Washington did manage to pass a few minor laws concerning the cannabis industry, but that’s been it. It’s system is working well, though.
Oregon’s participation in this experiment was opening up the industry to nearly all comers, and watching out for rules that slow down business development. That seems to have worked quite nicely, as the number of licensed businesses grew much more quickly than in Washington. They screwed up by having the Health Authority involved in the regulation, but that is being fixed. I remain skeptical how their regulatory system is going to deal with the fact that 80% of their crop output was exported out of state. It won’t.
Colorado is trying to clean up after a large export operation was uncovered, which in part operated nicely within some of the rules, giving them a little cover.
Alaska is moving along just fine, in their own way.
Nevada is trying to get retail sales going in about 2 weeks. The liquor distributors cried foul and might have gummed up the works a bit. They want a cut of the action, and apparently have the laws on their side. Personally, there’s something about Nevada, marijuana, and liquor distributors that gives me pause about the wisdom of the whole idea. It sounds like a bad combination.
Meanwhile, California is happening. The Assembly combined the medical marijuana laws (just passed a year ago) with the retail side. This should get rid of the medical side entirely, with just a few remnants left. I’ve mentioned the onerous rules CA are imposing, but they are really trying to make it as easy as possible. And they are contributing a lot to the state of the art. For instance, questions of the location or activities engaged by a licensed business are left to the locals. They will be contributing a lot to other states when they write new laws.
Of course, California supplies 67% of the nation with pot. Licensed entities will not be allowed to export pot out of state. That would be completely illegal. So, if all marijuana growers and sellers in California took out licenses, most of the US would find itself completely out of marijuana. The reality is that most California growers will remain unlicensed and continue exporting into the illegal states at much higher profits without the hassle of laws and regulations. With risk, of course, but they’ve been dealing with that for 50 years.
Washington’s first retail store opened just about 3 years ago. Special sales will be on then, I’m sure.