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Inslee Encouraged by PotTalk With AG Holder

By Bob Young, Seattle Times Staff Reporter
Source: Seattle Times

cannabis Washington State -- Gov. Jay Inslee said his conversation with Attorney General Eric Holder was “very satisfying” and a “confidence-builder” about the state’s ability to move forward implementing legal marijuana.

Gov. Jay Inslee said his conversation Tuesday with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder convinced him Washington state should continue making rules for a legal marijuana industry as mandated by voter-approved Initiative 502.

Inslee and state Attorney General Bob Ferguson met with Holder because of the conflict between federal law, which bans all marijuana, and the state’s law, which makes possession of an ounce of pot legal for those 21 and older.

Inslee said the conversation was “very satisfying” and a “confidence-builder” about the state’s ability to move forward implementing legal marijuana. “We went in thinking we should continue with rule-making and nothing I heard should dissuade us,” Inslee said.

At the same time, he stressed that Holder said nothing dispositive about the federal government’s intentions and whether it would crack down on Washington state or look the other way.

Inslee said he did not press Holder for a clearer signal, or position, because he considered their talk a preliminary meeting with more discussions to follow.

Noting that the state is moving ahead with rule-making, Ferguson said he emphasized that the state would like answers soon. “We made it very clear that while we’re moving forward, some deadlines are coming up soon. I think Attorney General Holder understood that we’d need guidance in months to come,” Ferguson said.

Inslee said several times the state would provide Holder with details about how it would prevent its legal marijuana from leaking into other states.

“We spent some time talking about how the initiative would work, how the regulatory process would work. He listened with great interest, and I appreciated that,” Inslee said.

The law will be implemented by the state’s Liquor Control Board, which on Tuesday held the first of six meetings planned to take public comment about the law. The second meeting will be at 7 p.m. Thursday at Seattle City Hall.

The governor added that Holder’s questions show he is “going to be fully attentive” to Washington’s evolving law. Inslee said it’s no surprise that Holder would take his time to fully evaluate the implementation of I-502.

In case the federal government decided to oppose the law, Ferguson has a team of lawyers in his office preparing to make the best legal case for upholding I-502.

“I said we want to avoid a legal fight,” Ferguson recounted during a news conference after the meeting with Holder. “We want to find a pathway forward. But if it comes to it, the Washington Attorney General’s Office will be prepared for legal fight.”

President Obama has said recreational pot smoking in Colorado and Washington, the two states that have legalized it, is not a major concern for his administration.

“We’ve got bigger fish to fry,” Obama said in an interview with ABC News last month. “It would not make sense for us to see a top priority as going after recreational users in states that have determined that it’s legal.”

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Wash. Looks To Build Strict Controls for Marijuana

By Mike Baker, Associated Press
Source: Associated Press

cannabis Olympia, Wash. -- Washington state officials are looking to build a strictly regulated marijuana system that could forestall federal concerns about how the drug will be handled once it's available for public purchase.

Rick Garza of the Washington Liquor Control Board said Monday he expects the federal government will try to take action if Washington's system has loose controls. He said it's important for Washington to have a strong regulatory structure, such as how participants in the system are licensed and how the product is handled from growth to the point of sale.

"The feds are going to tighten the rope if they feel like it's not strictly regulated," Garza said. "The more tightly regulated it is, they are likely to give us a little more room."

One of the biggest issues the state is looking to manage is how much marijuana will be grown under the new system. Garza said it's important for officials to properly project consumption rates so the state is growing the right amount of product for in-state users and not having any extra supply that could spill into other states that haven't legalized marijuana.

Garza's comments came a day before Gov. Jay Inslee was set to meet with the U.S. Department of Justice to discuss the marijuana law. Washington voters approved the marijuana law in November, but Justice Department officials have not indicated whether they will allow Washington and Colorado to create legal marijuana markets, since the drug is illegal under federal law.

Alison Holcomb, who helped lead Washington's marijuana initiative, said the measure was written with the expectation that the system would be intensely scrutinized. She said it makes sense for the federal government to wait and see what the rules look like and what checks and balances are in place. She thinks federal officials will be more willing to allow legal pot to exist if they know it complements federal law enforcement efforts.

"From a public safety standpoint, they are going to look hard at what the outcomes are: Is it compromising public safety, or is it actually improving public safety?"

Holcomb said the initiative was drafted with a conservative approach that would be a small step into the legal pot world.

"We want to be held accountable," Holcomb said. "We want this to be watched to see if it's a workable alternative to marijuana prohibition."


Washington's Liquor Control Board, which has been regulating alcohol for 78 years, is in the process of soliciting advice from experts to help it determine how the state should grow, process, sell and regulate marijuana.