Two years ago, Washington State began an unprecedented policy experiment by allowing large-scale production and sale of recreational marijuana to the public. The effects on public health and safety and on the relationship of law enforcement to minority communities will take years to manifest fully, but one impact has become abundantly clear: Legalized marijuana is getting very cheap very quickly.

Marijuana price data from Washington's Liquor and Cannabis Board was aggregated by Steve Davenport of the Pardee RAND Graduate School and Jonathan Caulkins, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. After a transitory rise in the first few months, which Davenport attributes to supply shortages as the system came online, both retail prices and wholesale prices have plummeted. Davenport said that prices "are now steadily falling at about 2 percent per month. If that trend holds, prices may fall 25 percent each year going forward."

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After Legalization, the Law Now Requires That Any Sample Used As Evidence in an Adult Case Be Tested for THC Levels.

EVERETT - Sure, marijuana is legal now, for the most part.

However, enough criminal cases still involve the drug that the Washington State Patrol has increased the number of scientists with special training needed to analyze its chemical compounds, from one to seven. None of them work at the lab in Snohomish County.

Before legalization, any Snohomish County police department could do a quick field test to scientifically confirm that seized plant materials were, in fact, marijuana. That step is required for prosecution. That so-called "leaf test" was standard since the 1970s, said George Johnston, a manager for the state crime laboratory.

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Number of Financial Institutions Willing to Handle Pot Money Rise

SALEM, Ore. (AP) - In a once-empty office in Oregon's Department of Revenue headquarters, officials have created a mini-fortress.

Recently hired workers sit behind bulletproof glass at a window inaccessible to the public. Police officers brought out of retirement roam the building with handguns on their hips. Security cameras monitor the hallways.

The changes, paid for with a $3.5 million budget and prompted by the state's newly legal marijuana industry, are similar to those that Colorado and Washington made for accepting huge cash payments of pot taxes from businesses historically blocked from banking.

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Hit $5 Million in March

But Beer Sales Still Come Out on Top

Legal marijuana sales in Spokane County topped retail sales of wine and kitchen staples such as bread and milk last year.

That's according to sales numbers from the Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board and a survey of household expenses by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Not all marijuana sold in Spokane County is consumed by county residents. State law allows the 17 state-licensed pot shops in the area to sell to anyone older than 21, regardless of where they live.

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SPOKANE (AP) - The amount of money spent on legal marijuana sales in Spokane County last year was larger than the retail sales of wine, bread or milk.

That's according to sales numbers from the Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board and a survey of household expenses conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Monthly sales of pot topped $5 million in Spokane County for the first time in March, which is on track to top receipts at area bookstores, museums and live music venues, according to figures released by the Washington Department of Revenue.

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Regarding the guest commentary, "Treatment, not punishment, will limit opioid problems": States that end cannabis (marijuana) prohibition are in a better position to help lower opioid addiction and death rates compared to states that perpetuate cannabis prohibition. Citizens may use opiates for chronic pain, which may lead to various addiction scenarios. Cannabis has shown to treat chronic pain, and in states where cannabis has been completely re-legalized, citizens may purchase the plant over the counter without a doctor's permission slip. It's a potential win-win situation that should be promoted.

Truthfully, Stan White Dillon, Colorado

[end]

Safety Push

Local officials are showing interest in making Seattle the first U.S. city to offer a medically supervised site for drug use, which advocates say could reduce overdose deaths, disease transmission and discarded needles on the ground.

Seattle could become the first city in the U.S. with a public site where users can inject and smoke hard drugs under medical supervision.

One local group plans to open a bare-bones safe-consumption site on a shoestring budget as soon as possible, while another group has launched an awareness campaign to build support among politicians and communities.

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President Obama did something remarkable this week. For the first time, a president talked about drug addiction in America without talking about prosecution, mandatory minimums or a war on drugs.

For the first time, a president talked about a new approach to addiction - an approach rooted in being smart on treatment instead of just tough on crime. His plan would invest $1.1 billion to provide treatment and fight the national opioid epidemic, which he said is affecting everybody.

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The news seemed almost anachronistic in this era of relaxed ordinances and attitudes about marijuana. Last week, law enforcement officials announced that illegal marijuana production in Washington state has plummeted - even though large numbers of plants still flourish on the state's public lands.

But the cultivation, sale and consumption of marijuana are legal in this state, right? So why does it matter? It matters because not-so-savory elements are involved in the state's massive illegal grows, It also matters to maintain the structure of the state's marijuana legalization - given the flaws of a law that expands the availability of an intoxicating substance and runs afoul of federal law.

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In August 1988, a middle-aged drug counselor named David Purchase started handing out needles to junkies in Tacoma. He thus began the first needle exchange program in the U.S.-and became a criminal, since distributing drug paraphernalia was a misdemeanor under state law.

