The Emerald City

Seattle and Hempfest have been ground zero in our MMJ history

Understanding the history of Washington’s MMJ movement means recognizing the power of public forums and community education. Seattle Hempfest, the largest “pro-testival” as it is referred today, began humbly in 1991 as the “Washington State EXPO” in beautiful Volunteer Park situated in the Capital Hill neighborhood. Originally attended by 500 people, 20 volunteers with the Seattle Peace Heathens Community Action Group made history setting the stage—quite literally—for cannabis activism in the Pacific Northwest. By 1995, the annual event had moved to Seattle’s pristine Puget Sound waterfront where it resides today. Myrtle Edwards Park allowed Hempfest’s core group of organizers to increase the amount of stages, attracting national music acts and internationally renowned speakers and accommodating 15,000 people who attended that year.

Hempfest provided a forum for public debate and discussion regarding the prohibition of the cannabis. This allowed campaign organizers to affect regional public perception and created a strong signature-gathering environment for Initiative 692, or the Medical Use of Marijuana Act, adopted into law in November 1998. The initiative allowed an affirmative action defense to be established for qualified MMJ patients suffering from a list of debilitating conditions, should they be charged with possessing or growing small amounts of cannabis for medical purposes.

Lifevine Clinical Resources was established in 1999 by MMJ patient Martin Martinez as a not-for-profit network of qualified patients working together to grow and provide safe access to the members of their network. Patients who joined their network received identification cards adding additional legitimacy when dealing with law enforcement officers and legal support for those patients busted for possession or growing—in essence, creating a nonprofit model for what would eventually help shape today’s standards for collective gardens and patient cooperatives in the Pacific Northwest. Lifevine’s network of collective patients still exists today in Seattle.

Around this same time, Dr. Gregory Carter, a rehabilitation medicine specialist who works at Providence Hospital in Olympia and Centralia was beginning to write recommendations for his patients to use marijuana as medicine. When I-692 passed, Dr. Carter began collecting data on patients suffering from the symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)—also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease—and their reaction to cannabis remedies. In 2001, he published a seminal paper with all of his findings sparking new peer-reviewed studies into cannabis’s potential use in neurodegenerative diseases.

Carter was one of the first physicians in Washington State to write MMJ recommendations for his patients, at a great risk of federal prosecution. It wasn’t until a 2002 federal Appeals Court ruling in Conant vs. Walters that signaled doctors could recommended cannabis to their patients without reprisal.

Initiative 694 remained unchanged until 2007, which was all well and good for those working and building businesses in the Pacific Northwest. The ambiguous language of the initiative allowed legal experts to find enough loopholes to open non-profit access points. During this time, several “patient resource centers” had opened in the greater Seattle area and some were attempting to open in the small surrounding townships, such as Issaquah, Kirkland, Kent and Renton. Delivery services were advertised in social media spheres and several consultants began establishing themselves as liaisons between growers, processors and patients.

The 2007 amendments intended to clarify the language of the law by establishing conditions for designated providers, setting better perimeters for local law enforcement and offering more security for medical professionals.

In 2010, Governor Christine Gregoire signed SB 5798 into law. Sponsored by State Rep. Jeannie Kohl-Wells, the bill expanded the list of medical practitioners able to write MMJ recommendations to include naturopaths, physician’s assistants, osteopathic physicians, their assistants and advanced registered nurse practitioners. This allowed residents in remote areas who only see nurse practitioners, and low-income patients ease in obtaining their recommendations annually at less cost.

As more businesses opened throughout the area, the need for more clarity increased. By 2011, more than 50 access points had opened in the area and more than 30 delivery services allowed patients to enjoy safe access to medicine in the comfort of their homes. The first Cannabis Farmers Markets had opened in Tacoma and Seattle allowing for grower-to-patient relationships. SB 5073, another bill sponsored by Jeannie Kohl-Welles, would have allowed state agencies to issue licenses to dispensaries and regulate the industry.

Just before the bill was set to be signed, then-Gov. Christine Gregoire—threatened by the federal government—vetoed the parts of the bill defining dispensary regulations and quashed a loop-hole that allowed access points.

Essentially, this would have shut down access points in Seattle, but luckily King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg and Seattle officials came up with a model they believe works with the new language of the law: collective gardens.

In this model, business owners would establish commercial space to grow medicine for a group of qualified member patients associated with the garden. The new system tracks the medicine from plant to finished product. So far, most access points have opted for the collective garden model.

Throughout this entangled history, Seattle Hempfest remains a place for politicians and advocates to come together . . . and continue writing our rich green history.