It’s been a year now since Washington state voters legalized marijuana. It’s been nearly that long since the federal government told outgoing Gov. Christine Gregoire that it wouldn’t challenge the will of our state’s voters.
During that year, thousands of Washingtonians who otherwise might have gone to prison for being caught with the devil weed, instead — well, instead went about their daily lives like anyone else. That’s a good thing.
But it’s taken until this past month for many of the details to emerge on how state and local government will actually implement the new law. And, as always, the devil is very much in the details.
At the state level, the medical cannabis workgroup — comprised of the Liquor Control Board, health department, revenue department and the governor’s office —finally released its formal recommendations for how to deal with the state’s previous medical-marijuana laws in the wake of Initiative 502’s passage.
Its proposal would, among other things, eliminate patient home-growing rights; create a registry for patients (something users fearful of federal prosecution have long fought); eliminate the possibility of adding any new medical conditions eligible for using cannabis; reduce legal patient possession amounts from 24 to only 3 ounces and allow I-502 stores to sell to patients at reduced taxes.
Of course, currently medical-marijuana patients pay no tax — just like with any other prescription drug. And the net effect of the regulations is to force patients into the commercial market — something expected of no other prescription drug. But it provides revenue for the state — from sick people.
Getting shut out
Meanwhile, the City of Seattle is considering how to allocate the 21 licenses that are allowed for retail outlets in Seattle. To consider how preposterous this is, imagine if there were only 21 stores (of limited size) selling beer and wine in the city. The demand would vastly overwhelm the supply; the lines around the block at each store would also suppress the demand.
That’s what’s going to happen with pot. It’s a conscious government decision that — like the medical-marijuana proposals — runs contrary to the clear will of voters. Unless it’s fixed, it will also put out of business most of the more than 100 storefront operations already open in Seattle for medical cannabis.
But then, the city is also promulgating a 1,000-foot rule — the distance (about one-fifth of a mile) any store must be from schools or parks — and that eliminates most available city land and many of the existing storefronts, as well.
The same thing is happening on the production side. The state liquor board is allowing 30,000 square feet for a production facility, but Seattle is only allowing 20,000 square feet and then only in about 15 percent of the city’s industrially zoned land. As with retail, such restrictions are guaranteed to drive much of the pot economy back underground, and plenty of people who’ve made a good, if unsavory, living from that over the years won’t need much encouragement to stay in the shadows.
The net effect of all this is fairly simple. For decades, large numbers of people smoked pot, even though it was illegal. It was literally easier for a teenager to get stoned than to get drunk because the black market was so pervasive.
That black market didn’t disappear overnight, and these approaches ensure that many people will continue to use it. And, of course, while possessing cannabis is no longer a crime, selling it is — meaning drug warriors addicted to the criminal justice system can still get some of their cut.
Addictive behaviors
I-502’s sponsors claimed that legalizing pot wouldn’t change the rules for medical-marijuana patients, but they were wrong. The state is effectively disemboweling Initiative 692, the initiative that legalized medical use. Both the city and the state are working to dump existing medical-pot patients in with the commercial market and then ensure that the demand — for either recreational or medical use — far outstrips the legal supply.
It’s a way to subvert the voters’ clearly expressed will and perpetuate a War on Drugs apparatus that has grown bloated over the years, largely by ruining the lives of nonviolent users of a drug that is now, supposedly, legal.
Legalization advocates probably thought their work was done — at least at the local and state level — when I-502 passed last year. But War On Drug attitudes die hard: War on Drug paychecks are more addictive than any chemical substance, and governments desperate for revenue have their own interests.
In the new year, whether Olympia and the Seattle City Council are willing to fix any of these problems will tell us a lot about just how addicted they are.
GEOV PARRISH is cofounder of Eat the State! He also reviews news of the week on “Mind Over Matters” on KEXP 90.3 FM.
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