Pubdate: Thu, 05 Dec 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: 19

CITY ATTORNEY SEEKS MORE POT STORES, NEW BUFFER RULE

Urges Preference for Medical Outlets

Message for Liquor Control Board

In what he called an effort to make legal pot successful, Seattle City
Attorney Pete Holmes on Wednesday urged state officials to change how
they measure the 1,000-foot distance between pot businesses and
prohibited areas frequented by youth.

At a news conference, Holmes said he also called for the state to
increase the number of pot stores allocated to Seattle from 21 to 50.
And he asked state officials to give preference in licensing to
existing medical-marijuana facilities that show they can comply with
rules for the new recreational-pot system.

Holmes was a sponsor of Initiative 502, the legal-weed law approved by
voters last year. He said he was making the suggestions "for the
simple reason that, as a sponsor, I want to see I-502 be a success."
Without a more liberal interpretation of the 1,000foot buffer and
without more stores, Holmes said, the state risks handing customers to
the illicit market.

But a spokesman for the state Liquor Control Board, the agency
implementing the law, said it would likely be awhile before Holmes'
ideas were adopted, if at all.

"The board has considered the options" during 10 months of
rule-making, said Brian Smith. He emphasized the board had initially
opted to measure the 1,000-foot buffer by "common path of travel,"
which Holmes wants. But after adopting that rule, the top federal
prosecutors in Washington state met with Gov. Jay Inslee and argued
for stricter as the "crow flies" measurements.

Holmes counters that it's unrealistic for the feds to insist on
stricter control of pot while effectively limiting the number of legal
facilities aimed at displacing illegal dealers.

He also points to a nuance in his proposal. He would continue the
"crow flies" measure for distance between pot merchants and schools
and playgrounds, the chief concerns called out in federal law. But he
would relax the measure to "common path of travel" for other
youth-frequented venues identified in I-502, such as child-care
centers, public parks, libraries and recreation centers. That would
create more opportunities for pot-business locations in the city and
state.

Existing medical dispensaries that show they can comply with I-502
rules should get preference in licensing, he said, because if they
aren't licensed they may become part of the illicit market.

"I'm hopeful they will heed this," Holmes said of his suggestions to
the state.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt