Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
these were what I like to call “Pot Prohibition Profiteers”—people who profited from the
fact that marijuana was illegal, and who saw legalization as a threat to their bottom line.
When the results came in on election night, the people of both Washington and Color-
ado voted to legalize, tax, and regulate marijuana. And it was a decisive win. In fact, more
people in both states voted for marijuana than voted to re-elect President Obama.
It soon became clear that the stakes of Washington's and Colorado's legalization
were global. While the US typically lags behind most of Europe on progressive issues,
I-502 thrust Washington State ahead of even the most progressive European countries.
Soon after the historic vote, a famously liberal European country (Denmark) imported
Seattle know-how (City Attorney Pete Holmes) for help in restructuring its drug laws.
And shortly thereafter, Uruguay became the first country on earth to risk the wrath of the
US trade policy and legalize marijuana.
Domestically, civic and political leaders nationwide could now openly discuss this is-
sue. Two states legalized… and the sky didn't fall. We can do it, too!
But, as with other legalization efforts, we found ourselves in a legal “gray area.”
Regardless of the will of two states' voters, federal law still said marijuana was illegal.
Drug policy reformers waited tensely to hear whether the Department of Justice would
clamp down. We breathed a sigh of relief when President Obama decided not to stand
in the way of implementation, reasoning, “We've got bigger fish to fry.” The president
seemed to recognize that our country was designed for states to be the incubators of
change.
The next chapter of drug policy reform—in Washington State, in the United States,
and abroad—is yet to be written. And the jury's still out on the long-term effects of leg-
alization in my own backyard. But I find it heartening that Washington State finally stood
up to Washington, DC, and voted to take the crime out of marijuana: treating its abuse
as a health and education challenge; ending a massive black market that has enriched and
emboldened gangs and organized crime; and finally accepting its use by mature and re-
sponsible adults as a civil liberty. For me, my ability to bring a European perspective to
drug policy reform in the US has been a good example of making travel a political act.
And it's been fun, too.
