Altitude Could Be Flying Solo In Prosser If Council Bans More Pot Shops

It's largely based upon the population of the small Benton County town, which is less than 5,900. That's why the City Council is considering a ban on further pot shops at an upcoming council meeting.

When I-502 legalized pot, the language did not prevent cities and counties from banning all pot related business within their own boundaries.

Prosser is one of the few cities which has allowed such business, but with one shop already there and more seeking to come, the council isn't sure they want more stores.

For that reason, according to the Tri-City Herald, the council will consider banning future pot retail business when it meets next week. Currently, Altitude is the only pot shop within the city limits. The Herald says there's another store but it's in an unincorporated area of Benton County and it carries a Prosser address.

The city could modify it's current six-month moratorium on new business by only allowing shops in certain areas, or they could modify their own statutes to mirror recent changes made in the state pot laws, The third option is to ban future shops altogether.

Part of the reason Prosser has been a magnet for pot retail is because Kennewick, Richland and Pasco have passed bans on retail business within their city limits. In Kennewick, it was largely due to overwhelming negative response from citizens expressed to the city council. After initially banning pot, Yakima has reversed it stance, and will be allowing retail pot business.

But officials are concerned about having multiple shops in a town so small.

I-502 was defeated by, on average, a margin of at least 60 percent no vote in most of Southeastern Washington. It passed largely because of Pierce, Snohomish, King and other large western counties.