Pubdate: Mon, 01 Jun 2015
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2015 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409

ROUND UP OUTLAWS IN POT'S WILD WEST

THE era of flagrantly illegal marijuana storefronts operating under 
the guise of green-cross dispensaries may finally be coming to an end.

Emboldened by the passage - finally - of statewide legislation 
regulating medical marijuana, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray is proposing to 
rein in the local dispensary market. This is a step in the right 
direction for Seattle. City Council members should pass this 
legislation quickly so enforcement can begin.

As any resident knows, medical marijuana dispensaries with 
green-cross signs seem almost as common as Starbucks. The city 
estimates there are 99 dispensaries citywide. Many opened before 
voters authorized recreational marijuana sales in 2012 with 
Initiative 502, and the stores tried to operate as professional 
businesses before there were any clear rules governing their business 
practices.

But more than half those stores opened after I-502' s passage. Many 
haven't bothered to get business licenses or pay taxes. They are 
especially concentrated in parts of town with vulnerable, 
lower-income populations, adversely affecting the quality of 
neighborhoods, such as Lake City, Little Saigon and Rainier Valley.

To deal with this kind of problem, the Legislature passed SSSB 5052, 
which folds the unregulated medical-dispensary market into the 
licensed, taxed recreational-marijuana system.

The mayor's proposed rules play off this new law. They prohibit 
stores from being within 500 feet of other marijuana shops. City 
Attorney Pete Holmes supports it, as does Councilmember Nick Licata, 
who is the most vocal proponent for medical-marijuana users on the council.

The Legislature could help aid Seattle's efforts by also passing 
ESSHB 2136, a bill intended to make the recreational-marijuana market 
more functional. The bill also splits a portion of 
recreational-marijuana excise-tax revenues with cities. Seattle could 
receive nearly $400,000, about half of what the mayor's office 
estimates is needed for enforcement.

The effort to close noncompliant dispensaries leads some 
medical-marijuana advocates to claim the city is waging war on 
patients. That's hogwash.

Closing businesses that are blatantly illegal is basic consumer 
protection. Patients with legitimate needs will have better assurance 
of safe, tested marijuana from the better actors in medical 
marijuana, and in the recreational market.

Even if the mayor's plan isn't perfect, it should be implemented and 
revised as needed. At the very least, the city would finally be acting.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom