New cannabis regulatory system to take affect July 1

Gazette intern reporter

Actions taken in advance by state agencies, local government, law enforcement and prosecutors will help ease the incorporation of the unregulated medical marijuana market with the closely regulated recreational system on July 1. The deadline was ordered by the 2015 Cannabis Patient Protection Act.

State officials, including representatives from the state Department of Health, the state Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB), the state departments of revenue, agriculture and financial institutions as well as the state Attorney General's Office, state treasurer and the Washington State Patrol, have been meeting to communicate and prepare for the change in legislation and to coordinate plans prior to July 1.

“This is just the first step in tying everything together and ensuring these retail shops are regulated,” said Brian Smith of the Liquor and Cannabis Control Board.

Different state departments have already been playing different roles in regulating medical and recreational marijuana, but each department has its own specific duty. The department of health has been directed to implement a standard form that healthcare practitioners must use when authorizing the medical use of marijuana, adopt rules setting higher quality assurance standards for products that may be beneficial to patients, establish a process to certify medical marijuana consultants and approve training programs, as well as create a voluntary medical marijuana authorization database, according to a press release from the WSLCB.

“The department's first priority is ensuring patients have access to accurately labeled and tested products in the new regulated system,” said Kristi Weeks, review officer for the policy counsel of the Department of Health. “We also want to ensure that patients are served in stores with labeled products of a higher standard, so they feel more comfortable and safe with the product they are purchasing.”

After the July 1 deadline, qualified medical patients may access marijuana by growing a limited number of plants at home, join a four-member cooperative to share in the growing and cultivating of their allowed number of marijuana plants or to purchase products from a state-licensed retail store.

Besides the DOH, the WSLCB has been designated to create regulations that integrate a more tightly regulated marketplace for medical cannabis with the existing recreational marketplace. They have also been chosen to establish a priority-based system in licensing other retail applicants, according to the press release.

The WSLCB was made the chief state regulator of marijuana in 2012 and has since been crafting rules to make the system more regulated, according to Smith. As of last week, there are currently 378 licensed retail stores in Washington, with 82 percent of them having requested to receive a medical endorsement. The endorsement would allow the stores to sell products that have been approved as medical grade. Employees of the stores must pass a course created by the Department of Health.