Pubdate: Fri, 21 Jun 2013
Source: Renton Reporter (WA)
Contact: http://www.rentonreporter.com/contact_us/
Copyright: 2013 Sound Publishing, Inc.
Website: http://www.rentonreporter.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5448
Author: Brian Beckley

CITY PREPARED TO TREAT LEGAL MARIJUANA SALES LIKE LIQUOR

The Renton City Council appears poised to treat marijuana and 
marijuana businesses the same way it treats liquor sales.

The council coalesced around the suggestion rather quickly during 
Monday's Committee of the Whole meeting, which featured an update on 
marijuana regulations from city attorney Larry Warren.

"I don't see why we have to treat it any differently than liquor," 
said Councilman Rich Zwicker.

"I tend to agree," added council President Randy Corman.

Voters last fall passed Initiative 502, legalizing the recreational 
use of marijuana in Washington. Since passage, many cities, including 
Renton, have been struggling with how to treat marijuana and 
marijuana-related business since the drug remains illegal federally.

"It's chaos," Warren said at the beginning of his briefing, adding, 
"This is out of our weight class."

Warren also drew the distinction between the medical marijuana 
industry, which is highly regulated throughout the state, and the 
coming recreational marijuana industry.

On the recreational side, Warren said the council had to begin 
discussions now so when rules from the Washington state Liquor 
Control Board go into effect in September, the city will have 
policies in place.

Warren said an online resource for city attorneys has been jammed 
with discussion on the topic for the past year.

There are three primary ways to deal with the industry, according to 
Warren: a moratorium, zoning or to do nothing and wait.

Originally, the recommendation was toward a moratorium, but Warren 
said without a schedule on how and when they would deal with the 
issue, a moratorium may not hold up in court.

It was as he began to talk about the zoning option - including the 
differences in growing, processing and retail - that Zwicker made his 
suggestion to simply handle the drug the same way the city handled 
liquor sales, since stores would be licensed through the same state 
authority anyway.

Warren called that approach "easy."

"There's no need to make it unduly complicated if you decide it's 
just another agricultural and retail business," he said.

Councilman Don Persson called it a "reasonable approach," though he 
said he would like the council to at least consider a smoking ban in 
parks, not just on marijuana but on everything.

There were some questions about complaints and how the police 
department would handle them, but Chief Kevin Milosevich said any 
complaints about marijuana usage or smells - aside from those 
involving teens, for whom it is still illegal - would most likely be 
referred to the Liquor Control Board, which will be handling the 
licensing and regulating of businesses.

"The easy answer is 'the public has spoken,'" Milosevich said.
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