Along with Colorado, Washington State has recently legalized marijuana. We have already written about this just before legalization became a reality. Many were amazed, as this was a huge step, yet many were also convinced that the struggle has just begun. It is natural to claim that the implementation of this specific change will not happen overnight and that it’s going to take some time and serious effort in order to take care of the glitches that will undoubtedly sprout here and there.
Driving under the influence of marijuana
First on the order of business is driving. In the Washington State Tri City area, medical marijuana patients are concerned that they wont be able to respect the marijuana limit the new driving law demands to be met. However, for the majority of people, that is perfectly fine and we salute that regulation as its best not to drive a vehicle and being recreationally stoned out of your mind. Yes, even if you are driving at 20 mph. However, for people like medical marijuana patients that might present a real problem.
The difference between recreation and obligation
Medical marijuana patients look at weed as a means to an end and it really does make their lives a hell of a lot easier if they can smoke it on a daily basis in order to relieve chronic pain or any other symptoms marijuana can alleviate. The problem is, if they don’t consume cannabis, the pain comes back and they have to switch to painkillers, which in the end produce serious side effects and thus render medical marijuana patients helpless.
Inconsistencies in the new driving law
Now this is where things get tough for a daily medical marijuana consumer. In order to completely flush the THC out of your system, it may take you up to an entire month to do so – with physically active people, it may take them up to three weeks. For medical marijuana patients, that cleansing time period may be even longer. The DUI provisions also suggest that you should stay away from marijuana for a month in order to pass the blood test. Most medical marijuana patients have therefore voted against the law because it’s simply going to make their lives significantly more difficult. More should be known in the next two months so we’ll keep you updated on that.
Collective gardens
Then there’s the little question of collective gardens for medical marijuana, which are allowed from the state but banned in Tri Cities (Kennewick, Pasco and Richland). The Kennewick City Council is up for a discussion this Monday and after that we’ll know if collective gardening is legal again or not. Richland has six more months to see if they want to prolong the ban or not and Pasco banned all medical marijuana gardens in June. For a state that has just legalized marijuana on a very general level, banning collective gardens seems outdated so hopefully all bans will be revoked by the end of June, 2013.
http://youtu.be/KOAMDc6SwNo
