Mixed Messages

 New draft rules for adult-use retail establishments were published recently and have created a contradiction with the legalities of the sales of concentrates in cannabis retail establishments in Washington State. Due to the large amount of feedback provided by the public to ban hash and other forms of concentrates, the rules exclude the language necessary to allow these products to be sold in retail establishments.

Patients (and adult users) take note: This decision could keep concentrates in medical storefronts and retail sales in the black market.

“Hash will not be allowed for sale at the retail stores,” attorney Henry Wykowski wrote in an email newsletter a few weeks ago. “According to the draft rules WAC 314-55-079, ‘marijuana extracts, such as, hash, hash oil, shatter and wax can be infused in products sold in a marijuana retail store, but RCW 69.50.354 does not allow the sale of extracts that are not infused in products. A marijuana extract does not meet the definition of a marijuana-infused product per RCW 69.50.101.”

If you’re setting up to be a retail outlet, this means that sales of concentrates are permitted as long as they are a medible or a tincture—the concentrate is infused info the food item or product itself. So, you can buy something with hash oil . . . but you can’t buy hash oil by itself?

But remember, patients, this proposed, no-concentrates rule applies to the retail side of the coin—not MMJ.

Hash and concentrates are permitted in collective gardens and access points, so not allowing sales in the retail establishment, the argument goes, effectively leaves concentrates and hash wide open in the very black market the law seeks to abolish.

The reasoning behind the new language in the rules is unclear as the Washington State Liquor Board has stated they have no opinion on concentrates being sold in retail establishments, but are concerned with working within the exact letter of the law. Attorney General Bob Ferguson did not respond to CULTURE’s request for clarification regarding this legally thorny issue. However, the Washington State Liquor Control Board announced that it would be revising the draft rules to reflect a uniform definition for usable cannabis in light of the fact that it has received hundreds of complaints from local residents.

The new rules will be published on July 3. 

Letter of the Law

Legal heads who want to read it for themselves, take note regarding Washington’s rules on Retail Outlet Licenses: The “Retail sale of useable marijuana and marijuana-infused products in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 3, Laws of 2013 and the rules adopted to implement and enforce it, by a validly licensed marijuana retailer or retail outlet employee, shall not be a criminal or civil offense under Washington state law.” In other words, “marijuana” and “marijuana-infused products” will be legal for adult use for folks 21 and older. And the state’s Uniform Controlled Substance Act defines “marijuana” as “all parts of the plant Cannabis”  and “the seeds thereof; the resin extracted from any part of the plant; and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of the plant, its seeds or resin.”

So hash and concentrates are legal according to state law . . . and illegal according to a proposed state ban possibly coming down the pipeline.