Pubdate: Sun, 10 Mar 2013
Source: Yakima Herald-Republic (WA)
Copyright: 2013 Yakima Herald-Republic
Contact:  http://www.yakima-herald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/511

NEW POT RULES WON'T PLEASE EVERYBODY

Initiative 502, the marijuana-legalization measure that Washington 
state voters approved last November, spelled out a number of ways to 
implement what is now the law. For example, I-502 sets up a 
three-tier system of marijuana producer, processor and retailer; 
determines taxes to be collected at each level; defines limits on 
possession amounts and thresholds for intoxication; and so on. That 
the measure was relatively tightly drawn, especially compared with a 
legalization initiative in Oregon last fall, is one reason why it 
passed here but failed down there.

But Washington's initiative left many of the critical details to the 
state Liquor Control Board, which on Feb. 28 conducted a 
well-attended meeting in Yakima on the matter.

More than 300 people turned out; most attendees favored the law, but 
many voiced public safety and law enforcement concerns.

The board is charged with developing rules in a mind-boggling number 
of areas, including the quality standards of marijuana products; 
adequate security for outdoor grows; inspections of production, 
processing and retail facilities; packaging of pot products; and on 
it goes. Also among the procedures to be decided: Does the board 
adopt standards and approve everyone who meets those standards, or 
does it set a ceiling on the number of applicants who are approved? 
"We're doing something that hasn't been done anywhere in the world - 
from seed to sale," board chairwoman Sharon Foster told the Yakima 
Herald-Republic editorial board.

Foster said that in terms of having different views represented - 
from public safety and law enforcement advocates in addition to those 
of pot supporters - the Yakima meeting was the most balanced of the 
seven that had been held up to that time around the state.

In a way that's not surprising, given that Yakima County voters 
rejected the measure with a 57.8 percent no vote even as statewide 
voters were giving it a 55.7 percent approval.

What did strike Foster and two other members of the board, agency 
director Pat Kohler and deputy director Rick Garza, was the amount of 
growing activity already going on in Yakima County. Illegal grows 
have flourished in recent years, with a number of law-enforcement 
busts yielding tons of pot in the Yakima Valley. Fertile soils and 
stable water supplies mean pot can thrive here like any other crop. 
So we are facing the ironic situation that an area that resisted the 
new law could be a key supplier under the new law.

Another local wrinkle for the board is the Yakama Nation's opposition 
to growing or retailing on tribal lands.

A local attorney representing the tribe said the Yakamas would bring 
legal challenges to any licenses granted within reservation 
boundaries. And, of course, the state's implementation is contingent 
on meeting concerns by the federal government. Deputy director Garza, 
who grew up in Grandview, said that among the feds' major concerns is 
Washington-produced pot finding its way to other states.

The board conducted its final public-input meeting Thursday in 
Bremerton, and now it steps toward the licensing phase.

The liquor board's task is not an easy one, and most likely some 
unforeseen issues and unintended consequences will arise from its decisions.

The board is scheduled to complete its rules in early August, with 
retailers to open shop on Dec. 1, unless the feds step in to stop it. 
In between, the board will issue producer, processor and retail licenses.

No matter what the new rules say, a lot of people won't be happy. 
Criticism likely will come from both sides, from public safety 
representatives who say the rules allow too much, to marijuana 
activists who say the standards are too strict.

The board will need to be flexible, evaluate how the laws are working 
and address legitimate concerns after the rules go into effect.

In many ways, developing the rules this year will be just the 
beginning of a long-term process of inventing the marijuana-regulation wheel.

One other change is being considered, one that requires legislative 
action: The board could substitute the word "Control" with "Cannabis" 
and still go by the initials LCB - and the name would more accurately 
reflect its responsibilities. Well, perhaps, agreement could start there.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom