State of Cannabis: Washington

State of Cannabis: Washington
Washington State cannabis laws. Very very good.

Thisis provingto be a big year for cannabis. As a result, we are ranking the fifty states from worst to best on how they treat cannabis and those who consume it. Each of our State of Cannabis posts will analyze one state and our final post will crown the best state for cannabis. As is always the case, but particularly so with this series, we welcome your comments. As a result of theoverwhelming success of many cannabis initiatives this November, all the remaining states in this series have legalized the adult use of recreational marijuana. This week we coverWashington, who along with Colorado, was the first to legalize recreational marijuana.

Our previous rankings are as follows: 4. California; 5.Alaska; 6.Massachusetts; 7.Maine; 8.New Mexico;9.Nevada; 10.Hawaii; 11.Maryland; 12.Connecticut; 13.Vermont; 14.Rhode Island; 15.Kentucky; 16.Pennsylvania; 17.Delaware; 18.Michigan; 19.New Hampshire; 20.Ohio; 21.New Jersey; 22.Illinois;23.Minnesota; 24.New York; 25.Wisconsin; 26.Arizona; 27.West Virginia; 28.Indiana; 29.North Carolina; 30.Utah; 31.South Carolina; 32.Tennessee; 33.North Dakota; 34.Georgia; 35.Louisiana; 36.Mississippi; 37.Nebraska; 38.Missouri;39.Florida; 40.Arkansas; 41.Montana;42.Iowa; 43.Virginia; 44.Wyoming; 45.Texas; 46.Kansas; 47.Alabama; 48.Idaho; 49.Oklahoma; 50.South Dakota.

Washington

Recreational marijuana.Washington State legalized the recreational use of marijuana in 2012 when its citizens voted to pass ofInitiative 502. Under Washington State law, adults over the age of 21 can legally possess up to one ounce of marijuana flower, sixteen ounces of marijuana-infused product in solid form, seventy-two ounces of marijuana-infused product in liquid form, or seven grams of marijuana concentrate. The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Boardregulates Washingtons cannabis market, creating and enforcing rules regarding marijuana.

Washingtons marijuana market mainly consists of three different license types: producer, processor, and retail licenses. To a certain extent, cannabis licensees cannot vertically integrate because an individual cannot have an interest in all cannabis licensing types. A retail license holder may have no interest in a producer or processor license. However, a licensee may possess both a producer and processor license. To qualify for any Washington State cannabis license, onemust have at least six months of residency in Washington State.

Washington State requires residency compliance from anyone who qualifies as a True Party of Interest, which means anyone who either exercises control of the cannabis company (control is not defined) or who receives or is entitled to receive either net or gross profits from a licensee. By way of a couple examples, True Parties of Interest include anyone who holds stock in a corporation and it includes the spouses of any stockholders. Every True Party of Interest in a Washington State cannabis business must be vetted by the Liquor and Cannabis Board and must have resided in Washington for at least six months, same as a cannabis licensee. Failure to disclose a True Party of Interest leads toinstant cancellation of a license.

The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis and Cannabis Board is not currently accepting applications for cannabis producer, processor, or retail licenses. This means Washingtons cannabis market is currently closed to newcomers seeking a new license, but it it not closed to those seeking to get into the Washington State cannabis industry by buying outright or by buying into an existing licensed Washington State cannabis business.

Medical Marijuana. InNovember of 1998, Washington voters approved Initiative 692, providing legal immunity to patients using medical marijuana. In 2011, the Washington State Legislature passed SB 5073, allowing patients to possess up to 15 cannabis plants and 24 ounces of usable cannabis. The bill required the Washington State Departments of Health and Agriculture to register and license cannabis dispensaries. However, those provisions and various other provisions relating to dispensaries were vetoed by then-Governor Christine Gregoire. What was left was a semi-legal gray medical marijuana market.

I-502 created a legal recreational cannabis market independent of the existing medical market. This dual channel cannabis system radically changed in 2015 whenthe Washington State Legislature merged Washington States medical and recreational cannabis markets by passing SB 5052andHB 2136. Among other things, these two new laws required both recreational and medical marijuana in Washington State be produced, processed, and sold by licensed cannabis entities.

Today, Washington State retail cannabis stores must obtain a medical marijuana endorsement to sell medical cannabis, though there is no legal distinction between recreational and medical cannabis itself. Instead, the distinction between recreational and medical cannabis is in the eye of the beholder, meaning that if a medical patient who obtains authorization from a health care professional uses cannabis to treat his or her ailment, it is medical.

The amount of medical marijuana a patient can possess depends on whether the patient decides to register with the states medical marijuana database. Medical cannabis patients who register in the medical marijuana database may purchase the following amounts of cannabis, free of sales tax, from a medically endorsed retail store:

  • Three ounces of usable marijuana
  • Forty-eight ounces of marijuana-infused product in ...
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