In addition to a slate of candidates for local offices, it’s likely that Washington voters this fall will decide two citizen initiatives. One, sponsored by Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen, would ban trafficking of endangered species and their parts. The other, from initiative king Tim Eyman, deals with his favorite subject: taxes.
What voters won’t see on the ballot is Referendum 76, which would have overturned Washington’s new medical marijuana law. The proponents notified the secretary of state’s office this week that they wouldn’t be submitting signatures to get it on the ballot. That clears the way for the law to go into effect Friday.
No choice is a good thing in this case. The new law needs time to work.
Medical marijuana use in Washington was legalized in 1998. But it was poorly organized and regulated. Despite an estimated 150,000 medical marijuana users in the state, there was no patient registry. There wasn’t even a complete list of providers who issued medical marijuana cards. There was no way to get a business license to grow pot, so patients either grew it themselves or had someone grow it for them in unregulated collective gardens.
Of course that Wild West system clashed with buttoned-down Initiative 502, Washington’s recreational marijuana law, approved by voters in 2012 and implemented last year. I-502 requires marijuana businesses to have licenses, keep records and pay taxes. So the Legislature waded in to attempt to reconcile the two systems. In the Senate, the key player was Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center.
The result was Senate Bill 5052. It makes it tougher to obtain a medical marijuana card, requiring the patient to have an ongoing relationship with the prescribing health care provider. It creates a database of medical marijuana users for the first time. Patients can opt out of the database, but by doing so will not be able to possess as much marijuana, nor will they be able to get some tax breaks afforded to those in the registry. It eliminates growing marijuana in untaxed collective gardens, but continues to allow up to four patients to grow plants for each other.
The new law wasn’t without controversy. During debate in the House, Rep. Liz Pike, R-Camas, denounced the idea of a patient registry on the grounds the federal government might use it to prosecute users. Even Rivers acknowledged the law wasn’t perfect, and will likely be back before the 2016 Legislature for amendments.
Of course, trying to force structure on a 16-year-old industry is like trying to force bedtime on a 16-year-old high-schooler. The industry quickly rebelled and tried to organize a referendum in hopes that voters would repeal the law.
“It’s a matter of survival,” argued Paul Stanford, who heads a pro-cannabis group that claims to have authorized more medical marijuana patients in Washington than anybody else. Stanford and other opponents of Senate Bill 502 argued that crimping the medical marijuana industry will force patients to the black market.
But here’s the thing: The old system was so unregulated and informal, there’s no data to support that argument. And SB 5052 doesn’t do away with medical marijuana. Instead, it sets up a framework where it can continue to serve patients, even as the general population of adults can choose to purchase marijuana for recreational use.
The new law is a good effort. It should be tried before it is modified or repealed.
