PORT ANGELES — Incumbent state Rep. Steve Tharinger said the legalization of recreational marijuana will “bring it out of the black market and out of the shadows.”
His political opponent, Thomas Greisamer, said there are “unintended consequences to the legalization of marijuana, not the least of which is probably your lungs.”
“Now, I know you’ve never used it, or at least if you did you never inhaled, right?” Greisamer said during a Clallam County League of Women Voters forum Thursday.
“But if you’ve ever seen the bong of a friend or someone who had used it, you’d know what’s in there. Tar.”
Tharinger, D-Sequim, and Greisamer, R-Moclips, are vying to represent the 24th Legislative District in the November election.
The 24th District includes Clallam, Jefferson and parts of Grays Harbor counties.
Voters in 2012 approved the legalization of recreational marijuana by passing Initiative 502.
Tharinger, a former Clallam County commissioner who is seeking a third two-year term in Olympia, said the normalization of marijuana will result in lower court costs and fewer crimes associated with black-market cannabis.
He noted the “wave of crime” that resulted from alcohol prohibition in the 1920s.
“I think the challenge for us as a community, as a society, as a state, is to try and work to normalize the use of marijuana,” Tharinger told about 50 forum attendees at the Clallam County Courthouse, where he served for 12 years.
Greisamer, a retired forensic psychiatrist for the state Department of Corrections, displayed a USA Today photograph of a mangled vehicle after a fatal accident in which the driver had marijuana in his system.
He cited a Columbia University School of Public Health study that found drivers under the influence of both alcohol and marijuana are 24 times more likely than a sober driver to get in a fatal accident.
“I would stake my reputation that it’s not good for you,” Greisamer said.
“I think in two years, if I’m your representative, I will try to form a coalition, and consider your opinion, and then perhaps move to undo that resolution.”
Tharinger recalled testimony he heard in the last legislative session from the parents of a child with epileptic seizures who could not afford continuing treatments.
The parents allowed their child to use medical marijuana.
“It worked,” Tharinger said.
“Instead of visiting the emergency room two or three times a week, they started to visit maybe every four or five months. So I think there’s some advantages to getting to normalization.”
Tharinger did not dispute the notion that marijuana can be harmful.
Tharinger and Greisamer are running for 24th Legislative District in Position 2.
State Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, D-Sequim, is running unopposed for Position 1.
The League of Women Voters invited Van De Wege to participate in the question-and-answer session of the Tharinger-Greisamer debate.
The candidates were asked to comment on how they would maintain their oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution, and by extension the rules of the federal government, when marijuana is legally available in the state.
“The marijuana law was put in by initiative, and I believe our U.S. Constitution would put a lot more weight on what the citizens of a certain state wanted as opposed to the rule-making ability of a federal bureaucracy,” Van De Wege said.
“We are working hard to implement the marijuana initiative that was passed by the people. I don’t see a conflict with the U.S. Constitution.”
Van De Wege added: “The people of Washington sent a clear message to us — that they want marijuana — and we’re going to do our very best to uphold that.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
