Top ’11’ Stories of 2014 – Pot Shops Open, City, County Bans Upheld in Court

After nearly 18 months of delays, legal tussles, and financial questions,  pot stores finally opened in Washington state July 1st 2014.   And with that came a slew of city and county bans, lawsuits, and more upheaval.

I-502 legalized recreational marijuana, but the language of the bill allowed individual cities and counties to enact their own bans.  That, according to a non-legally binding opinion issued in January by WA State Attorney General Bob Ferguson.

The only pot store within a 50 mile radius of us that actually opened was Altitude in Prosser, and their business is apparently booming.     However,  after much discussion,  the Cities of Richland, Pasco, Kennewick and West Richland passed their own bans on all pot related activities (growing, processing and selling).  So did Yakima and Yakima County.

However, Benton County and the City of Walla Walla went ahead with pot business.   It's being grown and processed at a site near Benton City - in the county - but you can't buy it in the Tri-Cities.    While Walla Walla County has banned it,  there will be a pot store coming to the City of Walla Walla in spring 2015.  Confused?

Officials who passed ordinances banning pot business pointed to the overwhelming defeat of I-502 in 18 of 22 Eastern Washington counties, including Benton and Franklin.  One Kennewick city official echoed many when they said ' I-502 may have passed statewide, but my constituents have made it clear, they don't want it here'.   These officials said they answer to their local voters, not the will of the entire state. By contrast,  only four Western Washington counties rejected the initiative.

Legal challenges were made to some of these bans, but the people doing the suing went 0-4, including in the City of Kennewick.   Judges upheld the opinion of AG Ferguson, saying the language of I-502 allowed such bans within city or county limits.  A number of people who were awarded pot store licenses were left high and dry by these bans, especially after being shot down in court.

Until I-502 is amended by the legislature or revised to remove the "loopholes" and re-submitted to voters,   these city and county pot bans are pretty much here to stay.

By comparison, Colorado's pot stores opened January 1st.  Their bill was structured quite differently than ours, taking into account these types of loopholes.  It was also written with far more input from those who opposed legal pot - to make sure if it passed, it wasn't going to trigger dozens of lawsuits.

As for the 'tidal wave' of tax revenue the state was going to get from the pot stores,  no official figures have been released yet by the WA State Liquor Control Board.  But leaks of information reveal it's perhaps as little as 45%  of what was initially "promised" by the backers of I-502.

We shall see what happens in 2015, dude!