Quote:

---

    Seattle Mayor-elect Mike McGinn said during a radio interview Friday that he supports efforts to make it legal to use marijuana in Washington state.

    Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, D-Seattle, has introduced a bill that would allow people 21 and older to use pot.

    Speaking to KUOW, McGinn noted that city voters in 2003 approved a measure making enforcement of marijuana laws the lowest priority for Seattle police.

    “Hopefully we’ve already gotten some city savings from that already, in that we’re saving money on prosecution and incarceration around what the citizens think is a pretty darn law priority,” said McGinn, adding that his stance on pot use is nothing new.

    “I actually took this position during the campaign and nobody noticed. It was an answer to the question in the Stranger’s election land,” McGinn said. “If every elected official who ever smoked marijuana voted to legalize it would probably be legalized in an instant. We recognize that, like alcohol, it’s something that should be regulated not treated as a criminal activity and I think that’s where the citizens of Seattle want us to go.”

    On a Web site set up for McGinn so he can hear suggestions from the people of Seattle, “Legalize marijuana and tax it” was the second most popular idea.

    Earlier this week state Attorney General Rob McKenna told reporters he opposes Dickerson’s bill.

---