Washington State Attorney General Challenges Local Bans

While observers in states where cannabis is
still illegal, even for medical use, may follow developments in Colorado and
Washington State a bit enviously, all is not entirely copacetic. For
Washington, residents are still seeing a struggle to implement rules around
this new market.

Washington State, which kicked off its
recreational market in July and whose legal industry for recreational sales is
barely a month old, has some murky definitions of how municipalities can
determine recreational rules.

That is the position at any rate of the
state’s attorney general who is currently planning to get involved at the legal
end of the debate.  He has now asked the
courts in the state if his office may join existing lawsuits challenging two
citywide recreational bans.

The reasoning of state Attorney General Bob
Ferguson is as follows:  He does not
oppose the right of two cities to ban cannabis businesses as the cities of
Wentachee and Fife have already done, but he does oppose how they go about
doing so and their reasoning.  The cities
have based the reasoning for their ban on the fact that cannabis is still
federally illegal.

If permitted to join the suit, Ferguson wants
to make a statement requiring the municipalities ban sales under the guise of
the state, rather than federal law. 
I-502, Washington’s recreational initiative passed by voters at the end
of 2012, allows for local bans.  With
that said, there are already legal eagles in the state who are worried that a
decision in this kind of lawsuit with Ferguson’s involvement may somehow weaken
the progress made toward the state law.

The market here, which has gotten off to a
high profile start, is also not without its share of other glitches including
complaints about the lottery system and a widely reported shortage of product
in stores open to date. However, with the right focus in necessary directions, the
visible pros and cons of Washington’s cannabis regulations are sure to balance
out in the coming months.