Arts, Media, and Entertainment

Marijuana Legalization

In 2012, Washington and Colorado voters made history when they approved measures to legalize recreational marijuana. Washington Initiative 502 “authorizes the state liquor board to regulate and tax marijuana for persons twenty-one years of age or older.”Since the vote in Washington, the Liquor Board has written a complex set of rules for the state’s new, legal recreational cannabis marketplace. The agency has also set limits on the amount of marijuana that can be grown. And the Board has begun to license growers, processors and retailers.For now, the Obama administration has signaled it will not interfere with Washington and Colorado’s legal pot experiment, unless there is evidence that legal pot is “leaking” to other states or children are getting access to the legal product. The feds are also watching to see if criminal organizations exploit the legal market.The first marijuana retail stores in Washington opened in July 2014.Recreational marijuana is also set to become legal in Oregon on July 1, 2015 after voters approved Measure 91 in November 2014.

Seattle Symphony Has No Plans For Pot Concerts

NWNews | By Austin Jenkins

Published May 6, 2014 at 5:21 PM PDT

The only people inhaling at Seattle Symphony concerts will be the wind-instrument players. The Symphony says it has no plans to follow the lead of the Colorado Symphony and hold marijuana-friendly concerts.

The Colorado Symphony has something for everybody. "Porgy and Bess" for opera lovers. "A Night at Woodstock" for rock 'n' roll fans. Disney’s "Fantasia" for the kids. And now the "Classically Cannabis" concert series. It’s for adults who think marijuana might enhance the classical music experience.

But don’t look for a similar pot-friendly concert series sponsored by the Seattle Symphony.

“Thanks for asking, but we have no plans to follow suit,” reads an official statement. It goes on to say, tongue-in-cheek, “We think [Colorado’s] trying to get one over on us because they lost the Super Bowl.”

Washington and Colorado are the first two states to legalize recreational marijuana. The Colorado events will be private concerts with ensembles, not the full symphony.