Well #10....where are the huge commercial grows and the retail stores? And they won't stop them with "black helicopters", they'll simply send them a cease and desist letter...and threaten them with a 40 year federal prison sentence...OH...and offer to seize everything they own.

Why waste money on gas for the helicopters when a postage stamp will do the trick.

Holder hasn't been clear about much, but he has said that it's only the large commercial growers and sellers of pot that they intend to go after. And the LCB will be providing them with that list...along with their fingerprints.

Once more...for those who weren't listening during the I-502 debates...this didn't have to happen! For $6 million dollars we could have actually LEGALIZED cannabis in the state of Washington. But we didn't do that! We didn't even legalize a gram of hash.

If we had unscheduled marijuana under the STATE Controlled Substances Act, we could have stopped the feds. But we didn't do that. It's still an illegal drug under the state law, so we have no way to challenge them. The legislature could still do this....this week...if they had any cajones....which they don't.

Everyone was so excited to get SOMETHING passed, they voted for a terrible bill that did not legalized marijuana in Washington. Apparently you weren't listening to my argument very carefully....and you voted for the piece of c***.

I can't believe the idiots who think we have "legalization" now and are perfectly happy to accept that hash possession will now be a crime. Are you all friggin NUTS? I don't care if YOU go to jail, but I certainly care that a patient with cancer, using Rick Simpson oil to treat it, goes to state prison because he's now using a "concentrate".

And don't keep making the argument that "there are a lot of people with recommendations without any qualifying conditions".....I'll agree with you....and we'll stop that. If we do will you quit trying to throw all of the truly sick patients under the LCB bus? Don't use those who cheat the system to punish the rest of us!!!

I spoke at the march last weekend, but I'm physically not able to walk the march myself, as much as I'd like to be able to do that. You think I'm "faking" my condition too?

Most patients are legitimate....believe it or not. The others will get weeded out. Bottom line? It's not your damn problem and quit using it as an excuse to attack those of us who are legitimate patients!

YOU voted for this SH**....we knew better. We actually READ I-502.

Steve Sarich
Cannabis Action Coalition

Mr. Davis’ comments, as an “un-regulated dispensary” owner himself, is being totally disingenuous. Davis has already said publicly that he plans on opening an LCB licensed retail store. The believes that the current medical cannabis access points would hurt his bottom line once he opens are recreational pot store. Davis is happy to throw the medical cannabis patients of Washington under the bus to make his recreational pot business more profitable. Considering that it's these same patients who are currently responsible for every dime of profit his business makes, his actions seem both greedy and heartless.

No one in the medical cannabis community has ever suggested that we should be unregulated and the Cannabis Action Coalition will push for new regulations in the next session of the legislature that will provide licensing and regulation for medical cannabis access points, without going through the state's liquor cartel.

The LCB has publicly stated numerous times that they consider medical cannabis a direct threat to their plans for high taxation and high pricing. They have every reason in the world to come up with regulations to wipe out medical cannabis in Washington State.

Patients object to the very idea of having the state's liquor distributor controlling their medication in any way whatsoever. The LCB is absolutely unqualified to be making any decisions that would affect cancer patients. What other medications would the legislature like to turn over to the state's liquor distributor?

Tomorrow the LCB will roll out its draft rules for recreational growing and retailing. I suspect that these rules will be totally unworkable, based on the restrictions placed on them by the initiative. They have already stated that they don't believe that they can be competitive with either medical cannabis access points OR the black market due to the excessive 85% excise and sales tax called for in the I-502. That's a recipe for failure. I-502 was only “carefully crafted” to pass, but not to actually be financially successful or deliver on its promises of billions of dollars in state tax revenues, as we’ve already had confirmed by the LCB’s own “expert”.

The voters of Washington State have already determined that cannabis is medicine in Washington. The medical cannabis patients of Washington will accept a tax on their medication when the legislature decides to tax ALL pharmaceutical medications that are prescribed or recommended in Washington. Patients will not accept a tax that specifically targets one segment of the state's financially vulnerable patient population and punishes them for their choice of medication.

There is no reason that medical licensing and regulations cannot be handled separately from recreational marijuana. I have a hard time picturing the sales clerk at the LCB store being capable of actually advising a patient on which strain will work best for their epilepsy. I also can't imagine recreational growers producing high CBD strains, with low THC levels, when the vast majority of recreational users are going to want the highest THC strains they can get. They are clearly two different markets with two entirely different goals.

What's even more dangerous is the very real possibility that the LCB will decide that home-growing and collective gardening will cut into their profits and ban these activities. Patients have been able to legally grow their own medication for the last 16 years. Many live on very limited incomes and have no choice but to grow their own medication or go without medication. They can't even afford the prices charged by the medical access points.

These patients will NOT stop growing, no matter what the LCB mandates, and then you'll have LCB revenuers arresting patients for felony manufacturing for growing their own medicine. Is this what the voters of Washington had in mind when they overwhelmingly passed I-692?

I understand that our perpetually tax-hungry legislators are willing to take any action, no matter how cruel and heartless, toward patients, including arresting them for felonies and jailing them, in order to raise a few more tax dollars. It's time for our legislators to grow a conscience! Ask yourself one question. If you found out tomorrow that your mother had cancer, do you really want to tell her to contact the State Liquor Control Board for her medication?

The rally in Olympia has been temporarily postponed until later this month when the legislators are actually in Olympia. We'll post the new date for the rally as soon as we have a better idea of the legislative schedule. In the meantime, we're encouraging all patients to contact their legislators in their district offices and let them know that they don't want the LCM controlling their medical decisions.

Steve Sarich
Cannabis Action Coalition
206-612-9044