Washington's marijuana initiative is looking good:
In what is likely to be one of last polls coming out of Washington State prior to Election Day, Initiative 502 to regulate marijuana is still holding strong to the commanding lead it has developed over the past few months. Data released from King 5 and SurveyUSA has I-502 leading among likely Washington voters, 56% stated they would vote yes on the measure with only 37% planning to vote no. There are just 7% still undecided.
Assuming one or more states legalize pot next week, Jacob Sullum previews the federal response:
The DEA can raid state-legal pot shops, as it has done with medical marijuana dispensaries, but the number of potential targets will be considerably larger once the market officially expands to include recreational users.
The Justice Department can use asset forfeiture as an intimidation tactic against landlords and threaten banks that accept deposits from pot businesses with money laundering charges. The Internal Revenue Service can make life difficult for pot sellers by disallowing their business expenses (but not, thanks to a tax law wrinkle, their "cost of goods sold," which includes the cost of buying marijuana). The feds could even threaten state regulators with prosecution for handling marijuana or facilitating the trade, although that seems less likely, since it would provoke a direct confrontation with state officials. (Washington's initiative seeks to minimize this risk by assigning the task of testing marijuana for regulatory purposes to private, independent laboratories.)
The one thing federal drug warriors cannot do, judging from their track record even when they have the full cooperation of state and local law enforcement agencies, is suppress the business entirely.
The Dish 