Pubdate: Fri, 27 Mar 2015
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2015 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409

UPDATE MARIJUANA LAW

WASHINGTON'S experiment with legal recreational marijuana is 
"teetering on the brink" of a market failure. That is the candid 
assessment of Hayden Woodard, a state-licensed grower in Dallesport 
who hasn't given himself a paycheck in a year.

It's not just him. A stream of state-licensed marijuana operators 
recently testified in Olympia about how overregulation and unequal 
competition from unregulated medical-marijuana dispensaries are 
jeopardizing Initiative 502, the landmark legalization measure passed in 2012.

The Washington CannaBusiness Association says I-502's unwieldy 
structure is forcing applicants to give up on licenses, or even close shop.

Added to these pressures is the fact that about 100 cities and 
counties have either banned or imposed moratoriums on state-licensed 
marijuana stores, empowering street-corner dealers and unlicensed dispensaries.

The state Legislature must fix these gaps in I-502. It punted on that 
task last year. But this session a pair of omnibus reform bills have 
bipartisan support and are working through the legislative sausage 
grinder of Olympia. Lawmakers must not lose that momentum.

A paramount goal must be to fold the unregulated medical-marijuana 
market into the state-licensed system without limiting access to 
patients with legitimate health-care needs for cannabis. The state 
Senate has already passed a bill to do so, SB 5052, sponsored by Sen. 
Ann Rivers, R-La Center. That bill is now queued up for vote on the 
House floor.

That law creates a voluntary registry for legitimate patients, 
entitling them to a tax break at recreational stores. Some patient 
advocates decry this as infringement on privacy, which it is. But 
Washington is the only medical marijuana state in the country without 
a registry. A registry, which includes the authorizing doctor's name, 
would help clamp down on abuses that have made "medical" marijuana 
become a wink-and-a-nod euphemism for recreational use for some people.

A second bill, SSHB 2136, sponsored by Rep. Reuven Carlyle, 
D-Seattle, changes I-502 to make it more workable for would-be 
recreational users. It allows cities - particularly Seattle - to 
shrink overly large buffer zones so that more licensed recreational 
stores could be sited in the state's densest neighborhoods. Seattle 
wants more licensed pot stores to squeeze out the black market.

One of the most contentious proposals is to give cities and counties 
a cut - up to $20 million a year - of the marijuana taxes if 
municipalities open their borders to I-502. Absent this incentive, 
some cities have been reluctant to allow licensed retailers and 
growers. Lawmakers should consider this a means to an end of 
undercutting the black market.

Together, the bills are estimated to boost state marijuana tax 
revenues by more than $120 million a year. Legalization shouldn't be 
just about tax revenue, but it helps fund drug treatment, health care 
and schools.

Marijuana legalization is one of the biggest shifts in public policy 
in decades. Washington is a leader. Lawmakers need to act to make 
sure it doesn't die on the vine.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom