“Specifically, the Board of Clark County Commissioners wants to know whether that would also be true if county employees are asked to knowingly zone, review, permit and inspect facilities for producing, processing, transporting and delivering medical cannabis. Would the Board of Clark County Commissioners or county employees be immune from arrest and liability when, in the course of their jobs, they do work related to zoning, review of permits and inspections of these facilities?”
In a response from Joseph T. Rannazzisi, deputy assistant administrator of the Office of Diversion Control, the answer was clear: “Anyone who knowingly carries out the marijuana activities contemplated by Washington state law, as well as anyone who facilitates such activities, or conspires to commit such violations, is subject to criminal prosecution as provided in the CSA. That same conclusion would apply with equal force to the proposed activities of the Board of Clark County Commissioners and Clark County employees.”
“Such persons may also be subject to money laundering statutes,” Rannazzisi added.
Gov. Chris Gregoire vetoed many other sections of a legislative bill that was meant to provide a structure to regulate and license the use, distribution and processing of medical marijuana. The governor left it up to local governments to establish those guidelines.
In 1998, state voters approved Initiative 692, which decriminalized the limited use of medical marijuana for patients suffering from a terminal or debilitating illness. The law was expanded in 2007 to include the definition of diseases and conditions for which marijuana could be prescribed.
No date has been set for commissioners to expand the moratorium.