OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Backers of an effort to legalize and regulate the recreational use of marijuana in Washington state have turned in more than 340,000 signatures in an effort to qualify their initiative to the Legislature.
They were met Thursday by about a dozen protesters who support legalization but say the current proposal harms medical marijuana patients because of an element of the initiative that would make illegal for a motorist to have more than 5 nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood in their system. THC is the active ingredient of cannabis.
Initiative 502 would legalize up to an ounce of dried marijuana, and pot would be sold and taxed at state-licensed stores.
