Washington H.B. 1550 - New Bill to Legalize MMJ and sell it through state liquor

WA H.B. 1550 in 2011 session

Here are the basics from the House Analysis:

- Promotes business for Washington by licensing, taxing, and selling cannabis under
the regulation of the Liquor Control Board (LCB).
- Establishes a state tax of 15 percent per gram of cannabis sold.
- Requires agricultural farmers wishing to produce, process, or package cannabis to
obtain a license through the LCB at an annual cost of $5,000.
- Requires all license fees, penalties, forfeitures, taxes, and all other revenue received
by the LCB from cannabis to be deposited in a Cannabis Revolving Fund and
distributed to the Department of Health, the Division of Alcohol and Substance
Abuse, the Department of Agriculture, and the LCB.
- Legalizes possession of cannabis for adults over the age of 21 years old.
- Eliminates marijuana from the controlled substance list in the Uniform Controlled
Substance Act.
- Authorizes cannabis and hemp products to be sold in liquor stores to adults (similar
to alcohol) and regulated by the LCB.
- Makes it a gross misdemeanor offense to: (1) sell cannabis without a valid license; or
(2) distribute cannabis to a juvenile under the age of 21 years old.
Makes it unlawful for a juvenile to possess, consume, or acquire cannabis.
Makes "intrastate" transporting of cannabis, a class C felony offense, if he or she
transports illegal
- Makes "interstate" transporting of cannabis a class C felony offense, if he or she
imports cannabis into Washington from any other state or country.
- Authorizes adults to grow cannabis for personal use within certain specifications.


What do people think about this? Comment please and insightful comments will get +rep

Link to H.B. 1550 Bill

I am a registered voter in Washington, and have a MMJ recommendation. I am willing to pay the 15%/Gram tax, in addition to the sales tax, if it gets the ball rolling towards sane cannabis policy. I am concerned as to what the “certain specifications” are as regards personal use growing. I have doubts as to this bill ever seeing the light of day, but that stems from years of seeing my cynical point of view validated.
Bottom line; I support House Bill 1550.

I have no vein conception this will pass but I am still excited to see it as a possibility on the ballot. Why? Because it will make people think, the terms may be not right and therefore voted against but the exposure will make people think.

I think if WA. residents cam convince enough people in the direct & surrounding Seattle area it will pass. Why? Because 1/3 of the states population lives there. Paying the absurd mark-up & taxes on state liquor store furnished weed isn't exactly ideal to me BUT it is a starting point. The only thing we need to seriously get the ball rolling in this country is 1 state, just 1. Washington & Oregon politics generally go hand in hand. If WA. gets the ball rolling & then OR. may soon follow suit. With OR. on board possibly be close behind, CO. & Montana thereafter. As John Lennon once wrote; "You may say I'm a dreamer, yeah but I'm not the only one". I don't see HB as the end all be all but I do believe this is just the right prospect to bring about a change this country has been longing for since the ban on MJ back in the 1930's!

I don't think its going to be that simple. I think if this passes and the government is selling it, it's going to limit or even eliminate home growing entirely. That may not effect alot of people, but i personally love the fact that I know what I'm getting and how it's grown. I may be over paranoid though. The idea of walking into a government owned establishment and coming out with an ounce is not that bad on the flip side!


EDIT: Sorry i just kinda skimmed through it and decided to actually READ it this time and realized this could actually rock IF section 65 of the bill means we can grow without a permit or license or Medical card.

grow for personal use w/limitations: ridiculous if it is to be legal for 21 & older, if it is for personal use there should be no limitations

Makes it a gross misdemeanor offense to: (1) sell cannabis without a valid license; or
(2) distribute cannabis to a juvenile under the age of 21 years old: Even more ridiculous, a misdemeanor? This is where the problem lies in stupid crafted legistlation like this proposal. This should be a felony offense.

Under regulations of the LCB: LAZY & Stupid, instead of creating an appropriate overseer as in a new board specifically to address cannabis

15%: as always it is ALL about the state profiting, hell legalize it for everyone everywhere with no restrictions & charge 50% tax, some "powers that be" would do anything for money

Eliminates marijuana from the controlled substance list in the Uniform Controlled Substance Act: is this not controlling the "substance?"

Makes it unlawful for a juvenile to possess, consume, or acquire cannabis: Okay, & what r the penalties here?


The whole thing is....imo...ah RIDICULOUS

Slojo69 said:

I don't think its going to be that simple. I think if this passes and the government is selling it, it's going to limit or even eliminate home growing entirely. That may not effect alot of people, but i personally love the fact that I know what I'm getting and how it's grown. I may be over paranoid though. The idea of walking into a government owned establishment and coming out with an ounce is not that bad on the flip side!


EDIT: Sorry i just kinda skimmed through it and decided to actually READ it this time and realized this could actually rock IF section 65 of the bill means we can grow without a permit or license or Medical card.

