[420 Girl]

WA. - Proponents of easing the state's marijuana laws were dealt a blow last week when a House committee killed two measures, one that would legalize it and another that would decriminalize the drug.

But people who are looking to change the laws via the legislative process are still hopeful about a bill in the Legislature's upper chamber. Senate Bill 5615 would make possessing a small amount of marijuana a civil infraction, subject to a fine. The measure made it out of a Senate committee last year and has been refiled.

"One part of the marijuana law reform effort is still very much alive in Olympia – the bill to decriminalize adult possession of small amounts of marijuana," Doug Honig, spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, said in an e-mail. "We are hopeful it will move forward."

Honig said passsing the bill would save state and local governments $16 million annually and raise money that could be used for drug treatment programs.

The sponsor of the 5615, Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, said she was hopeful her chamber might vote on the measure in the next few weeks. It currently sits in the Senate Rules Committee, which Kohl-Welles is a member of.

"I'm planning on pulling the bill to the Senate floor for a vote," she said Monday evening. "We have to see if we have the votes. I think it will happen. It has controversy, of course, but I think it has a lot of support."

And Washington voters may still get a chance to weigh in on the matter this fall, as signatures are being collected for a citizen imitative legalizing marijuana they hope to put on the November ballot.

A recent poll found that Washingtonians favor removing the pot prohibition. The KING5/SurveyUSA sampling found that 56 percent of respondents thought legalization was a good idea. Meanwhile, 54 percent said they thought lawmakers should allow the sale of marijuana in state-run liquor stores, with such transactions taxed.


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