Pubdate: Sat, 15 Mar 2014
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2014 The New York Times Company
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Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Kirk Johnson

MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL DIES AS WASHINGTON STATE AWAITS LEGAL RECREATIONAL SALES

SEATTLE - Legislation aimed at bringing Washington State's largely 
unregulated medical marijuana system under state control, which state 
officials have said is crucial to maintaining order as the legalized 
sale of recreational marijuana begins this year, died late Thursday 
night without a vote as the House and Senate adjourned.

"I'm taken aback," said Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, after the 
Legislature concluded its regular session for the year with the 
legislation still on the calendar. "Many people at the last moment 
apparently did not want a bill."

Many medical marijuana dispensaries and patients had opposed the new 
regulations, fearing that their system could be crushed by the 
commercial market and intrusive government oversight. But sponsors 
and supporters said the regulations would protect patients by giving 
them greater assurance of access to the medicinal strains they want, 
and by possibly reducing the risk of federal prosecution. The United 
States Justice Department has said it will allow a legal marijuana 
marketplace, approved by voters here and in Colorado in 2012, only if 
is it tightly regulated by the states.

Ultimately, however, the bill, a version of which has passed in the 
Senate, died in the House in a fight over taxes. Some lawmakers, led 
by Republicans, wanted to amend the bill to distribute more of the 
anticipated revenue from marijuana sales from the state to local governments.

Another last-day amendment would have essentially thrown medical 
sales into the recreational stores with little or no special 
provision for medical users. Retail recreational sale is expected to 
begin here in June.

As the fight raged, a trade group representing mainly medical 
marijuana interests, the Washington Cannabis Association, persuaded 
enough lawmakers to stop passage and hope for a better bill next 
year. The law that legalized sale of recreational marijuana, known as 
I-502, also includes language that makes it hard for the Legislature 
to amend, requiring a two-thirds majority, at least this year.

"Everybody said, 'We'll take our chances for the next year without a 
change in law,' " said Ezra Eickmeyer, the association's political director.

A leading sponsor of the regulation bill, 5887, Senator Ann Rivers, a 
Republican, said the opponents' victory in killing her bill might be 
a Pyrrhic one. "Fear is a powerful motivating factor, and they felt 
like 5887 was something that we were doing to them instead of for 
them," Ms. Rivers said, referring to medical marijuana users and 
dispensary owners. "The reality is we can't do nothing; we must do something."

She said she feared that a simple majority next year might pass a law 
that those opponents would like even less than the bill that died.

One of the lawmakers who backed an expanded revenue-sharing system as 
part of the regulatory bill, Representative Cary Condotta, a 
Republican, said he thought it came down to fairness. A wave of 
resistance to marijuana businesses in some rural and more 
conservative parts of the state, he said, is partly about the worries 
that local governments could face higher costs in overseeing or 
policing marijuana, without getting much help from the state. He said 
he would continue that fight next year.

The Legislature is not scheduled to return until next year, unless 
called back into special session by the governor.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom