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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.

Candidates For Idaho Governor Dis Washington's Legal Pot

National Institute on Drug Abuse

Washington's law legalizing recreational marijuana made its way into Idaho's gubernatorial debate on Friday.

Idaho has not legalized pot in any form, unlike most of its neighbors. The candidates were asked if they'd be willing to change that.

The question was posed in a business-friendly way. Should Idaho legalize marijuana to compete economically with border states like Washington -- and potentially Oregon and Montana?

Incumbent Republican Governor Butch Otter had two words for that: “No and no.”

Otter's Democratic opponent A.J. Balukoff says he's also against it -- on public health grounds.

But Libertarian candidate John Bujak said if the legislature passed a bill legalizing pot, he’d sign that bill.

He said Idaho should also feel emboldened by Washington's law and consider standing up to the federal government on issues Idaho thinks are important, like land management.

“Because perhaps with these other states where they've legalized marijuana, the federal government would do … nothing,” Bujak said.

The independent candidate, whose legal name is Pro-Life, said not only should pot be illegal but so should gambling and alcohol.