Pubdate: Thu, 20 Jun 2013
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2013 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Bob Young
Page: B1

STATE PANEL AIRS COMMENTS ON ENACTING NEW POT LAW

Outdoor Growing, New Logo Suggested

Allowing Hashish Sales Also Mentioned Often

Allow outdoor pot growing and don't ban the sale of hash and hash
oil.

And while you're at it, dump the state pot-leaf logo.

Those were among the most common suggestions in more than 1,000 pages
of comments sent to state officials writing rules for a legal
marijuana system for adult social use.

Members of the Liquor Control Board, the agency charged with creating
a marijuana system, were briefed Thursday on the feedback to their
initial draft rules. The board is scheduled to formally propose rules
on July 3.

The briefing highlighted three changes the liquor-board-staff experts
will recommend and board members might adopt.

Advocates for sun-grown pot, led by Jeremy Moberg of the Okanogan
Cannabis Association, argued that indoor growing leaves a huge carbon
footprint. They were joined by the city of Seattle and King County,
which both cited environmental benefits of outdoor grows.

In initial rules, officials proposed allowing greenhouses with rigid
walls, but no open-field growing. Their chief concern was security.

Karen McCall, the agency's rules coordinator, said staff experts are
warming to sun-grown pot. "With proper security, we feel outdoor grows
would work, as well as indoor grows," McCall said.

In sheer number, the issue of hash and hash oil appeared to spark the
most comments, overwhelmingly in favor of the stand-alone sale of
marijuana extracts, specifically concentrated products such as hash
oil.

The board had wanted to allow the stand-alone sale of concentrates,
but said it would amount to breaking the new law, which does not
include concentrates in what retail stores are allowed to sell. The
law does allow edibles and liquids infused with concentrates.

Commenters said banning hash and hash oil, popular with medical
patients and younger users, would fuel the black market.

Some said hash oil is a healthier vehicle for consuming the chemicals
in marijuana because it can be taken orally in precise doses.

One solution for advocates would be to urge legislators to tweak the
law to allow the sale of stand-alone concentrates. Another solution
would be to make clear that concentrates, combined with a small amount
of inert oil, would qualify as legal - as long as they weren't 100
percent concentrates.

"Once the word gets out, I think that will calm a lot of people,"
McCall said.

Some objected to the proposed logo that would go on state-regulated
pot products. It shows a silhouette of Washington state featuring a
seven-pointed pot leaf in the center. King County said the image
promotes the notion that the state endorses pot and legitimizes youth
use.

Staff experts recommended dropping the logo and coming up with another
version. Randy Simmons, the state's marijuana-project director, said
the logo's intent was not to endorse pot but rather to give parents a
recognizable symbol to spot if minors were holding state-approved pot
legal only for adults.

McCall noted that many comments concerned matters - such as the
three-month residency requirement for those seeking pot business
licenses - that are mandated by the law and can't be addressed by
rules. They must be changed by lawmakers.

"These are the initial rules to get this industry up and running," she
said. "These are not the last rules."
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MAP posted-by: Matt