Washington state is currently undergoing a massive shift in marijuana legislation. Laws concerning marijuana in the Evergreen state are currently nuanced and untested, with law enforcers and reefers waiting to see where Lady Justice's scale falls. The City of Seattle has decreed that they won't prosecute any possession of marijuana charges unless the state legislature pushes their hand, and, for the time being, the city of Seattle has turned a blind eye to the flurry of illegal dispensaries that have been popping up throughout the city limits. At this point, it's Seattle vs. the state vs the feds, and, at some point, something's going to give.
Dana Walker, a Washingtonian badass with a croc-wrasslin' logger's sense of fashion, is maintaining the backcountry aesthetic outsiders conjure when they speak of Washington state. With his good looks and pubic hair, he's made headlines in the fluctuating world of Washington weed. He resides in a state where medicinal marijuana dispensaries may soon be legal and is tolerated (although illegal) and prominent in some areas (Seattle). Yet, he is going to jail for possession. Yes, instead of paying a couple thousand dollar fine for possession, Walker's willing to add to the four years he has already spent in jail for marijuana use/possession/etc. to avoid paying a fine. Walker decided to turn the tables, conceivably fining the state of Washington significantly more for prosecuting such a petty action.
And he's asking the marijuana enthusiasts of Washington to join him in jail, hoping to fill the courts and jails to the point where prosecuting marijuana use or possession becomes an expensive and ultimately futile measure.
Mozart's read on this approach:
It's a brilliant idea, but the amount of wiling stoners necessary for such a ploy to work is deflating. Not to mention, he's not calling upon the most active demographic. People in Washington feel pretty strongly about decriminalizing and, eventually, legalizing marijuana use, but it's already used so ubiquitously in Washington (which is flush with marijuana due to it's proximity to the emerald triangle and the well-known B.C. bud) that only a run-in with the law influences mobilization. Marijuana cases rarely make it to court, and officers generally drop the charges if some class or program is completed, that is, if they choose to even charge you.
Walker's proposal does demonstrate the simple concerted action it takes to make a change. If a large enough percentage of the population drains allotted jail funds for the incarcerated and clogs the system, the odds are in their favor that the government will amend laws to avoid stoner-filled prisons and dockets, because the priority of such cases is extremely low. With marijuana, gay marriage and any of the trivialities that have become topics of debate for liberals and conservatives to ponder over, the scale scan be tipped one way or another depending on who shows up willing to walk the path their rhetoric preaches.
Really, there is no reason these topics should be censored or banned, and even though I'm quite satisfied with my (illegal-but-who-cares) freedom to roll a spliff of Afghan Kush and Top within the confines of my delux-a-plex, the idea of rolling it in the park without preoccupying myself with worries of persecution or prosecution is a pleasurable notion. Especially if I had a hand in making this freedom so.
-Mozart
Muggles used to be a term synonymous with stoner or pothead.
