Snohomish County Prosecutor candidate, Jim Kenny, today became the first elected official and candidate to endorse I-1068; an initiative that would legalize marijuana use for adults statewide. In a press release issued today, Kenny said,

As I have doorbelled across Snohomish County, voters repeatedly talk about and support marijuana legalization.  It is a major issue in this election, and the voters want to know my position. I had previously been in favor of the decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana, but three things have happened to persuade me to support marijuana legalization:  1) Snohomish County voters have been telling me that they support legalization, 2) new polling shows that the majority of Washingtonians support legalization, and 3) the federal government recently embraced a public health model for addressing drug problems, while abandoning the destructive and failed 'war on drugs'.

The press release also cites the financial costs of continuing to prosecute marijuana cases saying,

There are also many cost savings which can be realized if the voters pass I-1068, especially at the cash-strapped county level of government.  Kenny points to the 16,000 marijuana criminal cases per year that would be removed from our state and local court systems, saving tens of millions of dollars in police, prosecutorial, and judicial resources.  “I can point to two medical marijuana cases in the last year on which the Snohomish County Prosecutor spent valuable taxpayer resources, neither of which led to conviction.  If juries are throwing out cases like that, clearly we need to move on.”

“We are looking at a crisis in public safety with declining revenue for local government.  I think it’s time to prioritize and really focus our criminal justice resources on violent criminals,” said Kenny.  “Given the state of our economy and the projected financial situation facing government at every level, we need to get down to the fundamentals and prioritize.”

Jim Kenny, candidate for Sno Co Prosecutor

Photo - Kenny Campaign

Kenny is currently a prosecutor in the Seattle City Attorney's office and previously was a prosecutor in Clark County. In addition, he is an elected fire commissioner in Snohomish County. Kenny was recently elected by the Snohomish County Democrats to be their nominee for county prosecutor in the August 17 primary.

Peace,
Chad Shue