By Monterey Bud
Bold and defiant, Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington State announced last week that his administration stands ready to defend their voter-approved adult-use marijuana law against any action brought by the federal government in court.
Already high on the new administration’s Nixonian hit list for challenging the feds ill-conceived travel ban, imposed on seven predominantly Muslim countries, Inslee issued a rather remarkable warning last Thursday to the newly sworn in U.S. Atty. Gen., according to the spokesman.com.
“Of the five or six fights they want to pick today, or any day, this is not the one they want to have.”
Perpetually embattled since being sworn in on Inauguration Day, the Trump administration was also cautioned by Gov. Inslee, “They would be on the wrong side of history,” provided the feds attempt to supersede Washington State’s recreational marijuana law.
First implemented on Dec. 6, 2012, approximately one month after voters in Washington State passed I-502, adults 21 and over have been provided legal cover for their choice of relaxing with recreational cannabis. And, flush with a mountain of substantiating evidence, Inslee seeks to persuade the GOP-dominated House of Representatives and the Trump administration that legalization is ultimately beneficial and fiscally prudent for those states that choose to embrace it.
With no major increase in criminal activity or spikes in unforeseen health issues, Washington State has generated north of $1 billion in total marijuana sales since it first legalized recreational pot.
Sold by 374 brick-and-mortar marijuana shops and cultivated by 1,081 growers, marijuana in Washington State has generated approximately $401,194,378 in marijuana tax revenue from $1,526,389,360 worth of recreational marijuana sales, which would have otherwise benefited the black market and their illicit cartels.
Still awkwardly classified as a Schedule I narcotic within the Controlled Substance Act, the State House Majority Leader, Pat Sullivan, believes the Trump administration and their new Atty. Gen. “could force us to actually shut down the industry”.
