Yakima County Pushes Pot Ban To The Ballot

Wednesday on the Morning News we’ll talk about the Yakima County’s plan to revisit the marijuana ban.

In November of 2012, in violation of federal law(?), Washington’s voters passed Initiative 502  which legalized growing, processing and possessing certain amounts of marijuana and marijuana related products for adults 21 and over.  The measure passed on a statewide vote 56 to 44 percent.  However in Yakima county the initiative failed 58 to 42 percent.

The State Constitution grants the local jurisdictions like cities and County land use authority and Yakima is within its legal right to prohibit business licenses to companies that violate federal law which marijuana operations do.  Still, according to the YHR more than twenty businesses have sprung up around the county and before the commissioners take an enforcement action, they want to hear from the voters this November.

However the entire country just heard from The American Academy of Pediatrics.  The Academy has a new report opposing both recreational and medical marijuana use around kids.

The influential doctors group warns against teen marijuana use - even as laws and attitudes about pot are loosening up.

CBS News reports the docs as saying that the “human brain continue development until the early 20s and say it’s best not to mess with the developing brain."

Studies suggest that teens who use marijuana 10 times a month or more develop changes in the brain affecting memory and the ability to plan. Some of those changes may be permanent, impacting IQ scores and raising their risk for addiction.