(NBC NEWS) About a hundred pot smokers gathered in the cold at Seattle’s City Center on Wednesday night to celebrate the legalization of the possession of marijuana in Washington state. The law, which took effect at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 6, does not allow marijuana to be smoked in public, but you wouldn’t know it by watching the crowd. As the clock stuck midnight, cheers erupted, followed by lighters igniting pipes and joints.
Even though it’s still illegal to smoke marijuana in public in Washington, there was no sign of police presence in the smokey crowd. The Seattle Police Department themselves have officially told the public that “…minor marijuana possession has been the lowest enforcement priority for the Seattle Police Department since Seattle voters passed Initiative 75 in 2003.” They answer the public’s marijuana-related FAQs in their somewhat humorous online guide called “Marijwhatnow? A guide to Legal Marijuana Use In Seattle.”
