SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — A Spokane jury has decided that Washington’s medical marijuana law should not be interpreted to allow for commercial dispensaries. Jurors on Thursday convicted a man who co-owned one of the city’s first marijuana dispensaries of multiple drug trafficking charges.
Defendant Scott Shupe had argued that a broad interpretation of the law enables dispensaries to supply card-carrying patients, provided they serve just one patient at a time. Prosecutors disagreed, arguing that the law approved by voters in 1998 makes no such provision.
The Spokesman-Review says the case has been closely watched. While voters overwhelmingly decided to allow the medicinal use of marijuana, the ballot measure made no provision for how patients would obtain it, other than to allow them to grow a small amount.
Commercial dispensaries have opened throughout the state. Enforcement has varied by locale.
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Information from: The Spokesman-Review, http://www.spokesman.com
