On a Monday afternoon, Jeremy Kaufman and Ben Reagan usher clients into the back room of their tiny office in Georgetown, to a table with four small pot plants and 12 jars of pot. The jars are attached to a lazy-Susan-like contraption that you spin around to see and smell the samples. Grams cost $10.
There’s a similar place a mile north in Sodo. The SensAble Patient Network keeps a row of fat mason jars behind the counter (inside the jars, the “Lime Green” variety smells like an Otter Pop and the “Mr. Clean” smells like Pine-Sol), where pot ranges from $8 to $12 a gram for the group’s 300 members. And up in Lake City, the Conscious Care Cooperative displays a glass case, chock full of pot.
These outlets are increasingly common. Over the past several months, a bold new generation of medical marijuana dispensaries resembling clinics and offices are proliferating in Seattle—even though they don’t quite square with state law. After years of a below-the-radar movement, medical marijuana activists are essentially daring the law to evolve to keep up with them. And more remarkable, their allies in Olympia and prosecutors in King County are trying to make these dispensaries legit.
But it was not like this even a year ago. These groups are thriving in response to more lenient federal enforcement, gray areas in state law, and an uptick in the number of legal marijuana consumers.
For instance, Kaufman and Reagan’s dispensary, called the Center for Palliative Care (C.P.C.), has racked up 100 clients since opening in September. “We’ve been adding new clients every other day,” Reagan says. “Maybe more during the holidays.” Their specialty: just the right strain of cannabis to treat specific conditions (some pot is better for pain; some helps restore appetite, Kaufman says).
They’re not trying to hide, either. They’re advertising. In The Stranger, the Seattle Weekly, and the Little Nickel, color ads run in every issue for about a dozen of these businesses in Seattle and its suburbs. Other ads promote doctors who authorize medical marijuana use, drivers who deliver pot to your door, and bakers selling “edibles” (the term for pot-infused foods like cookies and butter).
The dispensaries are also multiplying outside liberal Seattle. “We have 54 of them on our list from Washington State,” states the website THClist.com, “and it’s growing every day!” Over at PotLocator.com, a Google map shows you which pot shop is closest to you.
Part of the shift is not just the growing number of dispensaries, a few of which have been around for years, but their unbridled marketing. Niche websites, newspapers, and glossy brochures like Weedlistwa.com display high-resolution photos of the pot in stock so you can compare dispensaries and see which has the best smoke in town.
So what’s creating this boom, particularly while every other local industry seems to be in decline?
Medical marijuana has been legal in Washington State for 12 years, but it was a mostly invisible trade. Unlike California, where dispensaries are legal under state law, Washington’s vague law provides weak legal protections. Even patients with a physician’s authorization who comply with the law can be arrested, because the state only allows a defense in court, so anyone growing or selling medical pot has tried to fly below the radar.
Amid this business boom, those laws remain intact. King County prosecuting attorney Dan Satterberg, who handles all cases for marijuana sales in the county, says, “I think any reading of the present Washington law would not lend support to the model of a dispensary.”
Indeed, the voter-approved Medical Use of Marijuana Act only goes so far, allowing a patient (again, with a doctor’s note) to grow up to 15 plants and possess up to 24 ounces of dried pot. That patient can designate one person as his or her grower or provider. But no provision exists to run a dispensary, as many of them do, for hundreds of clients. (Some argue that patients can designate a dispensary as their care provider for a few minutes during a transaction; Satterberg counters that that interpretation “renders meaningless the language of the statute.”)
“But the problem is that state law does not say how qualifying patients are supposed to get their marijuana,” acknowledges Ian Goodhew, the deputy chief of staff in Satterberg’s office. “It is just leaving them in the lurch.”
In other words, the prosecutors get it. Without dispensaries, truly sick patients who qualify under the law—people with conditions including cancer, HIV, intractable pain, and multiple sclerosis—simply can’t find quick access to marijuana to control pain and nausea. And despite all the flashy ads, the new stores, and the websites, cops aren’t busting these groups and referring cases to prosecutors, Satterberg says.
“We don’t have the law enforcement or the investigative resources to look through the back pages of The Stranger and begin investigations based on advertisements,” Satterberg says.
“As long as the cooperatives are acting in a reasonably professional manner, you’re not seeing law enforcement coming after them,” reckons Philip Dawdy, spokesman for the Washington Cannabis Association (WCA). “They see the law is gray, and they want clarification.”
Meanwhile, Dawdy’s group is helping to establish legal clarity that’s lacking by hiring a lobbyist to push a bill in Olympia. In mid-October, several marijuana outlets ponied up $1,200 to $5,000 each to form the WCA—thereby establishing a bona fide trade association.
