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Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Politics Watch the Two New Commercials to Legalize Marijuana

Posted by Dominic Holden on Wed, Oct 10, 2012 at 11:23 AM

This is a big deal: The new ads for Initiative 502 that begin airing today, which encourage Washington to become the first state to legalize marijuana, star former federal law enforcement.

I know—if you watch politics around here, you know they're on board and their endorsement seems... banal. Don't be jaded. Former US Attorneys John McKay and Kate Pflaumer, along with the FBI's Charlie Mandigo, make the most persuasive case for legalization: Pot laws result in using limited law enforcement resources that should instead be focused on violent crime.

Every time that pot legalization—even decriminalization—has gone to voters in other states, federal law enforcement have delivered the coup de grace, largely by virtue of their credibility. This time, it's the opposite. These prosecutors and an agent get in the first word for legalization, and with $1 million in the bank and up to $2 million more on the way, the New Approach Washington campaign is going to hit this message hard. This is a coup.

The second ad, just McKay, is after the jump:

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Comments (5) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

Good ads, Lets see, Legalize Marijuana,and same sex marriage....We could be living in a vary Cool state.

Posted by h8red42 on October 10, 2012 at 12:14 PM

Have you been listening the the KPLU series "If it's legal"? I bet 90% of their audience votes, and they're being fairly even-handed. It's interesting: http://www.kplu.org/term/if-its-legal

Posted by dwightmoodyforgetsthings

on October 10, 2012 at 1:03 PM

Eric Idle looks like he is aging well.

Posted by lovethatguy on October 10, 2012 at 1:18 PM

When he was 22, my son was sentenced federally to 45 months after he got caught selling marijuana, and was unable to complete his last semester of college. At the age of 16, he was violently assaulted and beat on the head, requiring nearly 40 stitches. Law enforcement never even bothered to file a report and refused my request for them to investigate, telling me this crime was a misdemeanor. One of the blows could have done terrible damage, and my son was fortunate that the injuries weren't worse. He suffered from PTSD. I do think that law enforcement has their priorities all wrong.

Posted by freetruth on October 10, 2012 at 3:08 PM

@4 Your son is a very good reason to vote for this in spite of any fears someone might have of the DUI provisions. Trafficking a controlled substance isn't even 1% of the crime that assault was. Heck looking back at my own life, I look at something as violent as someone/group stealing my car and leaving it on blocks 20 blocks away, the cops were about 500 times more concerned about clearing it off the pavement in front of the rich people's homes than they ever were about solving the crime. I mistakenly suggested there were some clean prints on the window and was laughed at, as if police have time to solve crimes or keep their neighborhoods safe, or as if this crime mattered. If I would have used a joint to calm myself down in front of the officer, I would have been thrown into jail for longer than the theoretical car thieves without hesitation. You'd have to be one of the worst human beings on the planet to think that someone smoking and/or selling a plant is worse than a violent assault that leaves more than $10,000 worth of physical/mental damage to the victim. I feel sorry for that officer, there's no way that person goes home at night thinking they do a good job, they already know they're useless and they just don't care.

Posted by watchout5