Pubdate: Tue, 19 Nov 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: B7 STATE GETS ALMOST 300 APPLICATIONS FOR RECREATIONAL-POT LICENSES Pot entrepreneurs eager to get into the state's new recreational-marijuana industry started submitting license applications Monday. By 2 p.m., 299 applications had been received at the state Department of Revenue (DOR), the first stop in the application process. While business was brisk at DOR, there were no long lines of pot entrepreneurs at the agency's offices. Everyone is being encouraged to apply online because it is more convenient, said DOR spokeswoman Beverly Crichfield. Still, some folks "just sort of trickled into" DOR offices Monday, Critchfield said. There's no rush for entrepreneurs (other than perhaps the thrill of applying) because the process is not first-come, first-served. The state will accept applications for 30 days. It then will assign a marijuana investigator to each applicant to make sure that they comply with rules - such as a three-month residency requirement for applicants, their partners and financiers - and that they have a viable business plan. All applications received or postmarked by Dec. 19 will be reviewed. Applications submitted after Dec. 19 will be returned. There's no estimate for when the first licenses will be issued. But state officials will give them to growers and processors first, so they can supply stores expected to open as early as May. There is no limit on the number of growers and processors, but the state will license only 334 retail stores. a downtown crime-reduction program known as LEAD - Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion - which offers drug and prostitution offenders treatment options as an alternative to criminal prosecution. The money will expand the program from Belltown through downtown to Pioneer Square and the Chinatown International District. The funding also will strengthen a multidisciplinary team of police, mental-health and social-service providers, to tackle other types of street crime and disorder. Program advocates had said they needed more than that to address the estimated 500 people living on the streets downtown. Now they say they will have to determine how many people they can adequately provide with case management and treatment services. Lisa Daugaard, policy director of the Public Defender Association, the lead agency for the program, cautioned that not everyone needing help will get it. "With less resources, we need to be really clear about - --- MAP posted-by: Matt