A trade association for pot?
It may seem a little premature—considering the trade isn’t quite legal—but the time is right for the state of Washington. On December 10, the state’s Department of Revenue sent a letter to 90 businesses with “marijuana” in their name, stating, “All medical marijuana dispensaries are required to collect and remit retail sales tax.”
In other words, the state recognizes medical marijuana dispensaries as part of the tax base—a de facto legal business.
“You’re seeing the initial maturation of an industry,” explains Dawdy.
Other than the state’s endorsement, the confidence found in the proprietors of these new upstarts—confidence that they’re not going to be busted—seems to stem from economic and political shifts. “Barack Obama is happening,” Dawdy says. Last year, under the new presidential administration, U.S. attorney general Eric Holder directed federal prosecutors to leave alone medical marijuana dispensaries and patients complying with state law. Okay, our law doesn’t allow dispensaries, Dawdy acknowledges, “but we don’t have a state law that doesn’t allow co-ops and dispensaries.”
An alternative theory about the courage to set up shop: More people can legally smoke pot now. In addition to the dispensaries, more doctors are authorizing medical marijuana. “Doctors available Monday–Friday, walk-ins welcome,” says an ad for the Washington State Cannabis Group on Aurora Avenue North. All those new patients “don’t want to go to the black market,” says Cy at the dispensary in Sodo, who declined to give his last name. “We are just filling that demand.”
In a sort of political synergy, the more emboldened activists and entrepreneurs become, the easier it becomes to change the law, says Ben Livingston, a leader of the Cannabis Defense Coalition (which is an advocacy group, not a dispensary). “The increase in the number of people taking the risk comes with more openness, a higher level of comfort, and greater discussion,” he says. But Livingston also explains that the greatest risks for growers and dispensaries are evident: A rash of robberies this month on grow houses and a recent raid from the Seattle Police Department on a patient with only two plants illustrate it’s hardly a risk-free venture.
“Am I worried about getting robbed?” asks Kaufman. “Yes. Am I worried about cops knocking down my door? Yes. But not enough to stop doing what I’m doing. I just understand that until people like me stand up, nothing is going to change.”
And one crowd reluctant to embrace change, for years, has been the state legislature. In the first week of January, Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-36, Queen Anne and Ballard) will introduce a sweeping bill that will, among other things, permit dispensaries, allow cooperative grows, and provide protection from arrest for patients who have a doctor’s authorization.
It may seem like a long shot, but Kohl-Welles has laid groundwork for this bill for years, she says. She pushed through minor tweaks to the state’s medical marijuana law in 2007 and 2010. In her arsenal for January, she believes, will be key law enforcement backing for the bill that includes a voluntary registry of patients (this allows cops to find out if a person is a legal patient before making an arrest or raiding a home, which police and prosecutors have been seeking).
For his part, King County prosecutor Satterberg says he will advocate within the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys—one of Olympia’s more powerful lobbies—to support the bill. “I think it would be better to have them licensed and regulated,” he says.
But if the bill passes or dies, the emboldened Seattle marijuana culture is just ramping up. “I think the visibility is going to continue to increase,” Kohl-Welles says. “The stigmatization of marijuana is being reduced and eventually ending.” 
this may come as a shock to some of my fans , but I see nothing wrong with this. Medical mary jane is fine with me, I just hate filthy hippies . If you can work at your job and pay your bills, and not be a burden on the world go for it. wait till you get home from work ,lock the doors and smoke yer self stupid. just don’t drive afterwards because that would be a crime.
lots of hippies have jobs. Do you hate productive hippies too? Or hygienic hippies?And what is your stance on unemployed non-hippies? Lemme guess, unemployed people should suffer in constructive misery until they find the drive within themselves to get a job, of which there are so many extra nowadays?
well mostly “filthy hippies” un-washed,dreadlocked, sandal wearing ,patchouli smelling , arm pit stinking , begging on the corner, free sample eating hippies. yeah fucking hippies arrrgh! where’s my night stick ! get a job hippie! how do you starve a hippie? hide his food card under the soap .
I hope they just legalize it soon. This whole medical pot “compassion” loophole bullshit makes me sick.
Look, I’m sure it is a useful drug for some symptoms. And I’m all for letting cancer patients, etc. get their stoner hands on some, but give me a break- ANYONE WHO WANTS MED POT CAN GET A CARD. Can you see the simple problem with this? It’s a disgrace to the legalization effort because it’s a bunch of dishonest B.S..
