Pot's Progress

Here in Washington, the would-be ballot initiative to legalize pot has expansive goals: to remove all state penalties for adults who possess, grow, and distribute, no matter how much they're carrying. In California, the current thoroughbred among a crop of wannabes is much narrower in scope—making it legal "only" to possess an ounce and grow plants in an area no larger than 25 square feet.

Jeremy Eaton

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More About

• Doug Hiatt
• Richard Lee
• Cali
• Harvard University

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OK. So ours has more reach than theirs. But want to know what California has that we don't?

According to the Los Angeles Times, $1 million and 700,000 signatures.

Sensible Washington, the five-person group steering the initiative here, has its fair share of local heavyweights, including medical-marijuana lawyer Doug Hiatt. But Hiatt can't match the resources of Richard Lee, the money behind Cali's initiative and the founder of weed's Harvard, the cleverly titled Oaksterdam, that was front and center in an SW cover story last month ("Weed Takes Root," Jan. 6). He and Sensible Washington haven't even begun gathering signatures. They still need to work out the wording of the initiative with the Secretary of State's office, a process that could take several more weeks.