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Notes from an EastPAC community discussion on pot

Plead the Spliff

The East Precinct learns about weed

Last week, East Precinct community members heard from and asked questions of a panel of city and state officials regarding the condition of Washington’s developing legal recreational marijuana market.

From the community conversation with the East Precinct Advisory Council-convened panel of experts, there is still a fair amount of confusion and regulatory kinks to be worked out in the recreational marijuana system established by Initiative 502 back in 2012.

“With liquor, we’d been doing this for 70 years with a lot of [legal] changes so it’s not an overnight fix,”said Justin Nordhorn, enforcement chief with the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB). “We hope people will bear with us as this progresses.”

Nordhorn said that the WSLCB has licensed 800 producers and processors across the state, and has around 500 slots for licensed recreational marijuana retail stores across the state. So far, 250 are licensed with 209 currently in business. Seattle, as of right now, has 45 licensed retail stores, though only a fraction of those are currently making sales.

He also noted a few of the the emerging issues and regulatory gaps in the budding recreational system, like the phenomenon of out of state money financing retail stores (state law has residency requirements for financing and national banks won’t give loans to pot shops which are technically still illegal under federal law), the lack of mandatory pesticide testing for marijuana product (though that’s coming, according to Nordhorn), and complaints of youth-focused advertising across the state and funding for youth education. Nordhorn added that I-502 allotted money to the state department of health for just this purpose, but it was dependent on tax revenue from retail stores, which took a few years to come online.

One meeting attendee asked the panel how to properly dispose of marijuana, if, for example, found in a student’s dorm room, as a Seattle University employee given the fact that the college has federal funding. Nordhorn told her to either contact local police or “render it unusable,” as retail stores are instructed to do.

In response to a question about the criteria for closing a retail store due to consistent legal violations, Nordhorn described the the WSLCB’s progressive penalty model. For example, if a store sold to a minor, they would initially be fined $2,500. A second offense would result in a 30 day suspension and a 3rd violation (in three years) would result in license termination. Nordhorn said that WSLCB conducts minor access checks at every recreational marijuana store across the state three times a year, and they’ve found a 89% compliance rate, higher than similar checks of tobacco and alcohol vendors.

Another attendee asked whether marijuana possession under the age of 21 was a felony. David Mendoza, policy advisor to Mayor Ed Murray (and his marijuana wonk), clarified that it for a minor in possession over over 40 grams it technically is due to changes in state law, but the city attorney and the county are “not really charging that.” For a minor caught with possession of under 40 grams, it’s still a misdemeanor.

“One of the myths  around marijuana is that it decriminalized marijuana in the state of Washington. But there’s still a lot of criminal penalties in the state,” said Nordhorn. “If you’re selling on the corner, you can still get arrested.”

Ian Eisenberg, owner of Uncle Ike’s pot shop in the Central District and part of the panel, came under the spotlight when a African American attendee asked him whether he was hiring minority community members. “How many  of your bud tenders are african american?” Eisenberg responded that he didn’t have an exact figure, but there are some. “I think it’s a pretty good reflection of the neighborhood,” he said.

You can learn more about the monthly community meetings at eastpac.org.

 

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jason
jason
8 years ago

The harassment of Eisenberg is anti-Semitic as hell. If he was black he wouldn’t be harassed and have to prove how many black people he’s hired. He’s a 4th generation Jewish resident in a historically Jewish neighborhood. Most of the people harassing him don’t even live in that area and never have. The irony and shamefulness of their behavior is off the charts as is the lack of calling it out for what it is- racism, harassment, and extortion. If the races were reverse the behavior of these people would be condemned by the entire city.

you got that right
you got that right
8 years ago
Reply to  jason

yup.