I don’t disagree with #4’s sentiments, however I also don’t see a problem with being “dishonest” to a government that continues to bullshit us with a counterproductive drug policy based on lies told by people who are now all dead. As long as the government at both a state and federal level continues to refuse to even consider legalization it becomes the right of every individual to use whatever resources are available to protect themselves from tyranny.
Dope is Federal, marijuana is a class one drug, a Republican president will turn loose the DEA… the party will be over before sundown.
muahahah fuckin a right !
Props to #5… my thoughts exactly. Get it how you live.
#5 is right on the mark!!!! Goverment is cheeting every day. who are they to prevent anyone the right to use product of nature. Oh thats right MONEY!!!
Hear, hear @article. Merry Xmas Washington. 🙂
reply to razorclammer:
I run a card clinic and here are some facts-
Cannabinoid Therapy (CT, aka Medical Marijuana) is not a “loophole”. It is the state law passed more than 10 years ago directly by the people of WA via the Initiative process.
Almost all of the patients who come to us seeking an authorization are people with serious, often painful, medical conditions.
Not everyone who wants one can get a legitimate card. There may be a few shady operators out there that will write a “lifetime authorization” for almost anything but BUYER BEWARE – these will not likely hold up in court. Our clinic provides only those with bona fide need, as evidenced by their medical records, with an authorization.
Cannabis was once the most prescribed drug in this country. It’s inherent safety and efficacy are well known and documented. It was during the “Reefer Madness” era (circa 1910-1940) that the new word “Marihuana” was introduced and the herb falsely charged with causing insanity and driving users to commit heinousness crimes. Believe it or not this is the original basis of prohibition. Whatever argument you or anyone might have today to support prohibition if you tried to say that “weed makes you rape and kill” you’d be righteously laughed out of town.
Many, if not most, Americans take some sort of pharmaceutical prescription regularly. A good many of these folks would be better served by CT, both from the effectivness and the financial standpoint. Good luck getting the Pharma-Industrial Complex to back sensible drug law reform. No, if cannabis is to be legalized today it will have to come once again from the will of the people via initiative – like the one that SensibleWashington.org is promoting.
Regards,
The Natural Way Wellness Center
tnwwc.com
reply to razorclammer:
I run a card clinic and here are some facts-
Cannabinoid Therapy (CT, aka Medical Marijuana) is not a “loophole”. It is the state law passed more than 10 years ago directly by the people of WA via the Initiative process.
Almost all of the patients who come to us seeking an authorization are people with serious, often painful, medical conditions.
Not everyone who wants one can get a legitimate card. There may be a few shady operators out there that will write a “lifetime authorization” for almost anything but BUYER BEWARE – these will not likely hold up in court. Our clinic provides only those with bona fide need, as evidenced by their medical records, with an authorization.
Cannabis was once the most prescribed drug in this country. It’s inherent safety and efficacy are well known and documented. It was during the “Reefer Madness” era (circa 1910-1940) that the new word “Marihuana” was introduced and the herb falsely charged with causing insanity and driving users to commit heinousness crimes. Believe it or not this is the original basis of prohibition. Whatever argument you or anyone might have today to support prohibition if you tried to say that “weed makes you rape and kill” you’d be righteously laughed out of town.
Many, if not most, Americans take some sort of pharmaceutical prescription regularly. A good many of these folks would be better served by CT, both from the effectivness and the financial standpoint. Good luck getting the Pharma-Industrial Complex to back sensible drug law reform. No, if cannabis is to be legalized today it will have to come once again from the will of the people via initiative – like the one that SensibleWashington.org is promoting.
Regards,
The Natural Way Wellness Center
tnwwc.com
There you go! when the Republicans are back in the White House then all cancer patients using pot for relief will have a choice of jail time or serving in the military in Pakistan or Iran?
I used to volunteer with law enforcement officers on a Meth Task Force, and had to endure Captain Meehan railing on and on about how Medical Marijuana (MMJ) was a farce, and didn’t do anything but “create addicts, and access to a drug lifestyle”. Since his rant, I have ceased to volunteer with that group.
Having had the need for MMJ when I was sick in the hospital and for a year afterward during my recovery, I can tell you first hand that I credit it with a significant part of my survival. Once I was well enough, and had a normal appetite again, I stopped getting my MMJ and don’t feel the need/want for it. There is a need for it, and sadly while there is always the potential for abuse with any prescribed medication, I believe that a legal source is the best method for attaining that which is not already in pill form. (BTW, people who need it can get “Marinol” in pill form, and do not need to smoke the herb for the benefits if they don’t want to. It’s just that you can’t cook with the pills, and you can do so with the herb. I used to melt butter and infuse it with the marijuana to use in baking and roasting chicken, etc.)
