To toke or not to toke

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Berit Anderson

Berit Anderson Feb 6, 2018

Feb 6, 2018

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                <h1>To toke or not to toke</h1>
                <h2><p>Now that Washingtonians can legally smoke pot, non-smokers downwind want clearer guidelines on public use. Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes is calling for a crackdown on public offenders of the state’s public smoking ban, reports the Seattle Times. Currently, November’s Initiative 502 makes toking publicly a $103 civil</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/berit-anderson-crosscut-com/">Berit Anderson</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
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            <p>Now that Washingtonians can legally smoke pot, non-smokers downwind want clearer guidelines on public use. Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes is calling for a crackdown on public offenders of the state’s public smoking ban, <a href="http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2021474951_potpublicxml.html?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">reports the Seattle Times</a>. Currently, November’s Initiative 502 makes toking publicly a $103 civil infraction, but possession of marijuana has been a low-level priority for police officers since 2003’s Initiative 75. Warnings have been the preferred method of action and as such, no fines have been issued since legalization. Holmes argues that Seattle could really use the money and neighbors are tired of the haze. With August’s Hempfest just around the corner, we’ll see if Holmes’s proposal survives the citywide second-hand high.</p>
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Now that Washingtonians can legally smoke pot, non-smokers downwind want clearer guidelines on public use. Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes is calling for a crackdown on public offenders of the state’s public smoking ban, reports the Seattle Times. Currently, November’s Initiative 502 makes toking publicly a $103 civil infraction, but possession of marijuana has been a low-level priority for police officers since 2003’s Initiative 75. Warnings have been the preferred method of action and as such, no fines have been issued since legalization. Holmes argues that Seattle could really use the money and neighbors are tired of the haze. With August’s Hempfest just around the corner, we’ll see if Holmes’s proposal survives the citywide second-hand high.

By Berit Anderson

Berit Anderson was Managing Editor at Crosscut, following tech, culture, media and politics. She founded Crosscut's Community Idea Lab.   Previously community manager of the Tribune Company’