C. Nash smokes marijuana in a glass pipe, Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012, just after midnight at the Space Needle in Seattle. Possession of marijuana became legal in Washington state at midnight, and several hundred people gathered at the Space Needle to smoke and celebrate the occasion, even though the new law does prohibit public use of marijuana. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) (AP2012)
Less than a year after Washington state residents voted to decriminalize possession of up to one ounce of marijuana, some residents of the state's largest city want its public use outlawed in their town.
Q13Fox.com reports that despite the fact that the new state law prohibits toking in public, pot smokers have been puffing away all over Seattle, and it's making life difficult for a lot of non-users.
"It’s definitely out of control," said bus driver Kalu Davis, who told Q13Fox.com that he sees people smoking pot every day at bus shelters.
"They blow it right into my face, and, because of that, I get light-headed. At that point I then have to stop the bus. I can't continue any further because I'm inebriated from the secondhand smoke."
Seattle City Attorney Peter Holmes helped sponsor the decriminalization law last year. Now, he's pushing a city ordinance that would make it illegal to light up outdoors, under penalty of a $103 fine.
"It's important that, while we celebrate the incredible shift that Washington voters put into law last November, we stay sober-minded about this," said Holmes, who added "This is about regulating marijuana, it's not about turning this into the Wild, Wild West,"
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