It's hot. It feels like summer.
This kind of weather conjures up dreams of road trips, camping excursions and getaways to the many cool lakes and rivers that our region blesses us with. It's the season to not only get out there but to relax as well.
For many, relaxing means enjoying cannabis.
Cannabis may be legal in Washington, but it's not legal everywhere in Washington. Even where it is, sparking up might not be smart. Consider this a sort of "know before you go" edition of Green Zone.
First, it's important to remember that while cannabis is legal in Washington, it's still controlled.
Like with booze, you can't keep an open container of cannabis in the passenger part of your car. The backseat isn't good enough either.
If you have to hit the road with an open container, keep it locked away in the trunk. Just be aware that even there, any smell can draw suspicion. Sealed, unopened containers are best.
Second, just because it's legal in Washington doesn't mean it's legal everywhere in Washington.
Roughly 30 percent of land in the state is owned by the federal government, and the feds consider cannabis to be as illegal as drugs like heroin or LSD. Their land, their rules. Even in our state.
On federal land — national parks, national forests, BLM land, etc. — cannabis remains illegal. Not only use, but simple possession could land someone in hot water in those areas.
Furthermore, it's illegal by Washington law to use cannabis in public. On the extreme, this includes a private home balcony if it is visible from a public area like the street. In practice, this means it's illegal to spark a joint on a state park trail, for example.
Which brings me to my final point: be respectful.
If you're going to get stoned in the woods this summer — and let's not be naive, people bring booze where it's not allowed so of course people will bring cannabis to those places as well — just don't leave a trace. Pack out your waste and put out your embers. The joint you smoke on a trail might seem innocuous, or it might start the next big forest fire.
Think that's unlikely? It was just over a year ago, in the very wet spring of 2022, that a brushfire was started on the West Plains between Spokane and Airway Heights by a man smoking THC oil. It happens. Maybe consider an edible, or any other nonflammable cannabis product, when you venture away from home this season. ♦
