Rep. Luis Moscoso of District 1 and Sen. Maralyn Chase and Rep. Cindy Ryu of District 32 are among 16 Washington state legislators who announced their endorsement today of Initiative 502, which would legalize, tax and regulate marijuana for adults 21 and over. I-502 will appear on the Nov. 6 general-election ballot.

“Initiative 502 will free up law-enforcement resources needed to combat violent crime,” said Rep. Moscoso in a press release. Moscoso serves as vice-chair of the House General Government Appropriations & Oversight Committee and a member of the House Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee. “A tightly regulated system for marijuana will allow our police and prosecutors to focus on more important public safety priorities.”

Under I-502, privately owned and operated standalone, marijuana-only stores would be licensed to sell limited quantities of marijuana to adults 21 and over. Washington growers and processors would be licensed to provide marijuana to the stores. Advertising would be restricted, and a new DUI threshold for THC, the psychoactive component of marijuana, would operate like the .08 threshold for alcohol to keep impaired drivers off the streets.

Eighty percent of a new marijuana excise tax would be dedicated to health care, prevention, research and education. The balance of the excise tax, and all retail sales tax, would go to the state general fund and local budgets. Preliminary fiscal analyses published by the Washington state Office of Financial Management estimate I-502 would generate $560 million in new tax revenue annually.