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Have you ever read up on Ed Rosenthal's Tomato Theory?

PeteSwitch said:

Have you ever read up on Ed Rosenthal's Tomato Theory?

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Negative sir, link?

EDIT: I'm to lazy to google it lol

Slojo69 said:

Negative sir, link?

EDIT: I'm to lazy to google it lol

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The Tomato Model

The model for what marijuana legalization should look like is already out there. It's tomatoes. More tomatoes are grown in America by home gardeners than are produced commercially. Yet there is a robust commercial market for tomatoes and tomato products of all types: canned, vine-ripened, organic, sauces, soups, ketchup, etc. At the same time, small-scale specialty cultivators do well selling their produce to farmer's markets, and home gardeners with extra tomatoes share the bounty with neighbors as gifts, in trade, or through informal sales. Marijuana could be handled in the same way. Commercial growers can thrive side-by-side with home and specialty cultivators.

That's an awesome way of looking at it. As long as it's not going to screw with my grow after I've done everything I could to make sure I am legally doing things, I'm fine with it.

Slojo69 said:

That's an awesome way of looking at it. As long as it's not going to screw with my grow after I've done everything I could to make sure I am legally doing things, I'm fine with it.

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After my buddy had to shell out $250 of his SSD to see a doc he didn't have insurance for & get his MJ Card, then turn around & buy me the nutrients & seeds to grow his crop? I"m right up with you on that opinion, sir or ma'am.

PeteSwitch said:

After my buddy had to shell out $250 of his SSD to see a doc he didn't have insurance for & get his MJ Card, then turn around & buy me the nutrients & seeds to grow his crop? I"m right up with you on that opinion, sir or ma'am.

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Exactly, I feel for yer buddy, except I'm in to the whole thing including equipment, doc fees, materials etc etc about 3 grand

Slojo69 said:

Exactly, I feel for yer buddy, except I'm in to the whole thing including equipment, doc fees, materials etc etc about 3 grand

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I shelled out the $3,000+ for the grow equipment due to my random hobbies of hydroponics & bonsai (yup, I have a thing for plants in my spare time) but when he came to me & told me he could have his medicine legalized I surely had to step up & help out. The guy got booted out of the apartment he was living in and now is a resident couch surfer on my sofa as well as a few other people. It's one of those instances of how can you NOT want to step up & help a friend out sort of thing.

Hehe that's true, unless you have one of those friends that gets comfortable with you helping them and tend to not wanna do anything to help ya out lol. So Mr. plant guy, I'm gonna PM ya here in a sec, maybe you can help me out too.

Slojo69 said:

Hehe that's true, unless you have one of those friends that gets comfortable with you helping them and tend to not wanna do anything to help ya out lol. So Mr. plant guy, I'm gonna PM ya here in a sec, maybe you can help me out too.

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10-4 roger that, I'll try & do my best.

I've been to a couple Sensible Washington volunteer meetings and it's cool to meet like-minded folks and people who I never thought supported legalizing pot. Even some local cops who were off duty were there to help volunteer and promote. Now that's community support right there. I'm a MMJ card holder..I got accepted rather quickly as my GI wrote a letter included into my application stating that I was allergic or had adverse reactions to typical meds for Crohn's paitents and within about 3 weeks close to a month I had card in hand and ready to go to dispensaries and growers!

Tomoyo said:

I've been to a couple Sensible Washington volunteer meetings and it's cool to meet like-minded folks and people who I never thought supported legalizing pot. Even some local cops who were off duty were there to help volunteer and promote. Now that's community support right there. I'm a MMJ card holder..I got accepted rather quickly as my GI wrote a letter included into my application stating that I was allergic or had adverse reactions to typical meds for Crohn's paitents and within about 3 weeks close to a month I had card in hand and ready to go to dispensaries and growers!

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Awesome! BUT! Do you think this bill will pass? and do you support it?

Slojo69 said:

Awesome! BUT! Do you think this bill will pass? and do you support it?

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Well Yes and No lol..I wouldnt want to see it just sold in Liquor Stores..I voted for the state to close all the liquor stores and have liquor sold at regular retail/grocery stores like Safeway, Fred Meyer, etc. So I think they shouldn't just limit it to that. It's too much state involvement but that's just my opinion..

Tomoyo said:

Well Yes and No lol..I wouldnt want to see it just sold in Liquor Stores..I voted for the state to close all the liquor stores and have liquor sold at regular retail/grocery stores like Safeway, Fred Meyer, etc. So I think they shouldn't just limit it to that. It's too much state involvement but that's just my opinion..

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Well the state isn't going to pass anything without getting their cookie. As long as this bill allows us to grow freely (within a certain amount of course) then i have no problem with this bill and even support it up the yang!

I guess we can't have it all... Better than to have those DEA goonsquads bust in that's for sure. It's gonna be a long shot but I hope it passes. Friday on the 18th, I'll be at my local Costco having people sign petitions. The more the Merrier