About the Initiative

In plain language, here is what Initiative 502 will do:

	• I-502 legalizes the possession of marijuana for adults age 21 and older. • Selling marijuana to minors will remain a felony.
	• Washington farmers and businesses will be allowed to apply for special licenses to grow and sell marijuana. • Marijuana will only be available in stores that sell no other products, are located at least 1,000 feet from schools, playgrounds, and parks, and do not display marijuana in a way that is visible to the public. • State employees will not be involved in growing, distributing, or selling marijuana.
	• State agencies will regulate numbers of stores per county, operating hours, security, quality control, labeling, and other health and safety issues.
	• I-502 tightly restricts advertising and bans advertising in places frequented by youth. • New tax revenue is dedicated to proven community and school-based prevention programs.
	• Prohibits public use and display of marijuana. • Does not allow home growing for people who are not medical marijuana patients.
	• According to the state Office of Financial Management, a new 25% marijuana excise tax, combined with retail sales and B&O tax, will generate more than half a billion dollars in new revenue each year. • 40% of the new revenues will go to the state general fund and local budgets. • 60% will be dedicated to substance-abuse prevention, research, education and health care.
	• A new marijuana DUI standard that operates like the alcohol DUI standard will be established. • I-502 sets a science-based limit of 5ng/ml active THC blood concentration.
	• DUI standard applies only to active THC, which drops below 5 ng/mL within a matter of hours, not the inactive metabolite carboxy-THC that can be detected days, or even weeks, after last use. • Police officers still need proof of impairment to make an arrest and take a driver to a medical professional for a blood draw – just like current law.
	• I-502 does not change Washington's medical marijuana law – patients still may grow their own marijuana. • Patients will finally receive protection from arrest because possession will no longer be a crime for anyone 21 or older. • Patients will finally receive access to safe, secure, reliable, and quality-controlled marijuana that has been grown locally.

Here's how Initiative 502 will be described on your November 6 general election ballot:

This measure would license and regulate marijuana production, distribution, and possession for persons over twenty-one; remove state-law criminal and civil penalties for activities that it authorizes; tax marijuana sales; and earmark marijuana-related revenues.

And here's the summary we were required to print on signature petitions to put Initiative 502 on this year's ballot:

This measure would remove state-law prohibitions against producing, processing, and selling marijuana, subject to licensing and regulation by the liquor control board; allow limited possession of marijuana by persons aged twenty-one and over; and impose 25% excise taxes on wholesale and retail sales of marijuana, earmarking revenue for purposes that include substance-abuse prevention, research, education, and healthcare. Laws prohibiting driving under the influence would be amended to include maximum thresholds for THC blood concentration.

Download the complete text of the initiative.

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