In 2013, Joy Hollingsworth moved with her family from Seattle out to the country with a plan to build a cannabis business.

Washington State had recently legalized recreational marijuana, and Barack Obama had just been re-elected. For Ms. Hollingsworth, a former basketball player, and her brother, Raft Hollingsworth III, a former University of Washington student who had been growing medical marijuana, it seemed like as good a time as any to buy a farm and turn a profit.

So began the Hollingsworth Cannabis Company, a Black-owned family business in what has become a very white and increasingly corporate-dominated industry.

[continues 1108 words]

SEATTLE -- Five years after Washington launched its pioneering legal marijuana market, officials are proposing an overhaul of the state's industry rules, with plans for boosting minority ownership of pot businesses, paving the way for home deliveries of medical cannabis and letting the smallest growers increase the size of their operations to become more competitive.

Liquor and Cannabis Board Director Rick Garza detailed the proposals -- part of what the board calls "Cannabis 2.0" -- in an interview with The Associated Press. It's an effort to picture what the legal marijuana market will look like over the next five years, after spending the past five years largely regulating by reaction as the difficulties of building an industry from infancy absorbed the agency's attention.

[continues 818 words]

Opioid overdoses are killing two people in Washington each day, and Attorney General Bob Ferguson on Tuesday urged legislation that will limit new legal opioid prescriptions and monitor those receiving the drug.

The extent of the state's opioid epidemic was outline in a report released by the AG's office, the Washington State Patrol and the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, detailing its legal and illegal roots.

It urges action on prescription opioids, "often the source of initial exposure to opioids."

[continues 235 words]

US: Connelly: Lawsuit seeks to block King County vote on safe injection sites - seattlepi.com

Found: Tue Aug 22 14:21:02 2017 PDT Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA) Copyright: 2017 Seattle Post-Intelligencer Website: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/408 Author: Joel Connelly

A lawsuit was filed Monday, challenging and seeking to block a public vote on Initiative 27, which seeks to outlaw the opening of supervised consumption spaces, health facilities where people use drugs in a safe environment with access to treatment.

[continues 661 words]

The growing movement against allowing so-called safe drug injection sites is moving to another city.

The Kent City Council will vote Tuesday night on a proposed moratorium on "community health engagement locations," also called supervised injection facilities.

Renton, Federal Way, Auburn and Bellevue have already passed ordinances banning such sites. The ordinance going before Kent's City Council says there's no evidence that these sites reduce drug addiction.

The Seattle-King County Health Department says someone dies from a heroin or opioid drug overdose every 36 hours in King County. That's more than auto crashes and ranks as the No. 1 cause of preventable death.

[continues 191 words]

Public health officials are promoting the use of the drug naloxone to help save people from opioid overdoses.

Seattle's opioid crisis is a complicated medical, political and emotional issue, but state leaders are attempting to tackle one of the most immediate concerns facing those on the front line of the fight: Keeping users alive during an overdose.

The Seattle Police Department implemented a nasal naloxone (also known Narcan) program in March 2016, training 60 bike officers to administer the drug to anyone they believed to be suffering from an opioid overdose. The program has been a modest success, with officers reviving 20 people thus far according to Officer Steve Redmond, and there are hopes the program can be expanded department wide.

[continues 510 words]

Last year, there were 49 cases of kids under the age of 5 accidentally eating treats with marijuana in them.

TACOMA, Wash. - A Tacoma mother says her 14-month-old daughter got sick after eating candy with marijuana in it. And now, she wants to warn other parents.

The woman, who does not want to be identified, said the toddler found the candy at a relative's home without anyone knowing. When she went to pick up her daughter, the girl started acting strangely.

[continues 440 words]

[photo] Cannabis from Stagecoach Ranch is seen on display during an event at Harvest, a medical marijuana dispensary in the Inner Richmond District, in San Francisco, Calif., on Saturday, November 19, 2016.

SACRAMENTO - California lawmakers want to make it easier for marijuana dispensaries to pay their taxes, saying many cash-only businesses are forced to drive long distances with thousands of dollars to make an in-person payment.

That's clearly not safe, said state Sens. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, and Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, who introduced a bill Tuesday to increase the number of places where tax and fee payments can be made in California.

[continues 405 words]

A bill has been introduced in the state Legislature that would allow marijuana users to grow their own supply at home.

Washington is the only state that allows for retail, recreational marijuana but doesn't also permit cannabis to be grown at home unless by registered medical patients. The new legislation, HB 1092, introduced Wednesday by state Rep. Sherry Appleton, D-Poulsbo, would change that.

If enacted, all adults (21 and over) would be able to grow up to six plants on their private premises so long as the yield is no greater than 24 ounces. Homes with more than one adult would be permitted 12 plants for up to 48 ounces of usable marijuana.

[continues 241 words]

Marijuana is still illegal under the federal Controlled Substances Act. But Washington voters in 2012 legalized the cultivation, sale and taxation of recreational marijuana. California voted in November 2016 to do likewise.

Will taxes on marijuana help pay high cost of K-12 education funding?

The state's Republican lawmakers have been as slippery as a pig on ice when it comes to finding dollars to pay for state Supreme Court-ordered full funding of K-12 education in Washington, a pattern seen Thursday at The Associated Press' legislative forum.

