Pubdate: Thu, 03 Apr 2014
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2014 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Bob Young
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?420 (Cannabis - Popular)

POT-STORE OPENINGS MOVE TO EARLY JULY

About 500 of the 2,180 Who Applied Have Failed to Respond to Requests 
for Basic Information and Others Have Asked for More Time - Both of 
Which Have Led to a Delay in the Opening of Stores.

Retail pot stores are now expected to open in early July, state 
officials said Wednesday, blaming delays in the licensing process on 
unprepared and unresponsive applicants.

In unveiling a lottery plan to determine retail-license winners, the 
state's marijuana project director said about 500 of the 2,180 retail 
applicants have not responded to requests for basic information, 
despite repeated outreach by the state Liquor Control Board (LCB). 
Those applications are now considered null by the state.

There may be even more retail applicants who have not provided five 
basic pieces of information - such as proof of age and residency - 
required by the state, and they will be disqualified. Project 
director Randy Simmons said he'll know next week how many of those 
applications will be terminated.

Simmons and LCB Chairwoman Sharon Foster predicted in February that 
stores would open in June, after revising forecasts for May openings.

"It looks slow on the outside, but not on the inside," said Becky 
Smith, the LCB's licensing manager.

Just eight pot growers have been licensed since March 5, the first a 
Spokane entrepreneur. Smith said the LCB is ready to conduct final 
inspections on an additional 36 growers. But more than half of those 
applicants have asked for more time because they haven't yet built 
out their space or gotten their security systems in place, she said.

State officials said they know they'll be compared to Colorado, which 
also approved legal marijuana in the November 2012 election. Colorado 
started opening stores in January, leaving some applicants and 
wannabe consumers grousing about Washington's slower pace.

"I think we all hoped for an earlier start," Foster said. "But I'm 
very happy where it is right now. I have a twinkle of hope for the 
last week of June."

Colorado's system had advantages over Washington's, board member 
Chris Marr said.

Medical marijuana is highly regulated in Colorado - unlike 
Washington. And all licenses allotted in Colorado have gone to the 
medical entrepreneurs who were already established.

Retail stores that weren't previously medical shops won't open in 
Colorado until July, Simmons said, parallel with Washington's schedule.

"No one in the world has done this," said LCB Director Rick Garza, of 
Washington's legal pot system. "Colorado has not done what we're doing."

The LCB has created more work for itself. Three months ago, it said 
it intended to disqualify 500 retail applicants who hadn't listed a 
permissible address more than 1,000 feet from venues frequented by 
youth. But the LCB reversed course a month later and allowed those 
applicants more time to find other locations, leading to more review 
work by its staff.

Marr noted that only eight stores opened in Denver on Jan. 1. Dozens 
of other businesses have rolled out over time.

Consumers should expect a similar, staggered flow of new pot 
businesses in Washington, LCB officials said. And because few stores 
likely will be open in early July, officials also suggested consumers 
should expect limited supply and higher prices at first.

Before any stores can open, growers need about three months from the 
time they're licensed to grow, harvest and cure the pot to be sold in 
the 334 retail stores the LCB plans to license.

But about a quarter of all prospective growers are reworking their 
applications, Simmons said, with most changing ownership structure.

"Right now it's just delay, after delay, after delay," Smith said. 
She said applicants are changing their ownership because they need 
financing; some had assumed they'd get bank loans, which they're not; 
and more thought they could get financing from outside of Washington, 
which they can't under state rules.

The LCB will freeze those applications for now, so staff vetting 
applicants can shift their attention to those who are ready.

Because officials still expect the number of qualified applicants for 
retail stores to exceed the 334 shops allowed statewide, they plan a 
lottery to determine winners in cities such as Seattle. The state 
allotted 21 stores to Seattle and received 411 retail applications in the city.

The LCB will remain at arm's length from the lottery, Simmons said. 
It will be conducted by a Seattle auditing firm, Kraght-Snell, and 
the Social and Economic Sciences Research Center at Washington State 
University. Applicants will be coded by number for the lottery, and 
the double-blind process - meaning neither the auditor nor WSU will 
know which names are associated with which numbers - will occur in late April.

The coded ranking of applicants will be put in tamper-proof, sealed 
envelopes and placed in a safe. An official from the state 
Treasurer's Office will open the envelopes, Simmons said.

The process will not be viewed by the public. Results will be posted 
to the LCB website May 2.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom