After the landslide victory for legal pot last November, opponents of Initiative 502—led by a handful of vocal medical-cannabis industry insiders—toned down their fiery rhetoric. Even Hempfest, which last year had the dubious honor of being the largest antilegalization rally in the world, has dubbed this the year of healing within the movement.
So it surprised me to see protests against cannabis dispensaries that are run by people who supported legalization, such as the Northwest Patient Resource Center (NWPRC), which is co-owned by John Davis.
“I’m protesting John Davis because I think he is bringing Mexican cartels into it,” claimed Kirk Ludden, a pot patient and sponsor of Initiative 586, the so-called cannabis patient protection act, which would clarify legal definitions for medical marijuana.
When Ludden led a protest outside NWPRC’s downtown location, co-owners Jake Dimmock and Daniela Bernhard met with the protesters for half an hour before—seriously—buying Ludden a sandwich at the corner deli. Ludden, satisfied that the dispensary was “for the patients,” canceled a follow-up protest at NWPRC’s West Seattle location. (There is zero indication NWPRC or Davis would have any affiliation with cartels, as Ludden suggests.)
But Ludden won’t quit.
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