The Debate About Washington's Medical Marijuana Program Escalates

By Noelle Skodzinski

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray released a statement Monday voicing his support for Washington State's medical marijuana program. The program's fate has been uncertain since Washington voters legalized recreational marijuana under Initiative 502, which required all retail marijuana businesses to be licensed under the new recreational marijuana program. Existing medical marijuana collectives were not licensed under I-502 and therefor are considered by some to be illegal. A somewhat heated debate has ensued over whether to fold the medical marijuana program into I-502 or to create a new, regulatory framework around the medical program. In the statement, the Mayor said, "I intend to forward a draft ordinance to the city council in the coming weeks that will protect patient access to safe medical-grade marijuana."

Murray's desire to protect the state's medical marijuana program faces opposition, however. "Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes urged the Legislature to fold medical marijuana into the state’s recreational system in a wide-ranging policy memo Monday," reported The Seattle Times. The Times also reported that, in the memo, Holmes "pushed the city of Seattle to crack down on medical-marijuana businesses not following state law or city regulations."

"Some businesses aren’t operating with proper permits. Others have not paid local business and occupation taxes. Some opened after the City Council passed an intended moratorium on new medical-marijuana businesses," Holmes stated. "If you’re a commercial (medical-marijuana) operation lacking a 502 license (Initiative 502), it’s a felony operation. Period."

Mayor Murray said in his statement that he, too, is concerned about the growth of collectives in Seattle: "I continue to hear from families and neighborhood advocates who see clustering of medical marijuana storefronts in some areas of the city." His solution, however, is more regulation. "We must do more to regulate where those collective gardens are located relative to our schools and parks, for example," he said.

Murray's statement made it clear that he is hopeful the state legislature will establish a regulatory framework that supports the state's medical marijuana program. “I have heard from patient advocates that recreational stores cannot meet their needs. State-regulated recreational marijuana stores are prohibited by law from discussing any medical benefits that can be gained from the use of marijuana," said Murray. "A cancer patient who walks into a recreational store cannot get the advice they get in a collective garden, where the staff can identify products that would increase their appetite to counteract the effects of chemotherapy."

Murray added, "We must establish better oversight of these collective gardens, and we must support the success of legal, state-regulated marijuana retailers, but not at the expense of patients."