Pubdate: Sun, 07 Dec 2014
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2014 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Page: A18

MEDICAL-MARIJUANA SHOPS CREATING A HAZY FUTURE

THE world is watching Washington's historic experiment with marijuana 
legalization, and we're screwing it up.

A painstakingly slow launch of recreational marijuana stores, with 
their sky-high prices and scarcity in Seattle, gets most headlines. 
But the truth is that experiment is utterly undermined by a much 
larger, wildly unregulated medical-marijuana market.

Medical-marijuana dispensaries appear to outnumber Starbucks stores 
in Seattle, yet local regulators and law-enforcement agencies are 
doing almost nothing to police bad actors hiding behind the 
ubiquitous green crosses.

Last week, in a brief random test, Seattle Times editorial writers 
visited three medical-marijuana dispensaries to see if they even 
checked for medical authorization, as required by law.

At two storefronts - which employees identified as Seattle Caregivers 
in the Chinatown International District and as the 420 Collective on 
Rainier Avenue South - a writer bought a small amount of marijuana 
without being asked to show such authorization.

That's a clear violation even of the state's muddled 
medical-marijuana law. Neither store demanded to see the writer's 
proof of age, raising the possibility of an underage sale. In fact, 
neither has so much as a city business license for their address, 
according to city records, violating one of the few Seattle 
regulatory laws regarding dispensaries.

The experiment took all of 30 minutes and $20 - enough time to make 
two quick purchases that are indistinguishable from black-market 
transactions. That's also time enough to confirm suspicion that 
Seattle leaders either don't seem to give a rip about wink-and-a-nod 
storefront dispensaries or are apathetic about what to do.

Not all dispensaries are bad actors. One storefront, The Green Door 
in the International District, turned away The Times writer for 
failing to have an authorization.

But the failure to distinguish good from bad - to put basic rules on 
a gray market industry - erodes the cornerstone of Washington's 
landmark legalization experiment.

The Legislature's abysmal failure to integrate medicaland 
recreational-marijuana markets last session is largely to blame. This 
year, lawmakers should urgently tackle such regulations early in the 
session, starting with debate on a smart proposal by Seattle Democrat 
state Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles. And they should wrap up a solution quickly.

Olympia's past failures on marijuana policy shouldn't be an excuse 
for inaction in Seattle, the state's capital of weed.

The city already has a law that effectively bans "major" 
medical-marijuana operations from opening after November 2013. Yet, 
Seattle continues to crank out business licenses for marijuana 
operations - at least 60 since the supposed ban went into place, 
according to city staff.

It cashes the checks, and makes the problem worse.

Mayor Ed Murray's office is preparing a plan to create a regulatory 
marijuana license, similar to liquor permits. That could be a useful 
tool. But it is no excuse to ignore existing authority, including 
criminal charges against black-market dealers masquerading as dispensaries.

The world is watching. The state Legislature and Seattle are screwing this up.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom