The first marijuana retail store in Tacoma opened with much fanfare last week complete with mayoral speeches, media crews and lines of people seeking pot and cannabis-related products.
It was a long time in the making, since Washington voters approved Initiative 502 to legalize marijuana retail sales back in 2012. The Liquor Control Board set up taxing, licensing and control processes, while Tacoma tackled zoning and security guidelines associated with the issuance of business licenses.
The first day of operations at Rainier on Pine passed without incident, other than cash registers ringing up sale after sale after sale of marijuana in all its forms.
While other cities and local governments – namely Pierce County, Fife, Edgewood, Milton, Lakewood and Gig Harbor – have either banned or tightly restricted retail marijuana operations, Tacoma opted to honor the will of the voters by providing a framework for shops to operate. But with the turning of the open sign at the door, work remains to clear the cloud of legal smoke surrounding marijuana sales in Washington.
Among the issues still to be worked out is public education of what is considered drugged driving when a driver gets behind the wheel of a car after toking up a fatty or noshing on a pot-laced brownie, and what sort of labeling surrounding dosage and strength will be required on food products crafted with marijuana. Maybe the future will bring pot-beer or marijuana pizza or even cannabis corn chips. But the future could also bring up issues of food safety and unintentional drugging by accidental eating of products.
The state-regulated system is only expected to capture about 15 to 20 percent of the marijuana market, with the rest going to backroom grow-and-sale operations, which will offer lower prices at the cost of state coffers since they would not be taxed. Much like cigarettes or alcohol, legal marijuana sales come with heavy taxes and regulations. So the question remains regarding the level of enforcement there will be to thwart illegal sales as a way to boost sales in licensed operations as a way to increase the tax revenue that comes with it. State officials know they are leaving a lot of money on the table by looking the other way when it comes to untaxed, street-level pot sales. One would suspect that a handful of illegal grow operations will be raided before the end of the year to highlight the risks of buying pot from a guy on the street corner rather than through a licensed shop in much the same way law enforcement agents sporadically raid shops that sell untaxed cigarettes and alcohol.
And then there is the issue of marijuana being legal to buy, sell and smoke within the state but regarded as a dangerous drug in the eyes of the federal government. A handful of lawsuits around the state that are working their way to courtrooms will likely solve some of these issues, but the debate is not yet over. The legalization of marijuana is far from settled.