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Recreational cannabis legalization in Washington State is a connoisseur’s dream. Prices have leveled out and become affordable and consistent. The quality and variety of cannabis products remains high and much better than the black market. There’s one luxury of legal cannabis that non-patient Washington State residents have not yet been able to partake in, however. That unobtained luxury is growing your own cannabis for recreational purposes.

Legislators in Washington are in the process of deciding whether or not to allow at-home cultivation in our state. After months of anticipation, the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) released a 15-page report regarding the feasibility of legal “marijuana home grows” in Washington State. The report is based on input from a number of sources, including other states, law enforcement and the general public’s feedback.

The LCB’s report came up with three viable options for at-home cannabis home cultivation. The three options are as follows:

  1. The state would create and enforce a uniform system for “tightly regulated recreational home grows.”
  2. The state would have some basic, tight regulatory guidelines for cannabis home grows, but cities and counties would have the ultimate say on whether or not to allow it, and some of the conditions.
  3. The state would continue the prohibition of homegrown cannabis.

Both options one and two would require that all plants grown must be registered with Washington State’s inventory system. These options, all of which would require intense regulation, dashed the hopes of cannabis enthusiasts who were hoping to grow a few low-key, off-the-grid plants without having to inform the government. Unfortunately for those individuals, cultivating cannabis at home in Washington State will likely face intense regulations, if at-home cultivation is allowed at all.

CULTURE reached out to Brian Smith, communications director at the LCB, about how the agency came to its conclusions for the report. “The main thing is that, per the law, the recommendations must be consistent with the Cole Memo. Several options were considered but to remain aligned with the Cole Memo requires a level of oversight and limited plants,” Smith wrote in an email to CULTURE. “We talked with other states, cities and counties, law enforcement, the prevention community and held a public hearing. In the end, we proposed the three options framed by the considerations we included with each.”

The recommendations were made this way because the LCB believes it will be the best approach in deterring cannabis from entering into the black market. “Each state has a different system. The common theme was that if Washington was to allow recreational home grows, to start conservative. We heard that having home grows creates the potential for diversion to the illicit market,” Smith concluded.

While the report may have been published, actual legislation pushing legal home-grows forward may be a ways off.  In this political climate, it makes sense that lawmakers might be apprehensive about pushing through new laws that loosen existing restrictions on cannabis. Still, Colorado, Oregon, California and residents of many other states that have legalized recreational cannabis get to enjoy the right to grow their own cannabis. For many Washingtonians, this slow, tedious process is a bitter pill to swallow.

 

 

 

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