This afternoon I watched a legislative committee in Olympia take comments from the public on cannabis bills. The topic was home-grown cannabis plants, completely illegal in WA right now. Despite that it should sail right through the lawmaking process, it was an opportunity for those against to speak up.
My observations have been that the committee is strongly cannabis-friendly, and readily accepts alternative views. But, they have no interest in debating cannabis itself, only the bill on the table in front of them.
Opposition was an organized group of 5 people from Kennewick, a five-hour drive to Olympia. Their message was “Protect the children. It smells bad. The smell makes children sick”. The committee has heard this for twenty-some years. Comments were limited by the chair to 1 minute, an unreasonable amount of time, but that’s the power of the chair. So 5 people drove from Kennewick to Olympia and spent the night for 5 minutes total of testimony. And they blew it on think of the children.
I expect most of the routine cannabis bills to pass this year…