Law enforcement is NOT as on board with this as they claim to be.
As far as I have heard in the WSP and Seattle police meetings, they’re all of the mind that it is just a street drug and they have no intention of allowing the sale or use of it for any reason. There’s still a long way to go with changing the attitudes within the law enforcement community, and we’re going to be seeing more and more news about innocent people being victimized by neighbors and law enforcement who perceive this “MEDICATION” as merely a way to get high.
This is going to take community involvement, including providing them with indisputable documentation and studies that prove otherwise. Changing an uninformed and out of date perception is not an easy task, but I believe it is a necessary and worthwhile task.
Legalize, Tax, educate the public, and treat problem users.
It’s cheaper, easier, respects individual liberty more, and hurts every criminal operation that uses drugs as a revenue source.
Duh.
@6, 13: Whatever the DEA thinks (actually, is required by law to think – the provision in the US Code establishing the DEA requires them to fight any attempt to legalize drugs they have banned), they have no jurisdiction over growers that serve a local clientele. Federal jurisdiction over just about anything requires use of the interstate commerce loophole (perhaps one of the few pro-enforcement loopholes in our law?); one could theoretically set up a “Whites Only” restaurant if all of it’s supplies were coming from producers (distributors doesn’t cut it, has to go out to at least second-removed sources) within the state, and the state itself didn’t have any civil rights legislation.
The LA dispensery raids, for example, were the result of LA County Sheriff’s Department extending an invitation to the DEA to help in an investigation under county law, not federal law.
This was done on purpose by our constitution’s framers: they envisioned a country of hippie states and racist states and commie states and Laissez-faire states and theocratic states and enlightened socialist-economy social-libertarian secular humanist states (well, slave-legal and slave-illegal at any rate) cooperating in a glorious union in order to back each other’s rights to be socialist or racist or stoned or whatever from foreign aggression and to economically support each other, kind of like an enlightened Holy Roman Empire or NATO+EU. This puts both parties in a somewhat awkward spot: Republicans (as a party; individual Republicans who object to this should look at their party’s legislative and executive records and consider a switch) want to mandate religion and strengthen the police/security state at the federal level while arguing against federal-level economic regulation (ironically the one point that the constitution explicitly allows the federal system to regulate), pollution controls, and civil rights for people who aren’t straight White rich men. Democrats generally want the opposite, though they too have been pretty gung-ho about sacrificing civil liberties and privacy in the interest of illusory security measures to protect us from “terrorists”. All of this (whether one thinks the policies are good or bad, and whether one thinks they SHOULD need to depend on it or not) is dependent on the commerce clause, which allows the federal government, which is otherwise barred from operating outside of its explicitly-defined constitutional roles by the Tenth Amendment, to regulate interstate commerce. There were some short-sighted Supreme Court decisions that allowed an almost unlimitedly-broad interpretation of the commerce clause, giving us things like federal civil rights laws, drug laws, pornography laws, DOMA, educational standards, etc.
Unfortunately, at this point, most Supreme Court justices are politically polarized to the point where they make decisions based on non-legal ideologies and then seek constitutional rationalizations as opposed to actually and directly consulting the constitution to form their opinions. They also like to intuit what the founders would have thought about unpredictable situation X, as opposed to ruling based on the law-as-written (even if it’s obviously broken), which makes it all the harder to actually fix the problems with the constitution, as they’re masked by two centuries of judicial activism from both the left and right.
Anyhoo, a Republican president shouldn’t make much of a difference, especially since (despite than the DEA directive specified above, which is essentially just a recognition of clear jurisdiction limits anyway, and not particularly radical) the Obama administration has adopted a hardline approach to drug law enforcement (at least partially in response to the drug-trafficking violence along the Mexico border).
@15 a better education would be to educate the police that they don’t set drug policy. The people and legislature do. What is the SPD and KCPD going to do if the legislature or an initiative legalizes it? Quit? Please. They’ll get in line and enforce local and state law as directed by their superiors, which is their mandate.
@17- If it is possible that a client might come from one state to another, then the interstate commerce clause applies.
@4 The medical angle is even more absurd when you consider how much of this “medicine” is being smoked. Not too many physicans worth their degrees would recommend smoking a plant to a seriously ill patient. Healthy stoners? Go for it. Chemotherapy? Try some other route, like edibles.
Most medical cannabis users don’t smoke, and most dispensaries offer tinctures and capsules apart from the old time “pot brownie” type confection. Vaporization and active oral dosing is the rule rather than the exception in the medical cannabis community. Doobies aren’t very common anymore aside from with old school stoners (read: non-med users).. Experience and education trump prejudice and assumptions every time.
