Pubdate: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 Source: Seattle Times (WA) Copyright: 2014 The Seattle Times Company Contact: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409 Page: A14 WHAT ARE THE NEXT STEPS FOR MARIJUANA REFORM? THE recreational marijuana market authorized by voters in 2012 is heavily taxed to fund prevention efforts, and is strictly regulated to ensure quality and security. Yet, the state Legislature has failed to rein in the larger, completely unregulated and mostly untaxed marijuana industry that serves medical patients. Seattle currently has just one recreational store, but dozens of medical dispensaries. These two markets should be merged. Lawmakers must ensure legitimately suffering patients get a break from the steep so-called sin taxes of the recreational market, and should continue to allow home grows for them. Ensuring that patients are legitimate also requires a much tighter rein on medical professionals who glibly hand out "green card" medical-marijuana authorizations to otherwise healthy young men. The recreational market needs tweaking too - to entice more cities and counties to open their borders to state-licensed marijuana stores. Without broader access, black-market marijuana sales, which voters directly targeted in passing Initiative 502, would continue to flourish. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom