Pubdate: Sat, 07 Sep 2013
Source: Times-Tribune, The (Scranton PA)
Copyright: 2013 Townnews.com
Contact:  http://www.thetimes-tribune.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4440
Author: Maria L. LA Ganga, Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON STATE SETS RULES FOR RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA

SEATTLE - Recreational marijuana users in Washington state would have 
as many as 334 stores where they would be able to buy cannabis, and 
the first could open as soon as next spring under regulations 
released this week.

But as one of the first legal markets in the United States for the 
sale of recreational marijuana begins to take shape in the Pacific 
Northwest, future producers, sellers and smokers have more questions 
than there are answers now that their once-illicit industry has gone straight.

Advocates of medical marijuana - which has been legal in Washington 
since 1998 but is largely unregulated - worry that the new 
recreational market could threaten the supply that sick people depend 
on. Some growers who support outdoor marijuana farms worry that the 
new regulations favor indoor growing operations that they deride as 
environmentally inappropriate.

"A controversy that will certainly develop is whether cities and 
counties can outlaw marijuana," said Ryan Espegard, a Seattle 
attorney who specializes in cannabis regulation. "And can employers 
or landlords ban the use on premises? Can you be fired for using in 
your spare time? These will be playing out in the next year, next two years."

For now, though, state and federal officials have begun to bring some 
clarity to more specific issues involving marijuana production and 
use in Washington state, where voters approved recreational use last November.

Last week, the U.S. Justice Department announced that it would not 
interfere with voter-approved laws in Washington state and Colorado 
that allow recreational marijuana use.

Alex Cooley, vice president of Solstice, a Seattle-based medical 
marijuana cultivation company, lauded the Obama administration's 
statement as evidence that the federal government is now 
"pro-regulation, which is a very sensible approach, a very logical 
approach to this emerging industry."

Although marijuana is still a federally controlled substance, 
possession and use became legal in Washington in December. State 
officials have until Dec. 1 to create key regulations.

On Wednesday, the state Liquor Control Board released proposed 
regulations for the marijuana marketplace.

Officials looked at population density and geography in deciding how 
many retail stores would be allowed and where they could be located. 
Of the 334 that could be licensed statewide, King County would get 
61, about a third of which would be permitted in Seattle.

Rural counties such as Garfield, Ferry and Columbia will get just one 
shop each.

If officials looked only at population, San Juan County also deserved 
only one retailer, but the new rules would allow three. The reason? 
The county includes three large islands. "We gave each island a 
store, or you'd have people on boats" out shopping for marijuana, 
said Randy Simmons, deputy director of the Liquor Control Board.

But the board massaged an earlier rule interpreting how close 
marijuana businesses could be to places frequented by young people, 
like schools and parks.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom