Tag Archives: marijuana

‘Come Say High’ — Forbidden Cannabis joins the Central District as Seattle marijuana industry equity efforts continue

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The Forbidden crew in Lacey (Image: Forbidden Cannabis)

A family of Washington pot shops now spans from the banks of the Columbia to the Central District. Forbidden Cannabis Club opens Friday on E Union.

Meanwhile, Seattle has a new set of policies hoped to improve equity in the city’s cannabis industry.

CHS reported in July on the deal to purchase Central District pot shop Ponder and its E Union property coveted both for the value of its land and its cannabis license just down the street from the headquarters of one of the city’s leading pot retailers, Uncle Ike’s.

With the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board approving the transfer, the transaction is now a done deal and Forbidden has announced its September 23rd grand opening with promotions and sale prices. Continue reading →

Seattle approves cannabis equity legislation

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The mayor is praising the joint effort.

The Seattle City Council approved a package of cannabis equity legislation Tuesday including a bill that prepares the city for issuing new “social equity licenses” for Seattle’s marijuana industry.

Mayor Bruce Harrell whose administration backed the bills called Tuesday’s votes “historic” and reportedly really said this, according to a press release from the council: “I am very pleased to see that this joint effort between my office, the Council, FAS and community stakeholders has resulted in the passage of this suite of bills.”

Dumb CHS pot jokes aside, Tuesday’s votes followed months of legislative efforts to address cannabis industry inequity and work from the Social Equity in Cannabis Task Force to address the lack of diverse ownership and issues with working conditions for frontline employees at the city’s cannabis businesses.

“It’s worth repeating that this is a first – but necessary – step toward equity long overdue in the cannabis industry,” Harrell said Tuesday. Continue reading →

Seattle considers ‘social equity license’ for city’s marijuana industry

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A Seattle City Council committee will begin work Thursday to shape a set of legislation proposed by the Harrell administration hoped to improve equity and inclusion in the city’s marijuana industry. A core element could be a new “social equity license” that would provide a new path to ownership for qualifying entrepreneurs hoped to even the playing field for those seeking the coveted permits.

Under the proposal, businesses would need to have at least “51% ownership” by individuals “who have resided in a disproportionately impacted area” where there have been factors like a high poverty rate or a “high rate of cannabis-related arrest, conviction or incarceration” to qualify for the special licenses. Other restrictions including state laws and city zoning would still apply.

The council Finance and Housing Committee is taking up the suite of three proposed bills that Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office says will “foster a more diverse industry” while supporting cannabis store workers. Continue reading →

Seattle shaping new legislation to try to address social equity in city’s marijuana economy

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Uncle Ike's 15th Ave E

Uncle Ike’s 15th Ave E (Image: CHS)

Efforts to address inequity in Seattle’s retail marijuana industry are moving beyond task forces and forums and beginning to be shaped by legislation to create new programs and rules in the city. Wednesday morning, officials will brief the Seattle City Council’s Finance and Housing Committee chaired by Teresa Mosqueda on coming legislation hoped to help workers keep their jobs when businesses and licenses are sold and changes in licensing to boost opportunities for BIPOC ownership.

CHS reported here on the work of the Social Equity in Cannabis Task Force to address the lack of diverse ownership in the industry and working conditions for frontline employees.

Legislation designed to address those issues is now taking shape under three efforts, according to Wednesday morning’s presentation (PPT) to Mosqueda’s committee: Continue reading →

Coveted for its land and its license, Central District’s Ponder pot shop has sold — UPDATE

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(Image: Ponder)

As we head into Independence Day weekend 2022, the freedom to create, sustain, and cash in on your Seattle recreational pot shop is being marked on E Union.

Ponder, one of the neighborhood’s pioneer state-licensed cannabis shops, has been sold, sparking questions about the industry’s regulations and its place in Seattle’s tumultuous labor and workers rights movement.

John Branch, the owner who started the Central District shop seven years ago, said he could not provide details about any sale citing a confidentiality agreement. But he did comment on his years as a pioneer in Seattle’s regulated pot industry.

“I was one of the first people six years ago to start it. I was an original OG,” Branch said. “I just reached the arc.”
Continue reading →

As Capitol Hill shops ready to mark 4/20, cannabis board says OK to use app and cashless payment options

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High… above The Reef (Image: The Reef)

With concerns that cash transactions are making the industry a target for crime, more Capitol Hill pot retailers could add new purchasing options after state officials say they have clarified rules on payments.

Tuesday afternoon, Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board said it has issued a rule clarifying that some cashless transactions are allowed — though “awareness of this rule has been slow to take hold.”

