Alaska is currently developing regulations and will get approvals very soon. They will look very much like Washington. Critics don’t like the residency requirement for investment or ownership, though it’s the same as Washington and Colorado and Oregon. They also want public smoking lounges, but the other states don’t have that.
Colorado seems to have pecked out the role of dramatic issues publicized all over the country. They’re still working on edibles, have discovered a problem with unregulated pesticides, and are trying to figure out public (or social) consumption. Meanwhile Denver is concerned they have 1000 marijuana outlets in the city, which might be a bit much, and are seeking to limit any more. (Seattle and Portland have a couple hundred or so. Maybe more.)
Oregon is putting together the regulations, but is selling retail marijuana from the regulated medical establishments now. My favorite parts of the original law have been removed by the legislature. To wit: The low excise tax passed by voters has been increased. The no residency required provision has been replaced by a residency requirement. The provision denying local governments from stopping cannabis places has been wiped out. But my favorite provision, a license for wholesale distribution, has yet to be examined because no one knows what it means.
Washington has begun the process of hoovering up the unregulated medical establishments that are deemed “good”, and in a short period of time the number of licensed outfits will explode. Likewise, many will be destroyed. To accommodate the new shops the 1000-foot rule has to be abandoned. And, the integrity of the seed-to-sale inventory system will be severely compromised.
And then there’s the other Washington entities, the Indians. Tomorrow the Squamix tribe will open their retail marijuana store across from their casino. They parallel the state laws and split the tax intake with the state. That’s a first. A tribe in South Dakota tried to open a resort but when confronted by the DEA burned their plants and went to court. They feared a raid, which damages the superstructure and the DEA steals all their equipment. There will be much more activity by the Natives.
Since I’m in New Mexico, they have a very small nascent medical marijuana program, recently expanded by a tad. Meanwhile, a suit was filed because the dispensaries seem to be in Albuquerque so those in the rural areas are pissed.
That’s what’s going on….