SB 5798 to expand our medical marijuana law to include naturopathic doctors, phsyicians' assistants, and nurse practitioners. Worked with bill sponsor and 36th District Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles to successfully pass the bill, which was signed into law by Governor Gregoire. cdc.coop/lobby
* Filed a 1700-page public disclosure request with the Department of Corrections to determine how their parolee medical marijuana policy came about. The documents have shed light on a specific medical marijuana case where it appears DOC violated the law and attempted to cover it up. cdc.coop/doc
* Filed public disclosure requests with the state Department of Health for records of medical marijuana related investigations of doctors, after hearing about cases in which law enforcement agencies were using the DOH complaint process to harass doctors. cdc.coop/doh_investigations
* Created a public awareness campaign surrounding the Department of Health hearings to define what constitutes a "60-day supply" under our medical marijuana law. cdc.coop/doh
* Filed a petition with the Washington State Medical Quality Assurance Commission to add a "qualifying condition" to our medical marijuana law. cdc.coop/mqac
* Sent a letter to every county sheriff, prosecutor and public defenders' office in the state informing them about the new Department of Health medical marijuana regulations, and reminding them about the overwhelming public support for medical marijuana. cdc.coop/prosecutor_mailing

Strategic Goal: Cannabis Education and Awareness

* Compiled and printed our Washington State Medical Cannabis Primer & Courtroom Observation Companion, the quintessential guide to medical marijuana in Washington State. cdc.coop/primer
* Created the Cannabis Resource Center in Seattle's South Park neighborhood -- now in Sodo -- a public space dedicated to cannabis activism, which houses our offices. cdc.coop/crc
* Started a Cannabis College Night, offering weekly classes on marijuana law, medical cannabis cultivation, and the like. cdc.coop/college
* Joined the Adopt-A-Highway program, cleaning up our very own signed section of the Maple Valley Highway, SR-169. cdc.coop/adoptahighway
* Opened a cafe to serve food to the under-served community of South Park, and to encourage the general public to visit our cannabis activist community center. cdc.coop/cafe
* Printed and distributed thousands of free buttons and stickers with the message "stop arresting medical marijuana patients." Created and sold t-shirts with slogans in support of medical cannabis. cdc.coop/art

Strategic Goal: Standing Up For Cannabis

* Organized and fundraised the 2010 Seattle Marijuana Liberation March.
* Created posters seeking the identity of the confidential informant in the Joe Hyer case, in which the Olympia city councilmember was set up for a pot bust by another recently ousted councilmember and political mentor, possibly to pay off a drunk driving charge or as a simple act of revenge. cdc.coop/hyer_case
* Set up a "freedom to travel" defense fund for Phil Mocek, a CDC member arrested at the Albuquerque Airport while returning from a drug policy conference for failing to show identification to federal TSA agents, and for recording with prior permission. cdc.coop/tsa_arrest

Membership costs $40 per year and is open to all natural persons who subscribe to our mission and vision.

--
Phil, CDC member

We account for each project individually, so people who want to chip in on one specific project that we're working on can do so.


--
Phil, CDC member