“Essentially, the rule allows retailers to engage in business with third-party vendors to allow for cashless transactions with customers,” Tuesday’s announcement reads. “Transactions may be conducted through an app on the customer’s phone.” Continue reading →

Proposal looks at taskforce, marijuana tax revenue to address pot shop robbery wave

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Police investigate a 2019 gunpoint robbery at Capitol Hill’s Ruckus (Image: CHS)

Washington’s cash only pot shops make tempting targets and an ongoing wave of armed robberies including recent hold-ups with deadly consequences have officials looking at forming a new taskforce to address the crisis.

A proposal from King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn would put law enforcement and marijuana tax revenue at the center of a new group including the King County Sheriff’s Office, the King County Prosecutor’s Office, marijuana shop retailers, and community members “to identify resources necessary to aid law enforcement in the prevention of criminal activity targeting marijuana retailers, deepen interjurisdictional cooperation and data sharing to, and coordinate emphasis patrols by law enforcement.”

“There is a perception that marijuana shops are easy targets because they are known operate on an all-cash basis. This has resulted in very dangerous situations that have quickly escalated and have resulted in deaths,” Dunn said in the announcement of his proposed legislation. “Like so many other areas of our criminal justice system, we need to be sending the message that this type of lawlessness will not be tolerated and give our law enforcement the support they need to apprehend those responsible. Letting these brazen crimes continue is not an option — we must act for the safety of our communities, before more lives are lost.” Continue reading →

Seattle Cannabis Equity community members want ownership but also better conditions for frontline workers

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“Two months ago, I was staring down the barrel of a gun,” medical cannabis consultant Key Porter said. As she was trying to escape her shop, all she could think about was her son several blocks away.

Last week, Seattle cannabis equity community members spoke at the Seattle City Council Finance and Housing Committee meeting. Like Porter, they shared personal experiences working in the cannabis industry and brought up policies that contribute to cannabis equity.

In Seattle, Cannabis equity is about equity for frontline cannabis workers and BIPOC store owners. BIPOC communities are struggling to get a foothold in the cannabis industry, majority of which is dominated by white men. In 2020, Washington’s Department of Finance and Administrative Services said “42 of Seattle’s 48 cannabis retail stores had white majority ownership, of those 37 by white men.”

To help achieve equity in the cannabis industry, Washington’s Liquor and Cannabis Board established the Social Equity in Cannabis Task Force in 2020. To help BIPOC cannabis owners, the task force seeks to issue unused cannabis licenses to marginalized communities, harmed from the war on drugs.

But the path to ownership includes other, also important day to day issues faced by the industry workers brought together for the taskforce including come to face with a rash of armed robberies in the city. Continue reading →

After a year of task force work, pot in Seattle is still too white — Report says city will need to change zoning to give social equity owners a chance

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The Seattle City Council’s Finance and Housing Committee is hearing an update Tuesday morning on the city’s social justice initiatives to help reshape equity in Seattle’s small business communities. A long-delayed effort to bring a more equitable mix of owners into the city’s legal cannabis economy is in the mix.

2021 started with delayed efforts as an 18-member Social Equity in Cannabis Task Force dug in on work to ensure communities that were heavily policed during the war on drugs can gain a foothold in the state’s legal pot market.

In Tuesday’s update, the city’s Department of Finance and Administrative Services laid out the facts about current ownership –“As of January 2020, 42 of Seattle’s 48 cannabis retail stores had white majority ownership, of those 37 by white men” — and a framework for what it will cost to get the program moving in Seattle including the major challenges posed by current statutes and the city’s zoning laws. Officials say current restrictions limit the city to a number of new stores community groups say won’t be enough to make a dent in the predominantly white ownership: Seattle only has room for two new shops. Continue reading →

How Mandatory Housing Affordability and Seattle’s congested growth made this Central District pot shop the hottest property on the block — UPDATE

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Ponder and its mixed-use neighbor, the Stencil development (Image: Ponder)

One of the few coveted parcels in the city that can be licensed for marijuana retail has hit the real estate market in the Central District but demand for the property isn’t being driven by pot entrepreneurs, Ponder owner John Branch tells CHS.

“It has appreciated to the point that retail isn’t a good use,” Branch said about this small stretch of E Union between 24th and 25th Avenues that the Ponder shop calls home. “Increased housing, mixed with retail on the lower floor,” that’s what is coming next, the pot shop owner says.

Seattle’s marijuana real estate boom is faded. The growing city’s other addiction is tough to outpace. The demand for new housing development has driven Branch and Pete Sikov, the real estate investor he owns the property with, to put the Ponder shop and the neighboring single family style house they purchased next door on the market for $3.15 million. They purchased the properties seven years ago for a combined $1.2 million and change.

“This is a unique opportunity to obtain one of the last remaining large parcels in a location where demand for development is at a premium,” the Windermere sales pitch reads: Continue reading →