[continues 515 words]

A study of Washington high school students out Tuesday examining marijuana use among students in the state two years before and after the vote to legalize in 2012 finds that marijuana use increased by about 3 percent among 8th- and 10th-graders over that period.

Conventional wisdom, based on results since marijuana was legalized three years ago in Colorado, is that availability of legal weed is having little or no effect on teen's use of the drug.

However, a study of Washington high school students out Tuesday flies somewhat in the face of prevailing opinion. Examining marijuana use among students in the state two years before and after the vote to legalize in 2012, it finds that marijuana use increased by about 3 percent among 8th- and 10th-graders over that period.

[continues 591 words]

TUMWATER, Wash. - Behind the covered windows of a nondescript two-story building near the Olympia Regional Airport, hundreds of marijuana plants were flowering recently in the purple haze of 40 LED lights.

It was part of a high-stakes experiment in energy conservation - an undertaking subsidized by the local electric company. With cannabis cultivation poised to become a big business in some parts of the country, power companies and government officials hope it will grow into a green industry.

The plants here, destined for sale in the form of dried flowers, joints or edible items, were just a few weeks from harvest and exuding the potent aroma of a stash room for the Grateful Dead. But the energy-efficient LED lights were the focus of attention.

[continues 1251 words]

Last week, I wrote about how the new medical marijuana system created under the Cannabis Patient Protection Act (SB 5052) shut out many of Washington State's medical marijuana dispensaries. The law required that dispensaries obtain a recreational license to continue operation, but a loophole in the application process created a black market for dispensary employee pay stubs, allowing new actors to game the system. I also mentioned that the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) blindsided applicants by announcing a cap of 222 new licenses late in the application process.

[continues 901 words]

A Loophole in the Recreational License Application Process Created a Black Market for Dispensary Employee Pay Stubs and Left Longtime Dispensary Operators in the Dust

A loophole allowed applicants with no background in medical marijuana to be treated as if they were law-abiding, taxpaying veterans of the industry.

On July 1, when the Cannabis Patient Protection Act (SB 5052) took effect, all dispensaries without an I-502 license were forced to shut down, sending many of the state's medical marijuana patients into a panic. Patients worry that the recreational market doesn't have enough medicinal cannabis for their needs and that what is available is not affordable. Many point to the fact that the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) issued only 222 new retail licenses to replace more than 1,500 medical marijuana dispensaries.

[continues 820 words]

Little Drama, Lots of Doubts as Washington's Medical Marijuana Industry Goes Dark

It's not yet clear how many patients will switch to licensed stores, versus going underground.

Today is the first day on which authorities have vowed to crack down on medical marijuana dispensaries which lack government-issued cannabis licenses. Our cover story this week unpacks the history of that vow. By all appearances, the day has come and gone without any major drama.

But patients are still upset about reduced access to their medince. Ryan Day, who uses cannabis to treat his son's epilepsy, says that licensed stores lack the kind of cannabis products his son needs. "The recreational stores aren't carrying the product we need," he says. "The supply chain is just not there."

[continues 655 words]

On July 1, Washington State's medical marijuana market disappeared. Here's why the most needy patients will likely suffer.

On July 1, Washington State's medical marijuana dispensaries and collectives officially closed, leaving only state-licensed recreational stores to serve patients.

This is a result of the Cannabis Patient Protection Act (SB 5052), which is perhaps the most egregious bit of doublespeak ever. The law does not protect patients. In fact, evidence suggests that it will put the state's most vulnerable patients at risk.

[continues 1398 words]

This Week, Hundreds of Marijuana Dispensaries Will Be Shuttered.

How did that happen?

The evening of November 6, 2012, will live long in the memories of many progressive Seattleites. It was a night of raucous celebration in the heart of Seattle as a singular mass of bodies danced at the corner of Pike Street and 10th Avenue.

In the tide of humanity, a middle-aged man with a gray beard and a plaid blue shirt sprayed the crowd around him with champagne.

[continues 3359 words]

YAKIMA, Wash. - As a cousin to marijuana, hemp has long been banned despite a huge potential for use in a wide range of products, including clothing, building materials and even shampoo.

But Yakima will soon be at the forefront of the state's efforts to develop a research program that could lead to a commercial hemp industry.

The state Department of Agriculture plans to hire a Yakima-based program specialist to help draft and adopt rules needed to create the program, which is expected to launch in time for the 2017 growing season.

[continues 855 words]

SEATTLE (AP) - With a deadline looming for the merging of Washington's recreational and medical marijuana markets, cities around the state are warning unlicensed pot dispensaries to close up shop.

July 1 marks the date when, after nearly two decades of confusion about the status of medical marijuana, the industry becomes regulated for the first time. Hundreds of pot shop workers are being certified as medical marijuana consultants, the Department of Health is preparing a voluntary registry of patients, and the Liquor and Cannabis Board has been granting endorsements enabling recreational marijuana stores to sell for medical use.

[continues 612 words]

Plus, the WSLCB Finally Sets Rules for Acceptable Pesticide Levels

Senator Michael Baumgartner (R-Spokane) recently added another bill to his already impressive list of idiotic, regressive policy ideas: allowing cities to ban pot businesses in places based on preexisting alcohol impact areas (AIA).

The AIA program, for those who missed that dark chapter of our state's history, was cooked up in 1999 as a way to fight chronic street inebriation. Administered by the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB), it bans the sale of certain types of booze that are especially popular with chronic street drunks.

[continues 904 words]