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
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MAP posted-by: Matt