As needle exchanges caught on, critics, including the first President Bush, objected that the program tacitly condoned illicit drug use. Purchase didn't care. AIDS deaths in the U.S. alone numbered in the tens of thousands. "We're going to keep doing what we do," he told The New York Times. "Our goal is to save lives," he said, even if that meant jail time.

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AMERICA is in the grip of a prescription-drug-abuse crisis. More than 40 people die every day from overdoses involving prescription opioids.

That number equals more than 165,000 opioid-overdose deaths since 1999, a baseline year that marks the quadrupling of opioids prescribed and sold to date. Or as the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes in its statistics, in 2013 alone enough prescriptions were written for every American adult to have a bottle of pills.

Many Americans suffer from pain, but the use and abuse of prescription opioids have soared past those receiving active cancer, palliative and end-of-life care.

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AS parents, it's our absolute worst fear. For Lisa, it began when her 6-month-old daughter Cynthia was diagnosed with Dravet syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy.

Her child's small body would spend the next five-plus years racked daily by punishing, life-threatening seizures - until Lisa discovered that a cannabis tincture could control the neurological disease that would otherwise cause her daughter's death. Today, Cynthia is 9 and is an energetic and vivacious little girl.

When Washingtonians legalized cannabis for recreational use in 2012, consumers were assured safe products. But as The Seattle Times recently reported, fines are now being levied by the Washington State Liquor Cannabis Board (LCB) against two major cannabis producers for using illegal pesticides. I was distressed to learn one of the businesses in violation markets cannabis medicines for children just like Cynthia.

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New Rules in 2 States Could Attract Major Outside Investors.

SEATTLE - When the legal pot industry began to boom in Washington state, big-money investors predicted the cannabis trade in the Northwest would soon be the darling of corporate America.

Former Mexican President Vicente Fox appeared at a Seattle news conference in 2013 along with pot entrepreneur Jamen Shively, who laid out plans to create the first national brand of marijuana and promised Big Tobacco-like growth.

"Yes," he said, "we are Big Marijuana."

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Our family has been touched, some may say fractured, by heroin.

We have a 23-year-old grandson who is in a sober living house after several treatment attempts, and a granddaughter, age 20, who is in rehab for the fifth time. We also have a nephew, age 49, who is serving a 17-year sentence in federal prison for transporting heroin across state lines while possessing a firearm.

Their stories are more complicated than outlined above, but heroin has had a traumatic effect on our family and on the relationships between the nonaddicted family members.

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I have suffered from chronic pain for 24 years.

I use opiates to help control the pain so I can have some quality of life, so that I can be married, care for my father and friends, volunteer and do my work. The fact that people abuse opioids has made it more difficult for people who need them, like me, to get them. It makes me angry that there is so much attention on the addicts and so little on others who need these meds but are shamed and denied.

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My brother, Michael, suffered a lot of pain from a back injury related to a car accident in his 30s. His was prescribed opioids, which quickly became an addiction that ruled his adult life. He was in denial and refused help. He never had a problem finding drugs, and I don't mean illegally.

His doctors were more than happy to fill his requests for more. Due partially to his addiction, he lost his home, his business and some friends along the way. He became a bit of a hermit, and we often lost contact with him. Michael died two years ago. He was only 59. The damage to his body that caused his death was mostly due to his opioid addiction.

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This week, the federal government published the first national standards for prescription painkillers, recommending that doctors try pain relievers like ibuprofen before prescribing the highly addictive pills. The Seattle Times recently asked readers to share their stories about heroin and opioid addiction, and also weigh in on safe-injection sites and other possible solutions.

Have opioids touched you or your family? Share your thoughts here.

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EVERETT - The Everett City Council has said "no more" to would-be marijuana retailers.

On Wednesday the council imposed a cap on the number of shops operating in the city, limiting the number to the five shops already open. The cap will last a minimum of two years.

The 4-2 vote came after weeks of debate that was thought to have been put to rest after the city adopted its "permanent" ordinance last July.

What changed since then was the state Liquor and Cannabis Board's decision to double the number of retail shops allowed in each municipality, an attempt to compensate for the fact that most medical marijuana dispensaries across the state are being shut down mid-year.

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MONROE - Pot smokers won't get to prove they're no couch potatoes, at least not for now. A 5K run aimed at having those involved in marijuana businesses, users and people who don't partake, huffing along together Saturday has been called off.

The Farewell to Prohibition 5K at the Evergreen Speedway was to include live music and information booths about the pot industry as part of the after-race festivities.

Former beauty-pageant queen Crystal Newton, of Monroe, said she spent thousands of dollars and many hours putting together the festival. But her efforts went up in smoke Wednesday.

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The next new idea in drug policy reform is a good idea, writes columnist Jonathan Martin

The Seattle area is the nation's incubator for the anti-war on drugs.

Well before pot became legal, the nation's first needle exchange opened in these parts in 1988. The 1811 Eastlake housing project, which allows alcoholics to keep drinking, helped make Seattle's "Housing First" model official federal policy. And a Seattle police social-services diversion for low-level drug dealers is being copied around the country.

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