Jacob Bell
New Member
TACOMA, Wash. - Medical marijuana dispensaries would become legal under a bill approved this week by a committee in the Washington legislature. Proponents say the dispensaries are already operating underground. This bill would allow them to go legit. Here's the twist: law enforcement critics of medical marijuana are not standing in the way.
Lauren Walker is a member of the Tacoma City Council, she's not the kind of person you would expect to be buying marijuana. But she became that kind of person after doctors diagnosed her husband Marcus Walker with Stage IV melanoma.
Lauren Walker: "He was experiencing loss of appetite, and a lot of nausea, and even though there were medications that would help with the nausea, it really wasn't working. So people had recommended medical marijuana and he was interested to see what it would be like to try it."
The Walkers didn't know the first thing about growing pot. So they found their way to a medical marijuana dispensary.
Lauren Walker: "It was hysterical actually. We went in and the waiting room was not professional at all. For maybe people that are more in the know about what dispensaries are like, maybe that is what they would expect. But for two professional people it was off-setting."
Medical marijuana dispensaries are technically illegal in Washington, but police rarely target them. The Walkers had not only entered an aromatic office space but also a vague area of the law.
Lauren Walker: "It was almost like McDonald's in a sense, where there was a light-up board with all of the offerings, kind of a saloon bar with stools and people behind. And so when we left, we made our donation and got into the car and just broke out laughing about how odd of an experience it was. We called it a speak-easy."
She's right. The medical dispensary Walker visited, called Tacoma Cross, looks like a bar. But instead of bartenders who pull taps and mix drinks, this marijuana dispensary has budtenders. They dispense pot in Ziploc bags. And instead of paying their tab, Tacoma Cross clients are asked to make a donation.
Why a donation?
James Lucas: "Because in the state you're not allowed to buy or sell marijuana."
James Lucas is the owner of Tacoma Cross. He says that his dispensary should have legal protections. Even though, it's not a licensed business, he still pays taxes.
James Lucas: "We should have the same rights as any other company that does the same. A guy down at a pharmacy down the road doesn't have the same worries that I do at night, so it makes a big difference."
A bill in the Washington legislature would license dispensaries like Tacoma Cross. It's sponsored by a former police officer and a Republican state senator, Jerome Delvin.
Jerome Delvin: "The current system, most of it, for lack of a better term is underground, and I think this sheds some light on it, brings it out in to the open, and so with regulating dispensaries, I think that gives a set of regulatory framework everyone can go by."
Washington's prosecuting attorneys have been wary of legalizing medical marijuana dispensaries. But King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg believes that it's time for the legislature to clarify the law.
Dan Satterberg: "I think dispensaries are here to stay, I mean and we have really the options: we can either ignore them and let them operate, we can change the law to make it clear that they should operate and then we can zone them into areas where they won't be around children and schools, or we can raid them with police and prosecute them in ways that I think don't have a lot of public support."
This bill would make that last option less likely. Beyond dispensaries, the bill has other provisions including a voluntary registry of medical marijuana patients.
If the bill does make it through the house and senate, Washington would join California in allowing dispensaries. But in November, Oregon voters rejected the idea.
News Hawk- GuitarMan313 420 MAGAZINE
Source: npr.org
Author: Brianna Butterfield
Contact: Help Center
Copyright: NPR
Website: Bill Would Legalize Wash. Medical Marijuana Dispensaries
Lauren Walker is a member of the Tacoma City Council, she's not the kind of person you would expect to be buying marijuana. But she became that kind of person after doctors diagnosed her husband Marcus Walker with Stage IV melanoma.
Lauren Walker: "He was experiencing loss of appetite, and a lot of nausea, and even though there were medications that would help with the nausea, it really wasn't working. So people had recommended medical marijuana and he was interested to see what it would be like to try it."
The Walkers didn't know the first thing about growing pot. So they found their way to a medical marijuana dispensary.
Lauren Walker: "It was hysterical actually. We went in and the waiting room was not professional at all. For maybe people that are more in the know about what dispensaries are like, maybe that is what they would expect. But for two professional people it was off-setting."
Medical marijuana dispensaries are technically illegal in Washington, but police rarely target them. The Walkers had not only entered an aromatic office space but also a vague area of the law.
Lauren Walker: "It was almost like McDonald's in a sense, where there was a light-up board with all of the offerings, kind of a saloon bar with stools and people behind. And so when we left, we made our donation and got into the car and just broke out laughing about how odd of an experience it was. We called it a speak-easy."
She's right. The medical dispensary Walker visited, called Tacoma Cross, looks like a bar. But instead of bartenders who pull taps and mix drinks, this marijuana dispensary has budtenders. They dispense pot in Ziploc bags. And instead of paying their tab, Tacoma Cross clients are asked to make a donation.
Why a donation?
James Lucas: "Because in the state you're not allowed to buy or sell marijuana."
James Lucas is the owner of Tacoma Cross. He says that his dispensary should have legal protections. Even though, it's not a licensed business, he still pays taxes.
James Lucas: "We should have the same rights as any other company that does the same. A guy down at a pharmacy down the road doesn't have the same worries that I do at night, so it makes a big difference."
A bill in the Washington legislature would license dispensaries like Tacoma Cross. It's sponsored by a former police officer and a Republican state senator, Jerome Delvin.
Jerome Delvin: "The current system, most of it, for lack of a better term is underground, and I think this sheds some light on it, brings it out in to the open, and so with regulating dispensaries, I think that gives a set of regulatory framework everyone can go by."
Washington's prosecuting attorneys have been wary of legalizing medical marijuana dispensaries. But King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg believes that it's time for the legislature to clarify the law.
Dan Satterberg: "I think dispensaries are here to stay, I mean and we have really the options: we can either ignore them and let them operate, we can change the law to make it clear that they should operate and then we can zone them into areas where they won't be around children and schools, or we can raid them with police and prosecute them in ways that I think don't have a lot of public support."
This bill would make that last option less likely. Beyond dispensaries, the bill has other provisions including a voluntary registry of medical marijuana patients.
If the bill does make it through the house and senate, Washington would join California in allowing dispensaries. But in November, Oregon voters rejected the idea.
News Hawk- GuitarMan313 420 MAGAZINE
Source: npr.org
Author: Brianna Butterfield
Contact: Help Center
Copyright: NPR
Website: Bill Would Legalize Wash. Medical Marijuana Dispensaries