It sounds like a bunch of people saying, ‘Well, we’re _almost_ in California….’
What I find difficult is that most of these places who ask for “donations” are compared to the actual prices of the black-market. If you bring this up to any dispensaries who charge anywhere 10$ per gram to 250-280$ per ounce they just say “…thats the going rate…”. In my personal opinion it’s not right for the “legal-guys” to charge the same or very similar to the non-legal-guys. So again in my personal opinion the prices need to be slashed, severely slashed and brought so low that the black-market prices disappear which will force the illegal growers out of the market place. We need cheaper medical grade pot so that patients are not paying black-market prices that are overwhelming to their pocket book. I read a book called “Hemp Today” many years ago and it covers this idea and if my memory serves me correct, the 4$ gram should be sufficient and affordable for most.
I think it should be legal AND delivered to your house with snacks!
I wouldn’t personally trust or visit any dispensary up here. Most have completely unethical practices (i.e. keeping just the legal amount in the building, but in their trunk is six pounds of pot. When they run low, they run to the trunk get the “legal” amount, just barley staying within the law putting the patient inside at risk waiting for medication). ALSO, If you’re paying more than $10 a gram- they are ripping you off.
Please believe Washington is no where close to Cali. There are more dispensaries in LA than Starbucks. You order online, and they deliver it to your doorstep. There is list that is registered with the state for all MM patients that these dispensaries can check to make sure you are an actual patient. (When you place your order, they check this, then when they come to your door they check your card, and paperwork. Most will make little copies to keep if you want to reorder from them to avoid the check every time).
Up here the doctors are also trying to rip you off saying you have to annually repay for your MM authorization. The doctors are typically psychiatrists, and not GP who are looking to make extra cash. It’s just run so shady here.
#21… you are wrong.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/200…
More and more reports are coming out that smoing MMJ is not cancer causing what so ever. In fact, those that have smoked much MJ are less likely to get throat or lung cancer. Fact…THC has been show to stop and even kill cancerous cell growth.
Fact: Pharm companies don’t like it because you can not patent a plant.
#24 – try growing some yourself. When people drop $$$ into the setup and power…they can’t give it away.
It’s sad but plants can be patented. Fruit, vegetable and flower growers patent their plants and seeds all of the time. It’s crafy that companies think they are so powerful that they can claim ownership of mother nature. Wow I just read the story and all of the comments everyone posted. There is a lot of smart people out there, trying to hash out the benefits of just legalizing marijuana. There are so many things to gain. Any downside to legalizing marijuana is probably already present. Because marijuana is illegal it is sold under the radar on the black market along with lots of other drugs. Because there was no legal way for people to get mmj when I was in high school you had to go to a drug dealer, drug dealers sell more than just weed usually. So I was exposed to a whole hell of a lot more than I should have been just to get a little mmj. MMJ should not be legal for kids, set it up much like alcohol. If MMJ was set up like alcohol the most a teen would be exposed to is asking there buddy with the fake i.d. or their uncle to get it for them. The same goes for adults. We shouldn’t have to consort with criminals just to get some herb. Thank you everyone for your hard work and dedication to making sensible laws in Washington State
I used to smoke when I was a teenager, and it was the cool thing to do, but I grew out of that phase.
Then, years later, I got stage IV Esophageal Cancer, and went from 200lbs, to 140lbs in about 2 months.
I could not eat.
Yeah, I sat with a few other guys that said, I hurt my ankle, or my whatever.
I don’t friggin care.
I’m now a happy customer to the CPC, and don’t see me going anywhere else.
I still don’t use it everyday or anything.
But I’m starting to gain my normal weight back, and I’m glad WA voters passed this so many years ago.
You can lie to your DR and get pain pills if you want too, nobody really cares about that either.
Thanks for helping save my life Ben (CPC)
See you soon.
~ Mark
I used to smoke when I was a teenager, and it was the cool thing to do, but I grew out of that phase.
Then, years later, I got stage IV Esophageal Cancer, and went from 200lbs, to 140lbs in about 2 months.
I could not eat.
Yeah, I sat with a few other guys that said, I hurt my ankle, or my whatever.
I don’t friggin care.
I’m now a happy customer to the CPC, and don’t see me going anywhere else.
I still don’t use it everyday or anything.
But I’m starting to gain my normal weight back, and I’m glad WA voters passed this so many years ago.
You can lie to your DR and get pain pills if you want too, nobody really cares about that either.
Thanks for helping save my life Ben (CPC)
See you soon.
~ Mark