Medical marijuana is finally getting its day in the sun. It has been largely ignored since voters passed Initiative 502, legalizing recreational marijuana in Washington.
As the state Legislature considers Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles’ (D-36th District) draft bill to fold medical marijuana into its new recreational marijuana system and another bill to have two separate systems, pro-marijuana City Attorney Pete Holmes wrote a 20-page memo to legislators outlining policies regarding the legality of medical marijuana — which isn’t legal.
The current laws don’t allow for homegrown operations, and medical marijuana shops can’t obtain business licenses. Commercial providers, which aren’t trained to do so, can’t dispense information about their products to patients needing the medical benefits of marijuana, nor can they sell the products patients prefer. And medical-marijuana research isn’t required.
While the merits of recreational marijuana can be debated, those lacking access to medical marijuana will continue to suffer. Legislation for the entire marijuana industry can’t come soon enough.