Pubdate: Tue, 19 Mar 2013
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2013 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Gene Johnson, The Associated Press
Page: B1

UCLA EXPERT'S TEAM TO HELP STATE DEVISE RULES ON POT

Marijuana Law

the Firm Will Advise the State on Growers, Stores, Production,
Packaging and Testing for the New Legal Pot Industry.

Washington has tentatively chosen a Massachusetts-based firm led by a
professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), to be
its official marijuana consultant.

Botec Analysis is based in Cambridge, Mass., and has evaluated
government programs and provided consulting relating to drug abuse,
crime and public health. Losing bidders for the contract can protest
the award, but if it stands, Botec will advise Washington state
officials as they develop rules for the state's new industry in legal,
taxed marijuana.

The state Liquor Control Board scheduled an announcement on the award
of the contract for Tuesday morning, but it sent an email to losing
bidders Monday letting them know who won. A copy of the email was
provided to The Associated Press.

Botec is headed by Mark Kleiman, a UCLA professor of public policy.
Kleiman declined to comment Monday, saying he did not want to pre-empt
the board's public announcement.

Washington and Colorado last year became the first states to pass laws
legalizing the recreational use of marijuana and setting up systems of
state-licensed growers, processors and retail stores where adults over
21 can walk in and buy up to an ounce of heavily taxed cannabis. Sales
are expected to begin at the end of the year at the earliest.

The votes left state officials with a daunting task: figuring out how
to build a huge pot industry from scratch. The state's Liquor Control
Board must determine how many growers and stores there should be, how
much pot should be produced, how it should be packaged, and how it
should be tested to ensure people don't get sick.

The board is doing a lot of its own research, with bureaucrats
traveling to grow operations in California and Colorado as well as
within Washington, but the input from the consultant also will be key.

The state is aiming to produce just enough marijuana to meet present
demand: Producing too little would drive up prices and help the black
market flourish, while producing too much could lead to excess pot
being trafficked out of state.

All the while, marijuana remains illegal under federal law, and the
U.S. Justice Department still has not announced whether it will sue to
block licensing schemes.

The board has advertised for consulting services in four categories.
The first is "product and industry knowledge" and requires "at least
three years of consulting experience relating to the knowledge of the
cannabis industry, including but not limited to product growth,
harvesting, packaging, product infusion and product safety."

Other categories cover quality testing, including how to test for
levels of THC, the compound that gets marijuana users high;
statistical analysis of how much marijuana the state's licensed
growers should produce; and the development of regulations, a category
that requires a "strong understanding of state, local or federal
government processes," with a law degree preferred.

Botec, founded in the mid-1980s, has previously performed a variety of
work with government agencies. It studied the results of an effort to
crack down on heroin dealers in Lynn, Mass., and in the early 1990s
advised the Office of National Drug Control Policy on drug-demand
reduction programs.

Kleiman has written several books on drug policy and crime, including
"Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know."

Khurshid Khoja, a corporate lawyer from San Francisco, was involved in
a bid that included Ed Rosenthal, a co-founder of High Times magazine
and an expert on marijuana cultivation.

Khoja said he was disappointed not to get the contract, and he is
mulling a protest not necessarily to challenge Botec's win but to
learn where his team's bid fell short.

Regardless, Khoja said, he hopes Washington and Colorado's laws are
allowed to stand.

"Hopefully, the feds will cooperate so Washington won't be sending
money down the drain," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Matt