In our legislative preview last week we listed reconciling the legal recreational pot market created in Washington under Initiative 502 with the loosey-goosey medical marijuana landscape that’s flourished here for over a decade as a top priority for lawmakers in Olympia. And while we certainly believed finding common, sensible ground to be a worthy, necessary endeavor, we also expressed skepticism … because, well, Olympia has a long history of botching the issue.
Today, however, Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-Seattle) announced her intention to file a bill this week that has the potential to accomplish it. “The main intent of my bill is to simplify and unify the two systems so that complex gray areas and dangerous illicit markets will eventually cease to exist,” Kohl-Welles says in a press release distributed to the media.
With a long history sticking up for medical marijuana patients in Olympia, Kohl-Welles is proposing legislation—which is being called the Comprehensive Marijuana Reform Act”—that seeks to do a number of admirable things, from “Establishing medical grade marijuana products and providing for the sale of low-THC, high CBD products tax free for certain qualifying medical marijuana patients,” to “creating a waiver process … so that marijuana patients whose medical needs require more than six plants or who are under the age of 21 have access to medical grade marijuana,” according to the press release.
The bill, which would apply the regulatory framework created under I-502 to the almost entirely unregulated medical marijuana economy, would also create an avenue for patients who need high-THC products to obtain them without paying sales tax and would permit anyone over the age of 21 to grow up to six pot plants for personal use.
“This would finally provide patients protection from arrest without requiring them to waive their right to privacy and register with the state,” said the ACLU’s Alison Holcomb, who spearheaded the I-502 effort.
Without relying on a patient registry system—a contentious issue for medical pot users—the Kohl-Welles bill would look to “phase out” collective gardens and unregulated dispensaries, while also allowing the state Liquor Control Board to increase the number of pot storefronts licensed in the state, “adopting a competitive, merit- and experience-based licensing application system.” This, according to the press release, is part of “recognizing that many dispensaries provide exemplary service to authorized patients,” while at the same time seeking to crack down on many of the shady practices currently being employed across the state.
“I continue to believe that Sen. Kohl-Welles has come up with the best possible solution to simultaneously address patient concerns, ensure I-502 licensee viability, and provide law enforcement clarity—thus leveraging smaller government to produce far greater public safety,” Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes says in the press release. “We’ve turned our backs on prohibition, and need to realize the full benefits of the voters’ demand for legal, regulated and taxed marijuana.”
Additionally, the legislation would create a marijuana delivery license, intended to establish “safe delivery methods” for legal pot, and also allow wiggle room for local jurisdictions to manipulate the buffer zones created under I-502 between facilities like day cares and rec centers and pot storefronts.
“The ACLU of Washington especially appreciates Sen. Kohl-Welles’ proposal to allow all adults to grow a small amount of marijuana for personal use,” said Alison Holcomb, former drug policy director for the ACLU of Washington and I-502 author. “This would finally provide patients protection from arrest without requiring them to waive their right to privacy and register with the state.”
According to Kohl-Welles, her Republican colleague in Olympia, Sen. Ann Rivers (R-Vancouver), is working on similar legislation this session, and the two lawmakers will attempt to work together in a bipartisan manner to “find a way to pass legislation that combines the best of both of our proposals.”
While Kohl-Welles’ proposal appears to be thoughtfully crafted, and attempts to address many of the longstanding concerns held by medical marijuana patients, it does have its critics. For example, Anthony Martinelli, a spokesperson for Sensible Washington, tells Seattle Weekly that his nonprofit appreciates the effort, but has serious concerns. “We remain opposed to any legislation that would make life more difficult for those with serious, debilitating conditions, as we believe this proposal would do,” he says.”Legalizing the personal cultivation of cannabis is an excellent idea, and one we support very strongly. However, we are adamantly opposed to combining the medical cannabis market with the recreational market, a move we believe will increase prices, decrease access and ultimately put a heavy, unnecessary burden on patients,” Martinelli continues. “Even with changes to the licensing structure, it would take a long time for the recreational cannabis market to be in a position to provide proper access to the tens of thousands of patients in our state. Medical cannabis dispensaries operating throughout Washington want to be, and should be regulated, and given the opportunity to be licensed as a medical cannabis safe access point. It would be a regressive move to take these locations and shut them down, giving them no opportunity to continue providing to their patients, simply to bolster the recreational cannabis industry.”Martinelli also tells Seattle Weekly that requiring medical marijuana users to obtain a waiver to buy pot tax-free would constitute “another unnecessary burden,” and that “cannabis should be tax-free to qualifying patients under all circumstances.”
mdriscoll@seattleweekly.com
