SEATTLE (AP) - The campaign to legalize and tax recreational marijuana sales for those over 21 in Washington is launching a new television ad campaign Thursday featuring former federal law enforcement officials.

In one of the ads, the former top Justice Department officials in Seattle, U.S. attorneys John McKay and Kate Pflaumer (FLAU'-mer), join the former head of the FBI's office in Seattle, Charles Mandigo, in urging voters to approve Initiative 502. In the other, McKay, who is a sponsor of the initiative, speaks alone, making similar arguments.

They say they know firsthand that "decades of marijuana arrests have failed to reduce use," and that "Initiative 502 brings marijuana under tight regulatory control" while generating tax revenue for education, health care and substance abuse prevention.

McKay says that if I-502 passes law enforcement will have more resources to go after violent crime.

---